Intellectual Property Rights
The Registrability of Alphabet or Number trademarks in India
The basic purpose of a trademark is that it serves to distinguish the goods or services of one person from those of another. If a mark is not distinctive, it would lead to confusion among consumers between the mark and existing brands present in the market, as well as be unable to distinguish the…
Requirements of a Sound Mark – An International Perspective
A sound mark is a non-conventional trademark which is different from traditional trademarks such as a word mark or a device mark. It is a type of a trademark wherein consumers are able to identify the origin of goods and services from a particular sound. The requirements to apply for a sound mark…
Balancing IPR and Global Health: COVID-19 Vaccines
As most readers will be aware, the period of time between 2020-2021 has been marked with unprecedented disaster and suffering. The year 2020 started out with the Australian wildfires, which was followed by rising geo-political tensions, and then of course, COVID-19 spread rapidly across the globe.…
Design Renewal in India
At the outset, Section 11(1) of the Designs Act, 2000, grants copyright protection to a design for a period of ten years from the date of registration. However, if priority is claimed then the registration period is calculated as being ten years from the priority date. Further, as per Section 11(2)…
Trademark Genericide
A trademark can be referred to as a recognizable sign, word or symbol that can be used to denote and distinguish a specific product or service from others. It can be a word, logo, sound, color or slogan that helps associate a product or service to the company that is manufacturing or providing the…
Metso Outotec Corporation v. the Registrar of Trade Marks
Background The Bombay High Court on October 6, 2021, set aside and quashed the decisions of the Senior Examiner of Trade Marks refusing the mark “SISUPER”. In Metso Outotec Corporation v. the Registrar of Trade Marks, appeals were preferred before the Bombay High Court from orders passed by the…
Britannia Industries v. ITC Ltd & Ors - Deceptively dissimilar?
The Delhi High Court on April 5, 2021 dismissed two applications filed by Britannia Industries against ITC Ltd for alleged trademark infringement and passing off by, Case 1: ITC's ‘Sunfeast Farmlite 5-SeedDigestive’ biscuits of Britannia’s ‘NutriChoice Digestive’ biscuits Case 2: ITC’s ‘Sunfeast…
The dire need for a Post Registration Trademark Audit Program in India
The USPTO’s Post Registration Audit Program Under the USA’s Post Registration Audit Program, a declaration of use must be filed between the fifth and sixth year of the validity of the registration of the trademark. Consequently, a mark may be selected at random, and an audit may be carried out…
Seeking Injunction in a Suit of Infringement and Passing off - Trademarks
Infringement & Passing Off The rights and remedies available under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 are not only limited to registered marks but also extend to unregistered marks. On one hand, an action for infringement provided for under Section 29 of the Act involves establishing issues such as…
Revisiting Copyright law and Artificial Intelligence – Part 2
In the part one of this article, here, we discussed about the general understanding of AI divided as ANI and AGI, ANI’s adoption and influence in the copyright law, and complexities arising out of the adoption of ANI while generating copyrightable works. Further, let us understand the intricacies…