Intellectual Property Rights

All I want for Christmas is ‘not’ Yu – Delhi High Court vacates the injunction against OnePlus

Micromax is the protagonist and OnePlus is the antagonist. And with due apology to Cyanogen: it is the villain says the Delhi High Court in its last judgment before Winter Vacation. Delhi High Court vacates the injunction against OnePlus Just before the Court’s winter recess, the Division Bench of…


What do you think about the IPR Think Tank in India or the National IP Policy?

Almost every morning most of the dailies these days carry at-least one article on intellectual property, whether it is about scriptwriters fighting producers on copyright for their stories or celebrities registering their names as trademarks, or the major issue of patents and drugs. As an IP…


5 Trade Secrets I’d kill to know (or get killed if I found out)

The law of intellectual property rights is all pervasive – regardless of the industry, product, service or line of work, there is always something in a business that can be protected under some stream of intellectual property. While protection under IP comes when the person with the knowledge…


Geographical Indicators Simplified

A long journey from the hills of Darjeeling via Benaras, Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, Tirupati and finally to Kanchipuram would be stressful indeed. But the goodies from all these places are what make us show off that we actually went there. Imagine having a hot cup of Darjeeling tea, or wearing…


Recording your Intellectual Property with Customs in India

So you’ve filed and registered your trademark, and have been using it consistently. Life goes on as merrily as possible until you realize that there are counterfeit products with your trademark in the market. The first thing you would have to do is conduct an investigation into where the products…


SICLD Registry awaits its first application

I write this post with Indian audience in mind. When reading about or discussing IP laws or rights, we tend to think only of patents, copyrights, trademarks and maybe designs. There are however other intellectual property (IP) laws in India. For instance, integrated circuit layouts are protected by…


No injuction based on ‘TODAY’ says the Delhi High Court

TODAY, I was absolutely resolute to write an article on the issue of TODAY. Well, of course, I do mean ‘India Today’ and its failed interim injunction against TV channel ‘Nation Today.’ QUICK FACTS For those of you who need a quick background on the issue, the reputed India Today group had…


Personalising your attacks? Mudslinging gets everyone dirty

I believe most lawyers feel parental about their clients’ rights. It is difficult not to when we put in so much effort into identifying, defining and protecting those rights. In doing so, more often than not, we come across some really nasty notices and briefs from lawyers we don’t even know and we…


Intellectual Property Dispute: Brahmos ’ Head-On Collision With Fiit Jee Ltd!

For those of you who are wondering if they you have hit the wrong blog, please sit back. This is indeed about Intellectual Property and what I have referred to (in my title) is about the trademark ‘BRAHMOS’. As most of you would be aware, the term ‘BRAHMOS’ is quite popular in relation to…


How Smart would Dumb Starbucks be in India?

Dumb Starbucks impressed and gathered quite a lot of customers for free coffee on the day of their opening in Los Angeles last week. They ran out of coffee eventually but the publicity continued! Oh, they aren't associated with the REAL Starbucks and even admit that they consider them as models.…