Sound Board

Our thoughts and views on the practice of Intellectual Property in India and around the world.

Section 31 D of the Copyright Act, 1957 has been the bone of contention on many occasions with regard to issuing statutory licenses and the scope of broadcasters. In simple words, Section 31D  of the Copyright Act 1957 states that any broadcasting organization that wishes to communicate sound recordings, literary or musical work to the public may be allowed to do so by obtaining a statutory license after giving prior notice and payment of royalties to the owner of the copyright at rates that…

Most commercial establishments often play popular music as a form of entertainment for their patrons. Step into any mall, hotel, pub, restaurant, or gym, and there is a high chance that they will be playing a song that you know. Since music falls under the scope of copyright as intellectual property, any commercial establishment playing music must obtain a license from the appropriate rights holder in order to play such music.

One of our IR applications designating India was a mark filed with the ® symbol with the WIPO. To give you clarity, the basic registration (mark it, it is a registration and not an application), is from a country which allows marks with the ® symbol. So it was never a problem in the basic registration. Going even further to make the process smooth and avoid unnecessary hassle, the Applicant has also disclaimed the ® symbol in the IR application.

In India, a request for examination must be filed for a patent application to be considered by the Indian Patent Office. This request can be made by the applicant, or any interested third party and must be filed within 48 months of the earliest priority application. If no request for examination is filed within this time frame, the application is considered abandoned. There are options for fast-tracking the examination process by filing a request for either Express or Expedited examination.

There are several occasions when the trademark owner would like to voluntarily cancel the registration of the trademark in India. In most occasions, the voluntary cancellation of trademark registration is due to an agreement entered by the trademark owner with a third party or for other business decisions taken by the trademark owner.

If the Trademark Office finds that any documents/forms submitted with respect to a trademark application require additional clarification and substantiation by document submission or the appropriate documents have not been filed, a notice is issued detailing the deficiency. This notice is commonly referred to as a Discrepancy notice or Scrutiny Report which is communicated to the Applicant/Applicant’s agent. Generally, Discrepancy notice or Scrutiny Report have been known to be issued where…

The Indian Copyright Act provides who the Author and Owner are, with respect to any work. It uncomplicates matters by simply putting that the Author of the work is the First Owner of the Copyright (subject to provisions of course). While in most cases, a clear determination is possible, there are circumstances when the logic has to be reconsidered; example when a work (in which copyright exists) is prepared at the instance of another person. There appears to be a very thin hazy line between…

ITC Ltd. and Nestle S.A. are two household names that have become indispensable in our lives. There is a minimum of one product in every household that belongs to these conglomerates. The demography of the consumers for these brands is vast and covers every age and economic group. These companies have influenced our lives such that they have become an inevitable part of our monthly grocery list.

The “USE” of a trademark in India plays a very important role in obtaining the registration of a trademark in India, prevail in opposition proceedings and to effectively enforce the rights of the trademark in India. In this post, we will provide answers to the frequently asked questions with respect to the “use” of a trademark in India.

One of my colleagues received a call from the Deputy Controller of Patents & Designs at the Delhi Patent Office requesting to speak with the Patent agent who had filed certain requests in a patent matter. When the colleague enquired about the issue, the Deputy Controller explained how some applications requesting amendments were filed in the correct Form but under a different Rule of the Patent Rules resulting in higher official fee and that he wanted to let the Patent agent know about it so…