Sound Board

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

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…

Trademarks, like all intellectual property, are an integral part of a modern business’ assets. It is not uncommon nowadays for the value of a business’ IP to far exceed its physical assets. Like any asset, trademarks can also be bought, sold, and transferred between entities. Whenever there has been any change in the details of the owner of a trademark, whether, through an assignment, name change, or merger, it is always advisable to record this change with the concerned trademarks office as…

Protection of trademark in Maldives is by way of publishing a  caution notice in the local newspapers in circulation in Maldives. We have tried to address the frequently asked questions (FAQ's) from our clients about the trademark registration in Maldives in this post and hope you find this useful.

The decision to accede to the Madrid Protocol has been a debate for the past 3 to 4 years in Sri Lanka. While the country had agreed to accede to the Madrid protocol in 2017, for unknown reasons it was pushed to 2018 and further again to 2020. Finally, they have agreed to accede to the Madrid Protocol by mid-2020.