Sound Board

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

As most readers will be aware, the period of time between 2020-2021 has been marked with unprecedented disaster and suffering. 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. Once COVID-19 vaccines were invented, concern then shifted to availability of said vaccines across the world. This was especially concerning in the poorer countries of the developing world. It goes without…

The Patents (Second Amendment) Rules, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘amendment rules’) that came into force on November 4, 2020, primarily recategorized the Applicants and the fees paid by them for filing and prosecution of a patent. Presently, the amendment has classified applicants

However, the question remains - why has an option for renewal not been provided? Granted, it would ensure fewer instances where the right would have lapsed, and the protection would continue unbeknownst to the authorities (although the right holder must inform customs authority when his intellectual property ceases to be valid or if he ceases to be the owner of such intellectual property right). In this respect, the lack of an option for renewal enables authorities to properly examine the…

The Supreme Court indicated that it was proposing to lift the suo moto extension of the limitation period granted by it on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, with effect from March 15 this year. Following this, on 8th March 2021, the Court passed an order ending the extension of the limitation period.

The much-awaited amendment to the Indian Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2020, came into force on 19 October 2020. The amendment relates to the Indian Patent Office's requirement of annual filing of the statement of working of patents by the Patentee/Licensee.

More often than not, when a “bona fide” proprietor of the trademark (I use the term “bona fide” rather loosely here) finds unauthorized use of their mark by a third party, the first step taken (often) is to send the other party a legal notice. While some legal notices sent/received are convoluted and packed with legal jargon, some are brief and get the message across. A legal notice simply outlines the rights of the sender (“bona fide” proprietor) and cautions the infringing party to refrain…

“Intellectual property rights” is a paradox, where it promotes innovation and creativity, on the one hand, it might stagnate and monopolize ideas and business, on the other. With the development of human intelligence, complications also arose such that it became necessary to balance man’s imagination and the output of such imagination.

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.

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…

The paranoia around the COVID-19 continues to stretch the air, people, citizens and the government continue to strive to put their best foot forward to ensure maximum safety and avoid anarchy. With this, we would like to inform you that, the Indian government have been meticulous in their work and have always ensured the best for its citizens, with this the Indian Patent Office, the Indian Trade Marks Registry and the Indian Copyright Office have released their official notices dated,…