Sound Board

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

The Indian Parliament on August 6th 2015 passed the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Act, 2015 which was published on August 10, 2015. The Act is rather short and contains two changes – a) that the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Delhi High Court would be raised from 20 Lakhs (approx. USD 30,000) to 2 crores (approx. USD 300,000) and b) that cases which were already pending with the Delhi High Court may be sent down to the subordinate Courts. This tenfold increase in the pecuniary jurisdiction was…

The phrase “I’ll sue you” is one that many people love to use, without actually giving too much thought to whether legal action can in fact be taken and if so, whether it’ll be maintainable in a Court of Law. Lawyers take it a step further (in an attempt to make their client’s happy) by telling the other party that legal action will be taken against them if they do not comply or do what is necessary to be done. As a lawyer, it is pertinent to make sure your client is in the clear before…

Rapid prototyping, or 3D printing as it is called today was a method to create prototypes in industries before actual products were manufactured. It was both cost-effective and also a good method of determining if there were any defects before actually manufacturing the actual product. Technology advanced and times changed; 3D printing is now used to create anything and everything, including low-cost prosthetic limbs, skin and bones and many more such imaginable things! 3D printing technology…

The Gujarat High Court in a recent case has reaffirmed that trade channels, class of purchasers, the extent of reputation of the parties and all the other relevant factors play a crucial role in determining whether there has been an infringement or not. The decision was the result of taking into consideration the following facts;

Thou shal not steal is definitely the underlying point of all intellectual property rights, and Twitter reaffirmed this by deleting a tweet on a complaint made by Olga Lexell, a freelance writer from Los Angeles. Her premise was that she’s a freelance writer who makes her living writing jokes and since that’s her creation (intellectual property), other users didn’t have the right to re-post it without giving her due credit. This has definitely raised a lot of questions on whether jokes can…

I’m sure many of us, lawyers and trademark owners, would have come across examination reports that have required association between your mark and the applicant’s other marks (mostly). In cases where the mark that we have to associate it with has crossed its date of validity or has been withdrawn by the applicant, what happens then? While the law is silent on this point, the law of logic will kick in. Here I am going to mention few provisions of the law which in effect will say that both the…

A recent order by the Delhi High Court reiterates the importance of a carefully thought out and drafted agreements. This particular matter was one concerning breach of a franchise agreement which entailed confidential information, trade secrets, get-up, layout, arrangement, trade-dress of the Plaintiff’s fitness centres and spas. The Plaintiff (Ozone Fitness) filed a suit against Pure Fitness and others and sought an interim injunction. This case is definitely one of its kind given the nature…

The other day I was just walking on the road trying to get somewhere when someone just handed me this pamphlet which stated that the coaching centre was providing some kind of training to get a hang of this particular software at a certain fee. I passed it on to one of my friends who I thought might be interested in taking up the course. That is when I was told that this can’t be legit as the actual course costed twice the amount.

There have been several instances where I've looked at a menu card at a pub with a really cool cocktail name and wondered if they've trademarked it. Never did I once imagine that the ones that are common and used by all are in fact the ones that are registered trademarks. So would use of these trademarks by restaurants and pubs in their menu card amount to trademark infringement? There are several possibilities in connection with this and before I get to that, here’s a list of cocktail names…

The general notion, I’m sure is that copyright is a bundle of rights which is primarily an economic right (unless you are Gandhi, who resisted to enforce the copyright in his work for economic gain as economic rights) more than it being an indicator of the source of origin of the goods as in the case of trademarks. So what happens after you have assigned, either wholly or partially, the copyright in your work to someone else? Does that mean you have lost all your rights in the work that you…