Sound Board

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

The Controller of Patents, Designs and Trademarks recently through a public notice dated January 2, 2015 brought to the notice of the public that the Design rules have been amended with effect from December 30, 2014.

The first draft of the National IPR Policy dated December 19, 2014 was made available to the public amidst all the curiosity regarding the content of this policy and also the controversy concerning the basis of selection of the members of the Think Tank. We had earlier written about how the Think Tank came into being and the tasks that were entrusted to the panel. The DIPP Public Notice of November 13, 2014 had called upon interested persons to submit their comments on the National IPR…

A couple of months back we’d written about the basics of protection of Semi-Conductor Integrated Circuit Layout Design (SICLD) in India and more importantly how there hadn’t been a single application filed, or registered till date.

One of the important statuses in respect of a trademark, shown in the website of the Trademark Office is “opposed,” for the registration of the said mark becomes dependent on the outcome of the said opposition. The term “opposed” means that a third party, has found the mark objectionable primarily in light of Section 9 or 11 or both (and any other provisions of the Trademarks Act), intimates the same in writing to the Trademark Office and requests for its refusal. Section 21 of the Trademarks…

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.

The Bombay High Court recently decided on the issue of ownership of patents. The suit was filed by a minority shareholder against the company, its managing director and other directors because the patents devised using the R & D of the company was in the name of the director and not the company itself. At the outset, it seemed like a straight-forward case, however on reading the judgment, it was interesting to see how the Court took into consideration a number of other factors (which would…

Amidst the major IP disputes of the week, with Ericsson stopping Xiaomi over a patent dispute and the Supreme Court denying Bayer’s appeal against the compulsory license, there were quite a few articles on the USPTO’s rejection of a trademark application called “Comfyballs” to be associated with the sale of men’s underwear. The application was rejected on the ground that the mark was vulgar.

All marketing techniques are aimed to capture the attention of the consumer and make an impact. A distinctive trademark with a catchy tag line and colour scheme is probably more likely to stay on the minds of the consumer. A number of marketing experts believe that colour is the most important elements of branding and rightly so, because a number of brands can be recognized solely on the basis of the colour. Christian Louboutin shoes with the red sole and Cadbury with its purple packaging are…

The Calcutta High Court, in November had the opportunity to deal with a rather interesting patent dispute where one person tried invalidating a patent which was identical to his; when both of their patents seemed to be copied from a US Patent!