Sound Board

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

In a country like India where a patent is granted after fighting tooth and nail, “revocation” is arguably the most dreaded term for any patent-holder. A patent granted in India can sought to be revoked for more than one reason and statutorily in more than one forum.

Registering a trademark is only the first step. What is more challenging is to be wary all those conflicting marks out there in the market trying to make a place for themselves. At the outset, in a suit of trademark infringement or passing-off, the two probable reliefs that can be sought are an injunction and then damages. This is apart from an account of profits (any likely profit that the defendant has made by using the infringing mark) and delivery of any goods (goods in the possession of…

If you’re in India and have ever been near an elevator, you’ve probably heard Kenny G playing the saxophone. Owners of malls, hospitals, independent retail outlets, housing quarters and practically every lift (elevator) seem to have a particular proclivity toward choosing the instrumental music of Kenneth Bruce Gorelick.

A long journey from the hills of Darjeeling via Benaras, Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, Tirupati and finally to Kanchipuram would be stressful indeed. But the goodies from all these places are what make us show off that we actually went there. Imagine having a hot cup of Darjeeling tea, or wearing Benarasi sari, or eating Tirupati laddu, or having a beautiful Tanjore painting on your wall. All these sure do sound nice. What if I told you that I grew the Darjeeling tea plant in my backyard, or painted…

Pepsico India Holdings Pvt Ltd has won yet another trademark battle, this time in respect of its mineral water brand “Aquafina.” The Delhi High Court, in a recent judgement, upholding the submissions of Pepsico, has restrained the defendant Aqua Mineral (India) from using the trademark “Aquafine” for infringement of Pepsico’s trademark rights in the mark "Aquafina." Pepsico has naturally banked upon the well-known status attained by the mark "Aquafina," not to mention its (alleged) long term…

In my earlier post on this matter, I discussed the importance of filing the statement of working for a patent without delving into the aspect of confidentiality or lack thereof when such statements are made. Statutorily, the statement of working may be published by the Patent Office and so the Patent Office has made available online the statements of working filed for the year 2012.

A recent judgment of the Bombay High Courtt that I came across addressed issues relating to the laws of design which I found very interesting, mainly because they weren’t issues that were touched upon previously. On reading the judgment, I found that it was the Delhi High Court which had first examined these issues in detail and what was also interesting to read was the dissenting opinion by one of the judges.

The Delhi High Court recently had the opportunity to decide a case on trademark infringement and passing off where they examined the concept of usage of a trademark in India. While we have blogged about the concept of usage earlier (read our posts here and here) what was interesting in this case was the evidence that was submitted by the Plaintiff and the factors that were relied on to prove spill over reputation and trans-border reputation.

Most people who want to get a trademark registered, search for the Super Mark. What is this Super mark? Super mark is the Invincible Superman of the Trademark world, i.e. it is a mark that would less likely to be objected to by the Registry.

We bring you another guest post by Ratnavel Pandian. In this post, Ratnavel discusses the Indian statutory provisions for compulsory licensing and instances of compulsory licensing in India.