Sound Board

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

It all starts in the womb. I don’t mean anything euphemistic or metaphorical, but literally; I was recently told that to get into premier schools in India, parents have to apply for admission immediately after conception. One parent, was incredibly upset that he missed out because his child was already due in a month and he hadn’t applied! He tells me, “There are plenty of schools, I know, but in this one my child would have been able to study with X’s children and think of it, several years…

A little over 5 months ago, the IPAB’s order caught everyone by surprise. Cadbury, the company known very well indeed for Cadbury Eclairs, lost some of its marks consisting the term “Eclairs” without putting up much of a fight. Interestingly Cadbury’s loss was a foreseeable consequence of its own action against ITC.

Cadbury and Lotte are famous brands for chocolates with Cadbury probably a little more famous in India since it has been around for quite a while. This fact may have been one of the many reasons why Cadbury could obtain an interim injunction against Lotte in January this year.

An order in January this year by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (“IPAB”) drives home a simple, much re-iterated and often neglected point of law: the right to be heard.

I believe most lawyers feel parental about their clients’ rights. It is difficult not to when we put in so much effort into identifying, defining and protecting those rights. In doing so, more often than not, we come across some really nasty notices and briefs from lawyers we don’t even know and we take them personally.

The quote above might be a little misplaced since this article is about parodies of trademarks and their position in Indian law but Weird Al’s words reflect certain irrefutable truths about parodies. One such truth is that parodies are an imitation (either comical or satirical) of something famous and well-established which would inevitably be imitated. Parodists walk a thin line. For creating a good parody, a parodist must sufficiently borrow from the original for the audience to recognise it…

Following my earlier posts on this topic (see here and here) and after yesterday’s upgrade by the Indian Trademarks Office, the e-filing system (“system”) now has all the forms prescribed by the Trademarks Rules.

For those of you who are wondering if they you have hit the wrong blog, please sit back. This is indeed about Intellectual Property and what I have referred to (in my title) is about the trademark ‘BRAHMOS’. As most of you would be aware, the term ‘BRAHMOS’ is quite popular in relation to supersonic missiles and now the same seems to have rendered a severe blow to two educational institutions, FIIT JEE Ltd and USA Univ Quest.