Sound Board

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

Before all else, I would like to clarify that this article does not deal with how to get a patent in India. This article merely describes the procedure for making a patent application in India. The decision to provide a person with a patent is purely an administrative matter of the Indian Patent Office. Therefore, it is not possible to provide a definitive answer to questions like “Will my product be patented?” or “How long will it take for me to get a patent?”

The Indian law for Patents, more particularly Section 8(1) of the Patents Act, 1970 (the “Act”), requires that when a person makes an application for patent in India, he must undertake to inform the Indian Patent Office regarding foreign applications which correspond to its Indian counterpart. However, the words used in Section 8(1) are broad enough to cover not just the invention for which the patent application has been made in India but also inventions which are “substantially the same” as…

After a trademark application sails through the journey of examination, advertisement and opposition, it reaches the final and happy stage of registration. When the online status of a mark shows registered, it means, as the term suggests, the mark has obtained registration and the applicant becomes the legal owner/registrant of the said mark. A registration certificate mentioning the details of the trademark (including date of registration, registration number, Journal in which it was…

Following up on my earlier post about the IP clause in an employment agreement, where I mentioned the contents of the clause ought to define the Intellectual Property, I figured that, that would be a good aspect to cover – Identifying IP.

Britannia Industries Limited had filed an application for the trademark SNAX, which they had claimed to have been using from 1965. Britannia had already registered trademarks BRITANNIA SNAX for biscuits breads, buns etc in Class 30. The trademark application for the mark SNAX was published in the Trademarks Journal in 2005 and was opposed by PepsiCo on the grounds that the mark SNAX is snacks misspelt and since snacks was a common English word; it should not be registered as a trademark.

The Plaintiff, Vogueserve International Private Limited, is an Indian company which was engaged in the business of trading of home textiles, home decorative, furnishing and clothing etc. and provide buying services for international buying companies. All four Defendants were employed with Vogueserve until July 2011. When they resigned, they took with them, the client database and other confidential information. In November 2011 they started a new company under the name of “Excel Buying…

My first job was at a start-up company – It was a part time job during law school, and I was working for a company that conducted creative theme based tours and events around the city. Working there helped me learn an incredible amount about everything! Partly through observing and a majority through actual experience I learnt the in and out of running a business, in particular, one that focused heavily on creativity.

The case of trademark infringement and passing off was filed by EASYGROUP IP LICENSING LIMITED (the plaintiff) in respect of the alleged infringement and passing off by Easyjet Aviation Services Pvt Ltd. (the defendant).

Justice K.N. Basha, who recently retired as a judge of the Madras High Court, has been appointed as the chairman of Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). He succeeds Justice Prabha Sridevan, who retired from the post a few weeks back. At present S Usha has been deciding matters as the acting chairman.

I was referred to this article by one of my colleagues who got it on his RSS Feed. The article itself points to a recent order of the IPAB which “yet again chastised the Indian Trademark Registry in its Order dated 12th July”. Naturally my curiosity was piqued and I went on to read said Order.