Insights
Practical perspectives on protecting, managing and enforcing intellectual property across India and the subcontinent.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 10 September 2013
Section 8: Disclosing Your Foreign Patent Applications
Section 8 requires you to tell the Indian Patent Office about corresponding applications filed abroad, and keep it informed. Getting it wrong is a ground for opposition and for revocation — historically one of the most successfully argued grounds in Indian patent litigation.
Navarre Roy · 30 August 2013
Ex-Employees Took the Client Database: Why the Company Got an Injunction
Four employees left, set up a rival, and contacted the old firm's clients. The Delhi High Court held a compiled client database is a copyright-protected 'literary work' owned by the employer — and enjoined its use.
Navarre Roy · 30 August 2013
The IP Clause in Employment Agreements
Startups routinely operate on trust, or on an employment agreement downloaded from the internet and drafted for another country's law. The IP clause is a small part of the document and the part that decides who owns what your team builds.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 25 August 2013
Justice K.N. Basha Appointed Chairman of the IPAB (2013)
A 2013 note on Justice K.N. Basha's appointment to head the Intellectual Property Appellate Board — with an update: the IPAB was abolished in 2021 and its functions moved to the High Courts.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 22 August 2013
An Order That Removed the Wrong Trademark
IPAB Order No. 156/2013 cited two application numbers in Class 29 that do not exist in that class — one is a Class 9 mark, the other a multi-class mark owned by an unrelated Danish company. The order then directed removal of the second.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 25 July 2013
Eleven Years, Six Letters, One RTI: The IPAB on Registry Indifference
An application filed in 1992, an opposition never served, letters unanswered for a decade, and an abandonment order that appeared online a year before it was passed. The IPAB's response — 'we disapprove of this attitude' — and the five questions it demanded answers to.
24 July 2013
Someone Is Using Your Trademark: What Are Your Options?
A cease and desist notice, a negotiated settlement, or formal proceedings — the three routes, in escalating order. The one thing you cannot do is wait, because prolonged knowledge without action can be read as acquiescence.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 18 July 2013
METO v. METOX: A Registry Delay Cost the Plaintiff Its Standing
Orchid Chemicals filed a TM-16 to record itself as the METO proprietor in 2003 — but the Registry issued the certificate in the old name. When it sued METOX in 2012, it had no locus standi, and 'METO' (from a drug molecule) was held generic. A cautionary tale.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 26 June 2013
Single-Class or Multi-Class Trademark Application in India?
India allows multi-class trademark applications — but single-class filings are usually the smarter choice. Why: an opposition to one class stalls the whole application, and the divisional-application fix is slow and costly.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 19 June 2013
What a TM-61 Alert Means on Your Indian Trademark Application
A TM-61 alert means your goods/services specification exceeded 500 characters without paying the per-character fee. How to clear it — pay for the excess characters, or amend to trim the specification — and why filing online avoids the problem entirely.
Navarre Roy · 17 June 2013
Drafting Your Specification of Goods and Services
Choosing the class is the easy part. Writing the specification — broad or specific, in language the Registry recognises — is what determines whether you sail through examination or spend months answering avoidable objections.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 10 June 2013
Trademark Filing in India: 'Proposed to Be Used' or Claiming Use?
You can file an Indian trademark claiming actual use or on a 'proposed to be used' basis. The choice affects the burden of proof in any later infringement suit — and exposes you to non-use cancellation.