June 2017

Government of India Launches ‘Occupy the Tribunals’ Movement with New Rules on Appointments and Removals of Judges of the IPAB & 18 Other Tribunals

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

On June 1, 2017 the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance notified in the Gazette of India, the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017. These rules were notified under Section 184 of the Finance Act, 2017. It is usually the practice of the Central Government to publish a draft of statutory rules in the Gazette and invite comments from the public before notifying such rules into the law. However […]

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Two “Weddings” and a Passing Off Claim

/ By / Trademark

A week ago, Justice Gautam Patel authored a guest post for us. This was quite legendary and one of many firsts:  first sitting judge to write for us, first sitting judge to engage in a thought provoking dialogue on this platform, etc. However, it wasn’t the first time Justice Patel has given us food for thought, or even awed us with his judicial practice. (Our archives are studded with J. Patel’s brilliance, accessible here.) This, also, was nowhere near the

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The Whatsapp Privacy PIL: Did Facebook shoot Whatsapp in its foot?

/ By / Privacy

A few months ago, I had written about a judgment of the Delhi High Court dismissing a PIL filed against the change in Whatsapp privacy policy. As I had commented at this time, the PIL was absolutely frivolous and should have been dismissed. Yet, it is now being heard by a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court – a rare event these days. How did this PIL transform from being frivolous to ending up before a Constitutional Bench of 5

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Apple v. Nokia – patent privateering – Will the CCI take suo moto notice?

/ By / Competition Law, Patent

Last month, Apple and Nokia announced that they were settling all pending litigation with each other. In a statement available on Apple’s website, Nokia stated, “This is a meaningful agreement between Nokia and Apple,” Maria Varsellona, Chief Legal Officer, Nokia.  It moves our relationship with Apple from being adversaries in court to business partners working for the benefit of our customers.” Apple filed the first complaint against several entities, all of whom had purchased SEPs from Nokia / or were

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Why So Gambhir?

/ By / Others, Trademark

In what could be an interesting publicity rights case, ace cricketer Gautam Gambhir has taken a Delhi based restaurateur to Court for unauthorized use of his name in the tagline of his pubs. The twist is…the hotelier is named Gautam Gambhir too! Facts Gautam Gambhir discovered that two pubs in Delhi, ‘Hawalat’ and ‘Ghungroo’, were using the tag line ‘by Gautam Gambhir’, which was causing confusion among his fans.  A teetotaler himself, he was distressed at this ‘false association’ caused

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Supreme Court of the US Reins In Forum Shopping in Patent Litigation

/ By / Patent

The Supreme Court of the United States, (“SCOTUS”) in its recent decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, significantly altered patent litigation in US law by reducing the possible forums available to plaintiffs to bring infringement actions against domestic defendants. Background and SCOTUS Ruling On examining the sheer volume of patent litigation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (“EDTX”), one might assume that it is a hotbed of innovative activity

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An End to the Raabta-Magadheera Copyright Row

/ By / Copyright

Last week, I had covered the copyright controversy surrounding the upcoming Hindi film “Raabta” (over here). The producers of the movie had been sued by the Geeta Arts, the producers of the Telugu film “Magadheera” over alleged copyright infringement. I had also promised to provide an update as soon as new details emerge. Over the last two days, news reports have been flashing headlines that indicate a copyright victory in favour of Raabta. After reading a few of these reports and

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Calcutta High Court Clarifies the Scope of ‘New And Original Design’ and the Responsibility Of Controller In Issuing Orders In Two Recent Decisions

/ By / Design

The Calcutta High Court in two recent decisions has clarified some important aspects of the Designs Act, 2000 (“the Act”). Both cases were appeals to the High Court against the orders of the Controller of Designs, under Section 36 the Act. Our previous posts on the law of designs in India are available here. Case No. 1: Controller Must Pass Reasoned Orders In Krishna Plastic Industries vs Controller Of Patents And Designs, the subject matter of the Appeal was an

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The 2nd Korea International Youth Olympiad (KIYO) 4I 2017

/ By / Event

I write to bring to your notice an opportunity for students from Class 3 to University Students. We could like to thank the Officer from the Patent Office (wished to remain anonymous) who tipped us regarding the opportunity and suggested distributing the said information for the benefit of interested students. Here is the full update, as reported on ipindia.nic.in (click here to refer to original report): “The 2nd Korea International Youth Olympiad (KIYO) 4I 2017 | Apply now June 05, 2017

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Is Patent Enforcement Anti-competitive? Delhi HC Expresses Some Caution!

/ By / Competition Law, Drug Regulation

The Roche: Biocon saga over Herceptin took a dramatic new turn recently. Before getting into the details, here is a short timeline for those interested (I have not included a list of all the suits filed, for the sake of brevity). The Timeline Roche sued Biocon and Mylan before the Delhi High Court, seeking to restrain their sales of a biosimilar of Roche’s breast cancer medication, Trastuzumab. Rahul carried an analysis of that order over here and here. In this

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