Aparajita Lath

Aparajita graduated from the WB National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. She was formerly an editor of the NUJS Law Review. She is a lawyer based in Bangalore. All views expressed by her on the blog are her personal views.

generic pic of magnifying glass over the TM symbol

We’re pleased to bring to you an insightful guest post by Harshavardhan Ganesan where he examines the growing trend and relationship between trademark applications and tragedies. Harshavardhan Ganesan is currently an LLM student at the University of California, Berkeley where he is specializing in Intellectual Property Law. Trademarking Tragedies: Of Brexit Beer and the Nirbhaya Bus Harshavardhan Ganesan While the recent political divorce of Britain and Europe was difficult to swallow for many both in Britain and elsewhere, an American…

Others

Supreme court on decriminalising defamation – the long and short of it

by Aparajita Lath June 5, 2016

2 Comments

On May 13, 2016, by way of a 268 page judgement (as uploaded on the SC website), the Supreme Court not only upheld the constitutional validity of criminalizing defamation under the Indian Penal Coe, 1860, but also created a new fundamental right of reputation under Article 21. As explained by Gautam Bhatia here, this is a dangerous move. This is also a ‘long’ answer to a straightforward question. I had written about the need to decriminalise defamation in a post…

Ritu Kumar v. Biba : Designs free at 50?

by Aparajita Lath June 2, 2016

2 Comments

Ambiguity surrounding the “design” and “artistic works” relationship continues to plague the industry, especially the fashion industry. The fashion industry has long been touted as one of the most ‘creative’ industries. One of the reasons for innovation and creativity in this industry is the market itself. This paper title “piracy paradox” and Shamnad’s blog here, reveal that in practise this industry suffers/benefits from the “piracy paradox” i.e. “Copying enables designs and styles to move quickly from early adopters to the…

Others Patent

India creates a ‘licence of rights’ system for GM patents: Is it legal?

by Aparajita Lath May 22, 2016

2 Comments

We are happy to bring our readers a guest post by Prashant Reddy – a prolific writer, a Delhi based lawyer and a person who otherwise needs no introduction on this blog! Through this incisive post, he examines in detail the legality of the “Licensing and Formats for GM technology Agreements Guidelines, 2016” published by the Ministry of Agriculture on May 18, 2016. India creates a ‘licence of rights’ system for GM patents: Is it legal? Prashant Reddy The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)…

Creative Constraints: A new Perspective

by Aparajita Lath May 22, 2016

2 Comments

In this post, Vasundhara Majithia, our SpicyIP Fellowship applicant, examines and puts to test the popular belief that copyright constricts creativity and provides a new perspective on whether copyright actually promotes creativity. Creative Constraints: A new Perspective By Vasundhara Majithia It is widely believed that copyright constricts creativity because it limits the rights of others to use the copyrighted information as raw material and thereby to come up with something new. While this might be true in most cases, there are quite…

Trademark

Delhi HC’s Split Views on the Apple Trade Mark Issue

by Aparajita Lath May 22, 2016

4 Comments

In this post, Prateek Surisetti, our SpicyIP-Fellowship applicant, examines the “splitview” trademark case before the Delhi High Court. [Editor’s note: A typo in the heading of one of the arguments which had earlier altered the meaning of that argument has now been corrected] Delhi HC’s Split Views on the Apple Trade Mark Issue by Prateek Surisetti On March 1st, a single judge passed an order restraining Apple from using the word “SplitView” on account of alleged passing off claims from a…

Innovation Others

From ‘informal’ to ‘in demand’: Commercialising grassroots innovation?

by Aparajita Lath May 14, 2016

Interplay between S. 29(4) and 29(5) of the TM Act : Smile at the Perils Past?

by Aparajita Lath May 13, 2016

2 Comments

We have for our readers an insightful post by Jasneet Kaur on the interplay between Section 29(4) and Section 29(5) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 in light of the diverenging views taken in the cases of Cipla Limited v. Cipla Industries Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. (2016) and Raymond Limited v. Raymond Pharmaceuticals Private Limited (2010), ultimately leading to a referral to a larger bench. Jasneet is an independent legal practitioner with extensive experience in trade mark law, having worked with the IPR divisions…

Others Trade Secret

Epic secrets untold: TCS told?

by Aparajita Lath April 23, 2016

3 Comments

Recently, a US jury found Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tata America International Corp guilty of stealing trade secrets and confidential information from Epic Systems, an American company. The amount of damages, awarded was a whopping $940 million, including $700 million as punitive damage. Epic Systems is a Wisconsin based company and is a leading provider of software to the healthcare industry. Epic maintains a web portal called the “UserWeb,” which contains information regarding its products, training material and other…

Trademark

Essel Propack v. Essel Kitchenware (Bombay HC): Wilful delay in taking action against trademark infringement may amount to acquiescence

by Aparajita Lath March 21, 2016