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.

Patent

Guest Post: ‘Interim damages’ in FRAND patent litigation: When did that become a thing?

by Aparajita Lath April 3, 2015

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Prashant Reddy has for our readers an incisive post on interim damages in FRAND patent litigation. Prashant Reddy was an integral part of SpicyIP for many years and is a prolific writer and a wonderful mentor! Formerly with Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, Prashant is now an independent IP consultant. For our other posts on FRAND litigation see here, here, here ‘Interim damages’ in FRAND patent litigation: When did that become a thing? -Prashant Reddy In the last few years we have seen…

Others

Media Freedom: Hetero’s response to statements of Director

by Aparajita Lath April 2, 2015

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The recent controversy surrounding statements made by the Director of Hetero Pharma (Mr. Srinivasa Reddy) in relation to compulsory licensing, which we covered here, and subsequent responses from Hetero, brings out a troubling issue for media freedom. To contextualize, after Mr. Srinivasa made controversial statements regarding Compulsory Licensing, Hetero was quick to distance itself from these comments, calling them ‘personal views’. However, Hetero also went a step further to state “We are also taking up the matter with the requisite…

PPL’s defamation notice: More subterranean censorship?

by Aparajita Lath March 30, 2015

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Certain members of the Telangana Chamber of Events Industry (TCEI) received a 9 para defamation notice from PPL for few comments made by them on Facebook. The TCEI is a non-government organization, which aims at developing the Events industry in the State of Telangana. The TCEI comprises of sub sectors such as events, light/sound/video, event caterers, event venues etc. It therefore also uses sound recordings for various events that it organizes. PPL, on the other hand, is a ‘company’ (actually…

Comparative Advertising Trademark

Comparative Advertising ― Havells v. Eveready: Who’s the brightest of them all?

by Aparajita Lath March 26, 2015

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As is known, every product has different features/characteristics and advertisers like to highlight only the most advantageous features and consequently remain silent on the weaker aspects of their products. In this regard, the main issue in Havells v. Amritanshu was whether or not an advertisement which compares one product with a similar rival product must necessarily compare all its features in order for it to be an ‘honest’ advertisement. The Delhi High Court held that failure to compare all the…

Trademark

You can’t have the ‘pi’ and eat it too!

by Aparajita Lath March 24, 2015

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Belated ‘Pi Day’! (Which did not fall on a Friday!) This post deals with the lately baked trademark issue of ‘π’ versus ‘π.’ (pi day is celebrated on March 14 (3/14) The trademark at issue in this case was the symbol pi followed by a full stop: “π.” (U.S. trademark registration 4,473,631). This registration was issued to Paul Ingrisano, aka “Pi Productions Corp” (a Brooklyn based apparel artist). π. is used by Pi Productions Corp to brand T shirts etc. (here and…

Many Shades of Grey: Omega v Costco and its Implications on Parallel Imports

by Aparajita Lath February 19, 2015

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On January 20, 2015 the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld Costco’s sale of Omega watches in the US, following the 2013 US Supreme Court decision in Kirtsaeng v John Wiley & Sons. Both decisions uphold the principle of international exhaustion and hold that the first sale doctrine applies to goods manufactured abroad. The ruling in this case reaffirms that copyright holders cannot use their rights to fix resale prices in the downstream market. As IPKat notes…

PPL v UOI: Delhi High Court

by Aparajita Lath February 17, 2015

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In January this year, the Delhi High Court considered a matter between the Phonographic Performance Ltd. (‘PPL’) and the Union of India. The issue in the case was whether the Registrar of Copyrights (Respondent No.2) has the power to grant licences over and above those directed by the Copyright Board. The Delhi High Court did not decide this issue as it observed that the petitioners had challenged the very decision of the Copyright Board before the Madras High Court and…

Trademark

Make My Trip/Tours/Travel/Yatra/Journey: Are you confused?

by Aparajita Lath January 12, 2015

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Recently, in an action of infringement and passing off brought by Make My Trip Pvt Ltd, the Delhi High Court granted an interim injunction restraining Make My Tours Pvt. Ltd from using their mark ‘Make My Tours’. The plaintiff was originally incorporated as “Travel by Web Private Limited” in 2000 and later changed its name to “MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt. Ltd” in 2002. The plaintiff, through its website www.makemytrip.com, offers a range of travel services and products, from air/train/bus tickets to…

Events

SpicyIP Events: IP Emerging Issues

by Aparajita Lath December 26, 2014

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University of Washington School of Law and Indian Society of International Law is organizing an exciting event on January 16, 2015 on ‘IP Emerging Issues Dialogue’. Many distinguished speakers from around the world including judges from the U.S., Australia, India, academics from Thailand, U.S., Japan, China and India, representatives from the WIPO, USPTO, Bayer (Germany), Microsoft (India) will be speaking on a global IP issues, Role of Patents in Medical Science Innovations, Access to Health Care, and Standard Essential Patents. Our…

Patent

Patent extinguished due to non payment of annuity

by Aparajita Lath December 24, 2014

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I used to think ‒ ‘he said, she said’ ‒ the classic ‘blame game’ rooted in miscommunication ‒ was the exclusive domain of love stories of 20 year olds. Apparently not. This blame game seems to have transcended from whimsical love stories to graver issues of patents. I was reading ‘IP Expressions’ and it is clear that payment of fees by the patentee, to keep his patent alive, has been around for eons! But this seemingly harmless administrative procedure has…