Author name: Inika Charles

Inika is a fifth year student at National Law University, Jodhpur, and is on the founding Board of Editors of the Journal of Intellectual Property Studies. She has a strong interest in Intellectual Property, and is fascinated with the intersection of IP with Technology and Media law. You can contact her at [email protected], or on Twitter: @inikacharles

Bombay HC Full Bench Rules on the Interplay Between Sections 29(4) and 29(5) of the TM Act – Part II

/ By / Trademark

While Part I was concerned with the background to this dispute, this post concentrates on the reasoning of the Full Bench, as well as analyses its jurisprudential impact. Holding of the Court The Court held that the plain language used in sub-sections (4) and (5) answered the questions at hand. It was noted that 29(4) uses the words “in the course of trade” and “in relation to goods and services” which were absent in 29(5). Conversely, “as his trade name […]

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Copyright-ing Fictional Characters: Bombay HC Permits Release of ‘Rangoon’

/ By / Copyright

There is an interesting copyright dispute brewing at the Bombay High Court over the newly released movie ‘Rangoon’. Wadia Movietone Pvt. Ltd. (Wadia) filed a suit against the director of the movie, Vishal Bhardwaj for alleged copyright infringement regarding his new film, Rangoon. Unfortunately, the order uploaded onto the Bombay High Court website does not go into the factual background, or the arguments made by the parties, but permits the conditional release of Rangoon. Justice K.R. Shriram stated that while

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 26 – March 4)

/ By / Others

Starting off the week, Pankhuri brought us a reminder on the upcoming deadline for the SpicyIP Fellowship 2017-18. Applications close in five days (the 10th of March), and please refer to her post for all relevant details on the Fellowship. Our highlight of the week is Prateek’s detailed six-part post on a series of European cases that deal with shape and functional trademarks: In Part I, Prateek introduced his six-part series by first, reproducing Indian and European law on the

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Printing the Bhagavad Gita: Copyright Protection of Translations

/ By / Copyright

The Bombay High Court recently passed an interim injunction to restrain publication of a translated version of the Bhagavad Gita by Thomson Press. (Read the order here). The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (“BBT’) claimed copyright in Srimad Bhagvatam, a translated, reprinted version of the Bhagavad Gita. BBT contested that Thomson Press had reprinted a ‘classic’ version of Srimad Bhagvatam, a translation in which they held copyright. Further, they argued that there was no license agreement for the publication of this and

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Trademark Protection amidst the Jolly LLB 2/Bata Controversy

/ By / Trademark

  The State v. Jolly LLB 2 (“Jolly LLB 2”) isn’t having an entrance as cheerful as one would expect from its title, as it seems to have found itself in the middle of several legal issues. While their run in with the censor board was recently resolved, I will be focusing on the question of trademark disparagement, infringement and dilution with regards to their spat with Bata. Background Although the Central Board of Film Certification (“CBFC”) had cleared Jolly

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Sony Music v. Raj TV: Reading between the Lines

/ By / Copyright

On the 12th of December, 2016, the Madras High Court passed a brief order in the case of Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. v. Raj Television Network Ltd. (read the order here). The Court restrained Raj TV from using the sound recordings and images owned by Sony, as well as synchronizing Sony’s underlying musical and literary works with visuals to create cinematographic films. While the order doesn’t go into the specifics of the factual background, Sony Music filed this

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The Flintobox Story: Of Amazon’s ‘Automated Keywords’ and Google’s Adword Policy

/ By / Trademark

Flintobox, a Chennai-based startup that focuses on child development, is a name that has been buzzing around the news recently. On the 19th of December, 2016, Arunprasad Durairaj, one of the founders of Flintobox, uploaded a blog post that turned into a social media campaign within a couple of days. He shared their conflict with Amazon and Google with regard to Amazon’s use of adwords that mirrored Flintobox’s registered trademark. Such use resulted in directing away traffic that was presumably

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (January, 1-7)

/ By / Others

First things first – we at SpicyIP wish our readers a wonderful year ahead! Our topical highlight of the week is our coverage of the landmark first decision to deal with Summary Judgements under Order 13A of the Civil Procedure Code – by the Delhi High Court in the case of Bright Enterprises Private Ltd. & Anr. v. MJ Bizcraft LLP & Anr. I first summarize the facts of the case, before listing the highlights of the order: The Court stressed

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Delhi HC Passes Landmark First Order on Summary Judgement Proceedings Under Order 13A of the CPC

/ By / Others, Trademark

In a succinct and very well written order, Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar of the Delhi High Court delivered the first ever decision to interpret Summary Judgement Proceedings under Order 13A of the Civil Procedure Code (‘CPC’). Passed on the 4th of January, 2016 – this case: Bright Enterprises Private Ltd. & Anr. v. MJ Bizcraft LLP & Anr. (read the order here) was originally instituted to claim a permanent injunction restraining inter alia trademark infringement and dilution

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Delhi HC Overrules AAR Formula One Decision on Incidental Trademark Use

/ By / Trademark

In Formula One World Championship Limited v. Commissioner of Income Tax (the order is available here), the Delhi High Court on the 30th of August this year, overruled an order of the Authority for Advance Ruling (‘AAR’) on the incidental usage of the trademarks and logos owned by Formula One Licensing B.V. by Jaypee Sports Limited (‘Jaypee’) in the organisation and promotion of the Formula One Grand Prix in India (‘Grand Prix’). The Grand Prix, that saw three editions in

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