Author name: Kartik Chawla

Neon Laboratories v. Medical Technologies – First in the market, or first to the registry?

/ By / Trademark

The case of Neon Laboratories v. Medical Technologies came up to the Supreme Court through an appeal from the judgment of the Gujarat High Court on the matter, which had confirmed the Trial Court’s grant of injunction in favour of Medical Technologies Ltd. (‘MT’), against Neon Laboratories Ltd. (‘NL’). MT had filed a suit against NL for injunction, damages and account of profits, on the basis of allegations of passing off. The post discusses the facts and issues of the […]

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Tidbit – LDCs: “Too poor to be news”?

/ By / Others, Patent

In a matter that remains largely ignored by most of the mainstream media, one of the greatest points of discussion and dispute in IPR at the international level has been the level of exemptions allowed for ‘Least Developed Countries’ under the WTO rules, for patents and other intellectual property related to medicines. On this front, international organisations such as Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and Knowledge Ecology International have been lobbying very strongly in favour of the proposal. Supporters of an

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been signed!

/ By / Others

In one of the most significant and, quite possibly the most damaging, developments in the IPR world in the recent past, the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (‘TPP’) has finally been signed! The document has been agreed-to between the United States and 11 other nations, including Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, and Mexico, from the Pacific Rim after nearly eight years of confidential negotiation. We have commented on the TPP earlier here, here, here, and here.

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Through the Looking Lenz – A discourse on Fair Use

/ By / Copyright

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week issued its landmark ruling in the case of Lenz v. Universal, arguably changing the face of fair use and takedown notices from the ground up. This post analyses the theoretical idea of ‘fair use’ in the context of the Court’s ruling in this case compared with existing Indian law, also commenting on the true nature of fair use in copyright law. Background The rather famous case of Lenz v.

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Weekly Review (14th to 20th September)

/ By / Others

Our Highlight of the Week this week is Mathews’ detailed and fascinating post on the PIL filed by Prof. Basheer on Patent Working in India, the third in its series. Having established the factual and theoretical bases for his argument in the previous two posts in the series, he starts of this post by taking forward the argument of the importance of the ‘patent working’ norms. He details the ‘patent working’ scheme as set in the Patents Act, 1970, putting

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Customer Polls – Free Speech or Trademark Infringement?

/ By / Trademark

Here at SpicyIP, we have repeatedly highlighted the many ways intellectual property law can and has been used, or perhaps ‘abused’, as a tool for supressing speech. The speech that is usually targeted is of a kind that the IP owner disapproves of, or doesn’t want heard, and which it then tries to suppress by claiming infringement. Very recently, it appears that Flipkart may have used this tactic to shut down an independent customer-review website! The website in question was

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Weekly Review (17 to 22 August)

/ By / Others

Our Highlight of the Week is Spadika’s fascinating post on the ‘Coalition for Affordable Drugs’, a series of hedge funds formed by American billionaire hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, and its strategy of using the ‘Inter Partes Review’ process to bring down the prices of drugs. She also discusses how Kyle Bass profits from the process by ‘shorting’ the stocks of the company in question. She points out the potential issues with the technique, noting that Celgene Corporation, one of

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SpicyIP Tidbit: David and Goliath, an IPR Story

/ By / Copyright, Overlaps in IP

In an interesting turn of events, we would seem to have a great David and Goliath IPR story on our hands. In proceedings at the Bengaluru City Civil Court, the Pearson’s Indian subsidiary has been restrained from infringing upon the intellectual property of a start-up, New Rubric Solutions. This post discusses the facts and circumstances of the case, based on available news-reports. Pearson’s is the Goliath in this story, being an international education giant which is also huge in the

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Khurana and Khurana and IIPRD’s Symposium on Strategies for Managing Pharma, Biotech & Chemical Patent Portfolios in US, Europe and China

/ By / Event, Sponsored

Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys (K&K) and IIPRD, in association with Sughrue Mion (US), Maiwald (Germany), and Tee & Howe (China) are conducting a Symposium on Strategies for Managing Pharma, Biotech & Chemical Patent Portfolios in US, Europe, and China. The Symposium will be held in Ahmedabad at Hotel Hyatt between the 5th and 7th October 2015, and in Mumbai at Hotel Hilton (Andheri East) between 7th and 9th October 2015. The details of the symposium are available

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Guest Post: Geographical Indications in India and Beyond

/ By / Geographical Indication, Sponsored

SpicyIP brings our readers a sponsored post by the International Trademark Association, in conversation with Latha Nair of K&S Partners, on Geographical Indications in India. [Long Post] Geographical Indications in India and Beyond INTA As the global association of trademark owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related intellectual property, the International Trademark Association (INTA) has been increasingly involved in the global developments concerning Geographical Indications (GIs). Below, Latha Nair (K&S Partners—India), who serves as Vice Chair for INTA’s Legal

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