Author name: Lokesh Vyas

Lokesh is a PhD candidate at Sciences Po, Paris, where he examines the “genealogy of international copyright discourse (1850s–2000)” under the guidance of Professors Séverine Dusollier and Alain Pottage. He graduated from the Institute of Law, Nirma University, and later pursued an LL.M. at American University Washington College of Law as an Arcadia Fellow and Arodhum Scholar. He was previously a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. Lokesh is interested in questions of knowledge governance, which he enjoys exploring through historical and philosophical inquiry. He also takes a certain, steady satisfaction in essay competitions—having been fortunate to fare fairly well—securing, for instance, the first Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition in 2020 and the ATRIP Annual Essay Competition in 2024. He can be contacted at lokesh.vyas[at]sciencespo[dot]fr.

SpicyIP Tidbit: Additional Records Allowed Before Framing of the Issues Says the Delhi High Court

/ By / Trademark

Recently, on 6th March 2023, in Bennett Coleman & Co. vs ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd, a case concerning trademark infringement the Delhi High Court allowed the application for placing additional documents on records. But what makes this case worth tidbit-ing is the court’s open remarks and clarifications on adding new documents on record. The Court had stated that the “power … to permit additional documents to be taken on record if a party gives sufficient cause for not filing […]

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Madras High Court Directs the State Government to Issue a Notification for Establishing Intellectual Property Division

/ By / Others

In a recent writ petition filed by M/s.Galatea Limited regarding its pending case before IPAB, Chennai to be heard before the Madras High Court (MHC), the court directed the State Government to issue notification for the inauguration of the Intellectual Property Division (IPD). The court noted that “litigants intending to pursue disputes pertaining to intellectual property are left remediless for a long time after the abolition of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board.” Respondent’s counsel argued that the Registrar General has

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Numeral Marks, Passing off, Trademark Infringement – Delhi High Court’s All-in-One Approach? 

/ By / Trademark

Imagine a world where all numbers from 0 to 9 and their infinite permutations and combinations can be trademarked. In this unreal realm, Pinku, the owner of “89” can injunct Minku for using “82”, arguing that “8” is common in both of them. Now extend this logic to similar circumstances, such as 23 vs 28, 31 vs 91, 12 vs 21 and so on. Whoever uses a number first, gets to stop the next user! Now … what if you

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Honesty as a Defense vis-à-vis Trademark Infringements: Principle or Provision?

/ By / Others, Trademark

Our readers may be aware of Section 12 in the Trademark Act 1999 which allows the registration of identical or similar trademarks by more than one proprietor in case of honest concurrent use of some special circumstances. A few months ago, the provision was in the headlines saying that honest concurrent use (“HCU”) is not a defence to a trademark infringement claim. It came from the Delhi High Court’s (DHC) order in Kei Industries v Raman Kwatra (KEI-1), which came

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Kerala High Court on Publishing Judgments and Right to be Forgotten: Some Points to Ponder Upon

/ By / Others

While remembrance often occupies a higher pedestal in our social setting, forgetting has its own charm! There is a reason muscle memory is often linked to remembering when forgetting may also require an active action! Why all this philosophical fodder suddenly on an IP blog …  Well … there’s a (new?) right in the town called the right to be forgotten (“RTBF”), an antipode of the right to know (or a right to remember, by a logical extension?) which is

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IP Reveries: Class 5.2 – Interrogating India’s Drug Regulation System

/ By / Drug Regulation, Trade Secret

Prof Antilegend is back to greet you all on this yuletide! After brooding over the basics in the last class, this session (i.e. class 5.2) sieves through the Indian drug regulation system, which has attracted much attention in the last few months. For the previous class, please go here. And if this is your first time coming across the IP Reveries series, you can see what it is about as well as get links to our previous classes in the

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SpicyIP Tidbits: IPO deals with formalities and reasons!

/ By / Patent

We have two interesting IPO related tidbits for you. Read on ahead! 1. The Delhi Court rebuked the incomprehensible reasoning of the Assistant Controller of Patents & Designs: The incomprehensibility of judgments is not a new issue, and the Supreme Court has even given some tips for judgment writing recently. Surprising no one though, it still happens repeatedly, and this time a court gnashed at a gobbledygook(y) order. The Delhi High Court, in Art Screw Co., Ltd. vs The Assistant

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SITARA-D & SITARED are Not Similar, says the Delhi High Court: What about Consumers, Confusions, & Contradictions?

/ By / Trademark

This post is co-authored with Praharsh Gour. Trade mark rights are to protect both mark owners against the unauthorised use of their marks and the public from being confused about the source of the goods. In the case of pharmaceutical products, the equation changes substantially, and the prevention of confusion becomes more significant, given its disastrous implications for the consuming public. Aparajita recently wrote a thoughtful post on this issue. The present post brings a similar instance: Sun Pharma Laboratories

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‘Certificate of Registration’ Equals ‘License from Registrar’: Looking at Gujarat High Court’s Infringement Equation

/ By / Copyright

Copyright registration is not mandatory in India. However, one may register the same and it would be prima facie evidence of the registered details therein. But if a registered copyright is alleged of copyright infringement, can the “voluntary registration” come to its rescue? As per a recent order of the Gujarat High Court in Maheshbhai @ Kanbhai Haribhai Sojitra v/s State Of Gujarat, the answer is yes. This post examines this order and highlights certain anomalies that lie within or

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Taking IP “Rights” Too Seriously – A Look Through History

/ By / Copyright

In his independence day speech, the Indian P.M. Modi urged people to focus more on ‘duties’. Earlier, he said that a focus on “rights” has made India weak. Previously, President Droupadi Murmu also spoke of duties and Justice N.V. Ramana highlighted the importance of knowing our constitutional rights and duties. While I may share some sentiments with this ‘right-duty’ talk, such focus on rights-duties language makes me wonder if we are becoming dependent on “Right” in the sense of ‘right-izing’

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