Mathews P. George

Mathews is a graduate of National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. His interest in intellectual property was kindled when he bagged the second position in his second year of Law School (in the prestigious Nani Palkhiwala Essay Competition on Intellectual Property). His stint as a student of Prof. Shamnad Basheer further accentuated his interest in intellectual property. Winner of almost a dozen essay competitions in his Law School days, he was involved in various research and policy initiatives relating to intellectual property. Mathews is, currently, based out of Munich, Germany. He had earlier done his LLM in 'IP and Competition Law' from Munich Intellectual Property Law Centre (jointly run by Max Plank Institute for Innovation and Competition, University of Augsburg, Technical University of Munich and George Washington University, Washington).

Website blocking and John Doe orders: Barking up the wrong tree? (Part I)

by Mathews P. George January 12, 2012

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by Kartik Khanna Kartik Khanna is a fourth year student of NUJS, Kolkata. He blogged very recently here. Bollywood has seen a growing number of John Doe orders over the past year. Spicy IP covered this trend here and here. While the previous posts discussed the advent of the tool in India, I will touch upon a substantial case of misuse of the same. Facts The Times of India, in a report dated December 24, 2011 (available here) states that…

Bikram Yoga and Copyright: A lot of ‘Hot’ Air?

by Mathews P. George December 25, 2011

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Guest Post by Kartik Khanna Kartik Khanna is a fourth year student of NUJS, Kolkata. He wrote for us in the past as well. [See here] Facts While India has been embroiled in patenting issues concerning yoga positions [here], a different storm is brewing in the United States. Continuing a long running saga, Bikram Choudhary, the founder of Bikram Yoga has filed a copyright infringement suit against Greg Gumucio, who is offering similar services through his brand, ‘Yoga…

Customs Dept. pulled up for overstepping its jurisdiction

by Mathews P. George December 11, 2011

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In LG Electonics India Pvt. Ltd v. Bharat Bhogilal Patel & Others, Delhi HC vide its interim order pulled up Customs Dept. for restricting clearance of consignments which, as per latter’s determination, allegedly violated patent. It was held that the Customs Commissioner (Imports), one of the defendants, violated Clause 4 of the Notification No.305/96/2004-FTT videCircular No.41/2007-Customs dated 29.10.2007 (“Notification”) and therefore, exceeded its jurisdiction. The judgment was not unanticipated considering that the Notification unequivocally precludes the Customs Dept. from initiating…

Trademark

8PM v. PALONE 8: Delhi HC on law on numeral trademark

by Mathews P. George November 3, 2011

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The Delhi High Court, in its interim judgment in Radico Khaitan Ltd v. Carlsberg India Pvt Ltd., inter alia examined the law on numeral trademark. [slightly long post] Facts: The plaintiff, Radico Khaitan Ltd, a leading manufacturer of alcoholic beverages, markets its products under inter alia “8PM”. The mark “8PM” was registered under both Class 32 (mineral water) and Class 33 (wines, liquors, whisky and alcoholic drinks). [Note: Though Class 32 inter alia contains beer, the plaintiff registered “8PM” in…

India’s desi AK – 47

by Mathews P. George September 30, 2011

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India may soon have its desi AK – 47, reportedTimes of India. It is expected to be more potent than the Russian made AK – 47. As per the report, the weapon which is developed by Tiruchirapalli Ordnance Factory in Tamil Nadu, is undergoing final rounds of evaluation. Not formally christened so far, the weapon is known as Tiruchirapalli Assault Rifle (TAR). The report traced the development of the desiversion back to a Defence Expo in New Delhi in 2000….

Issuing interim orders under S. 31 of Copyright Act

by Mathews P. George September 18, 2011

Note on Malar Network (P) Ltd. Vs. Arun Prasath D

by Mathews P. George August 26, 2011

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In this post, I shall discuss the Madras High Court judgment dated 28th March, 2011 which decided on an appeal directed against Single Bench Order. The judgment is available here. Facts The Appellant/Plaintiff Malar Network (P) Ltd., with an intention to engage in the business of Telecommunications, T.V. Channels, websites and related fields, registered the domain names “MALARTV.COM” and “MALARTV.IN” in 2005 and 2007 respectively under Class 38. The appellant, however, did not put them into use in the public…

"Manual of Geographical Indications Practice and Procedure" released

by Mathews P. George August 1, 2011

From Cola Wars to Whisky Wars: If anything has been ‘Made Large’, they are Commercial Disparagement and Copyright violations

by Mathews P. George July 24, 2011

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Guest Post by Prateek Bhandari Prateek Bhandari is a fourth year student of NUJS, Kolkata. He is the Co-founder & Manager (Website Development & Finance) of Lawctopus. In the light of various judgments on commercial disparagement, he analyses the possible violations committed by McDowell’s advertisement which was, however, later withdrawn. versus If you thought the cola wars are losing the fizz, check out what could have snowballed into a high ‘spirited’ new edition- Whisky Wars! UB Spirits launched…

Patent

Indian granted patents…diminishing focus on future enforceability?

by Mathews P. George July 19, 2011

17 Comments

Guest Post by Tarun Khurana Tarun Khurana, Partner in Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys and its IP Consulting Firm – Institute of Intellectual Property Research & Development (IIPRD), has over 10 years of experience in Intellectual Property matters. In this guest post, he examines whether the Indian Patent Office has lived upto the expectation of granting patents which are enforceable. Objective The Indian Patent Act, 2005, like municipal statutes of other TRIPS compliant countries, incorporates the patentability grounds…

Praharsh Gour { Hey Anon, Thank you for the comment and bringing this decision to my knowledge. I can only agree with you on this point. In fact if you read... }
{ There is also enough SC case laws to say that the suit can be thrown out if you suppress material facts. Every arguing lawyers favourite case - SP... }
Mathews George { The UK Supreme Court primarily viewed it as a contract law dispute. And based its reasoning on internal and external contexts surrounding the ETSI Policy. Having said that,... }
Praharsh { Dear Anon, Please note this second post is about when the trial phase is not being dispensed with, whereas Prof Basheer's paper is advocating the doing away of... }
{ Disappointing that none of professor Basheer's scholarship was cited in this post - he has an entire paper on whether interim injunctions are required in patent cases. }