Author name: Praharsh Gour

Praharsh Gour is an Editor and Researcher at SpicyIP, where he writes on developments in intellectual property law, innovation policy, and international trade. His work focuses on the intersection of IP and international trade, particularly the realpolitik implications of global IP enforcement for the Global South, including questions of access, regulatory governance, and institutional reform. He holds a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from Hidayatullah National Law University and a Master’s degree from South Asian University. Prior to joining SpicyIP, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, where he assisted in matters concerning countervailing duties, antidumping, and safeguard investigations.

SpicyIP tidbit: Reports Suggest that Centre is Pulling Back the Contentious Broadcasting Bill

/ By / Others

As reported by Rishi Raj for the Financial Express on August 19, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has decided to withdraw the contentious Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill. Though it has been reported that the Bill is being withdrawn because the government feels that existing laws are sufficient to address any issues that may arise, the Bill was extensively criticised for muffling free speech in the country and imposing excessive checks on online content creators and social media influencers. Though I

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CGPDTM Issues Order to Re-validate TM Orders Passed by Contractual Staff 

/ By / Trademark

In the aftermath of the very recent controversy surrounding the reports of Trademark orders being passed by contractual staff employed through the Quality Council of India (QCI), the CGPDTM has issued an office order (dt. August 13, 2024) explaining the mechanism to revalidate these orders. This office order comes in light of the DPIIT’s direction to form a committee of officers for the above exercise, as pointed out by Sabeeh in his post above.  As per the devised mechanism, two

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SpicyIP Tidbit: BHC Directs Patanjali to Pay Additional 4 Crores in a Trademark Infringement Dispute 

/ By / Trademark

[This tidbit is co-authored with Sumedh Gadham. Sumedh is a second-year law student enrolled at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). He is interested in intellectual property, tech law, and policy. His previous posts can be accessed here.] After being directed to deposit INR 50 lakhs, the Bombay High Court has reportedly imposed a hefty cost of INR 4 Crores on the company. As per the Livelaw’s report above, the Court, while disposing Mangalam Organics’ petition for contempt proceedings,

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A Sigh of Relief for IPO Officers as Ministry of Commerce Scraps 259(!) Show Cause Notices

/ By / Patent

On July 8, Ananthakrishnan G in the Indian Express reported that the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has ordered withdrawal of the 159 show cause notices issued to different officers of the Indian Patent Office. This move seemingly comes after the proceedings at the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) where the All India Patent Officers Welfare Association (the petitioner) had argued that the power to issue these show cause notices lies with the MoC’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

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CGPDTM Announces Dates for 2025 Trademark and Patent Agent Exams

/ By / Patent, Trademark

The office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) on July 2, has notified the 2025 Patent and Trademarks Agent Exams. The Trademark Agent Exam is likely to be held on  January 04, 2025 and the Patent Agent Exam is likely to be held on January 5, 2025. Both the exams will be organized in 13 locations (one less than the number of locations for 2024 exams.) This time the exams will be organized in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal,

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Karnataka High Court Forms a Sub-Committee to Draft IPD Rules

/ By / Copyright, Design, Geographical Indication, Patent, Plant Variety Protection, Trademark

In an important development, the Karnataka High Court on June 20 released a notification forming a sub-committee to draft rules for establishing an IP Division. The sub-committee comprises Registrar (Judicial), Karnataka High Court (the position is presently held by Mr. E. Rajeeva Gowda)  and Prof. Dr. Arul Scaria, Associate Professor, NLSIU, Bangalore. With this, the Karnataka High Court seems to be the latest High Court on its way to establish a dedicated IP Division. In the gamut of high courts,

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Irregularities in the Patent Examiner Recruitment Exams? DHC to Decide on the Allegations

/ By / Patent

On June 16, the much awaited results of the three phrased exams for the recruitment of Patent Examiners were declared by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Originally meant to recruit 553 Examiners, as per the results, the NTA has “provisionally” recruited 550 Examiners who will then be subjected to another round of verification by the Controlling Authority. In a trifecta of controversies for both the NTA and the Patent Examiner recruitment process, we have now learnt that a writ petition

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DHC Imposes INR 217 Crores as Damages in a Patent Dispute, Mostly Relying on Estimates

/ By / Patent

The May 16 judgement of the Delhi High Court in Communication Components Antenna v. Mobi Antenna Technologies got every litigant’s antennas up for its imposition of damages of INR 217 Crores on the defendant! In a 83 paged decision authored by Justice Jyoti Singh, the judgement (hopefully) ends a 14 year old patent infringement dispute between TenXc Wireless Inc. (whose patent was later acquired by the present plaintiff- Communication Components Antenna INC) and Mobi Antenna Technologies (the defendant). The suit

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Finally, WIPO Adopts a Treaty on IP, Genetic Resources and Associated TK! But at What Cost?

/ By / Patent, Traditional Knowledge

25 years since Colombia first brought the issue of protection of IP rights of indigenous communities, and 14 years since the Text based negotiations on the agreement commenced, WIPO finally adopted a Treaty on IP, Genetic Resources (GR) and Associated Traditional Knowledge (TK) on May 24, 2024. Adopted in the recently concluded Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, 2024, the Treaty is the fruit of the WIPO’s special body’s (Intergovernmental Committee on IP and Genetic Resources, Traditional

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What’s in a Name? Taking a look at IPO’s Interesting Observations on Benami Pre-Grant Oppositions

/ By / Patent

The recent decision of the Indian Patent Office in Suman Das v. Arcelormittal (Application no. IN 201717013441) emphasizes the need to pay attention to the content of the opposition itself instead of focusing on the identity and qualifications of the opponent – a point often repeated in previous posts on the blog (see here, here, and here). Considering that it’s only a tidbit we are not going into the merits of the case and interested readers can refer to the

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