Author name: Praharsh Gour

The Buck Stops At Freedom Of Expression: Delhi High Court Clarifies The Situation On Disparagement In Case Of Generic Comparison 

/ By / Trademark

[This post has been co-authored with our SpicyIP intern Ananya Dutta. Ananya is a 4th year student pursuing B.A LL.B (Hons.) from the Institute of Law, Nirma University.] In an extremely detailed order in Zydus Wellness Products Ltd. V. Dabur India Ltd., concerning the issue of comparative advertising and disparagement, the Delhi High Court held that “an advertiser ought to have the freedom to make advertisements with generic comparison highlighting the features of its own product..” thereby giving leeway to […]

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SpicyIP Tidbit: IPO Cannot Introduce New Objections During a Hearing, holds Delhi High Court

/ By / Patent

Of late we have witnessed multiple orders (see here, here and here)  from different High Courts wherein the courts, without touching on the merits of the case, have clarified the expectations from the orders of the Indian Patent Office (IPO). Usually, these orders concerned the lack of appropriate reasons and justifications in part of the IPO, while rejecting a patent application. In this tidbit, we shall discuss another order from the Delhi High Court where the court has asserted the

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SpicyIP Tidbit: CGPDTM notifies Trademark and Patent Agent Examinations

/ By / Patent, Trademark

IP developments in 2023 kick off with the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM)’s re-notification of the Trademarks and Patent Agents Examinations. While the Patent Agent Examination has been last conducted in 2022, after a 4 years gap due to COVID-19,  it is reported that the Trademarks Agent Exam is being held after a gap of 10 years! The previous notice, published in November 2022, stated that both examinations were scheduled for 7th May, 2023. However

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A Look Back at India’s Top IP Developments of 2022

/ By / Others

This post has been co-authored with Gaurangi Kapoor, Ishant Jain and Swaraj Barooah  Wishing our readers a very happy and healthy new year! In line with our annual tradition, we take stock of the top IP developments that occurred in 2022. This year, we have divided these developments into four categories: a) Top 10 IP Judgments/Orders (Topicality/Impact) b) Top 10 IP Judgments/Orders (Jurisprudence/Legal Lucidity) c) Top 10 IP Legislative and Policy Related Developments, and d)  Other IP Developments The decisions

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Indian Patent Office Comes Up with Revisions Fixing Durations of Adjournments Among Other Things

/ By / Patent

The pendency of oppositions and applications before the Indian Patent Office is an issue about which we have written extensively in the past (see here, here and here). Unclear timelines to adjudicate on, multiple adjournments by the parties contribute immensely in the soaring number of pending patent applications. (indicatively see here for Namratha’s post on DHC order repudiating a party for seeking repeated adjournments and not filing the written statements timely.) In order to improve the situation, the Indian Patent

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Delhi High Court Directs the Trademarks Registry to Transfer 5 Rectification Applications

/ By / Trademark

Last month Delhi High Court in Jumeirah Beach Resort Llc vs Designarch Infrastructure Pvt Ltd., directed the Trademarks Registry to transfer five pending rectification applications to it. While the court itself identified that there is no provision within the Trademarks Act that authorizes it to pass such an order, it nonetheless saw “no difficulty in directing the said transfer.” The court justified this on two grounds- 1) If the Registrar of the Trademark can ‘refer’ the matter to the court

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SpicyIP Tidbits: Delhi High Court Imposes Humongous Costs on Habitual Cybersquatter 

/ By / Trademark

In a case concerning allegations of trademark infringement by cybersquatting and passing off,  Delhi High Court imposed damages worth a whopping INR 2 Crores on the Defendant! The Defendant, one Namase Patel, was alleged to possess hundreds of domain names with deceptively similar domains- addobe.com and adobee.com. Furthermore, it was alleged that the defendant uses a catch-all function that enables them to have access to all the emails where the domain name of the recipient is misspelled. The plaintiff also

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Logo of FMC

Delhi High Court’s Decision Discussing Doctrine of Equivalents: An Exhaustive but Blinkered Exercise?

/ By / Patent

Concluding Round 2 of the FMC- Natco CTPR litigation saga, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court refused to interfere with the Single Judge’s order which had allowed Natco to launch its variant of CTPR. In doing so the court discussed ‘doctrine of equivalents’, relying extensively on foreign precedents. The doctrine is a contribution of American IP jurisprudence, which states that minor, colorable changes to a product, to avoid “literal” infringement, will still amount to an infringement if the

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (November 29- December 5)

/ By / Opportunities, Patent, Plant Variety Protection, Publication, Trademark

We bring you a number of IP updates this week!  This time we have quick summaries of 2 blogposts and 2 opportunities, followed by case summaries of 30 court orders and decisions and a few national and international IP developments. (Important IP cases that we’re missing out on? Especially from other High Courts? Please let us know so we can include them!)   Highlights  of the Week SpicyIP Tidbit: IPD Updates in Delhi, Calcutta and Madras High Courts. We discussed

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Never Gonna Give You Up? Discussing the Recent Patent Application Restorations by Delhi and Madras High Courts

/ By / Patent

On November 4th, the Madras High Court directed the restoration of two previously ‘deemed abandoned’ patent applications as well as the completion of examination of these restored applications within 6 months. The order, Chandra Sekar v. Controller of Patents and Designs (pdf), appears to be picking up on the not infrequent situations of applications being ‘deemed abandoned’ after apparent negligence from the applicant’s patent agent.  In this case, the applications were ‘deemed to be abandoned’ due to delay in filing

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