Author name: Thomas J. Vallianeth

Thomas is a final year law student at the National Law University, Jodhpur pursuing a B.Sc. LL.B. (IP Hons.) course. His first exposure to IP law was at a workshop that he attended in High School and ever since then, he has pursued a keen interest in the field. However, his real interests lie in the interfaces between Technology Law and IP, with an active interest in the Open Source movement.

SpicyIP Weekly Review (28th July to 2nd August)

/ By / Others

Our first post of the week was the SpicyIP highlight of the week, with Spadika reporting on the order of the CGPDTM dismissing an application by the IPAA challenging an earlier office order disallowing amendments which seek substantial alteration in the registration of trademark. The dismissal was on the grounds that prior to the order, the option of amending the application had been amenable to misuse, and restrictions on amendment are required in order to protect the bona fide rights …

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Anil Ambani sends a Defamation Notice to Prashant Bhushan’s Junior and Google

/ By / Others

Mr. Anil Ambani acting through Mulla & Mulla and Craige Blunt & Caroe served a notice for defamation to Mr. Prashant Bhushan’s junior Pranav Sachdeva for a blog post that the latter had uploaded. The post carried a complaint written by Mr. Bhushan to the Special Investigative Team on Black Money about the alleged money laundering activities of Anil Ambani and a show cause notice issued to M/s AAA & Sons, by the Directorate of Enforcement (read these here, courtesy …

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (14th July to 20th July)

/ By / Others

The week started with quite an interesting development – Merck and Glenmark were to mediate in the Januvia (Sitagliptin) patent infringement case. Madhulika reported on this, her post covering a brief history of the dispute, as well as making an important observation as to the trend of mediation being in vogue in patent cases. The other similar example that she points to is the Roche-Cipla case. She also points to the potential anti-trust implications that patent settlements might have. Swaraj …

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Disagreements at the WIPO’s SCCR

/ By / Copyright

The WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) was for the second time this year held up by disagreements between developed and developing countries. IP-Watch reports that the primary disagreements arose on what recommendations were to be made to the general assembly in September on the protection to be granted to broadcasting organisations or on the establishment of an international regime of exceptions and limitations for libraries and education. The developed nations seemed to want to focus on …

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Ashok Kumar Goes on a Rampage – 219 Websites Ordered Down in the FIFA Broadcast Case

/ By / Copyright

By now, everyone must have heard of the order passed by the Delhi High Court regarding the blocking of websites for allegedly infringing FIFA World Cup content. For those of you who haven’t, Multi Screen Media (MSM) Satellite recently sued in the Delhi High Court alleging that numerous websites have been infringing their exclusive broadcast rights in the FIFA World Cup 2014, and the Delhi High Court through J. Kameswar Rao granted ex parte relief. This post looks to analyse …

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (23rd to 29th June, 2014)

/ By / Others

Devika started the week off with a report on the 136th Meeting of the INTA. She emphasised on the fact that there was a sizeable Indian representation at the meeting and that some of the most pressing trademark issues such as parallel imports, ambush marketing and developments in well-known trademarks were discussed at the meeting. She also highlights the speech of Mr. Ram Awtar Tiwari, Assistant Registrar, Trademarks and GI, at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry at the WIPO’s …

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Plain Packaging and the WTO: IP Issues

/ By / Trademark

France is considering joining the ranks of countries that impose plain packaging requirements on tobacco products sold in their country. Plain packaging is the practice of packaging cigarettes and other tobacco products with a plain and non-distinctive wrapping without any visual or graphic material to suggest which company produces them. The companies can only imprint their names onto the packets in a small standardised font. The objective behind the measure was to counteract the promotional effect that the packaging of …

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SpicyIP Tidbit: India ratifies the Marrakesh Treaty for the Visually Impaired

/ By / Copyright

In an encouraging step towards promoting accessibility among the differently abled, India became the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, 2013. The treaty aims to increase the access that differently abled people have to copyright protected material. This will dilute an extremely formidable barrier to access to knowledge that the nearly 285 million visually impaired people around the world face. We had …

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Delhi High Court Grants Punitive Damages Ex-Parte in Two Cases

/ By / Copyright, Trademark

The Delhi High Court through J. Sistani delivered two judgements in trademark passing off and infringement suits that imposed punitive damages upon the defendants for their actions. In both situations the cases were decreed ex parte against the defendants. I shall deal with both of these disputes together in this post. Permanent injunctions were granted against the respective defendants in both cases. 1. Jockey International Inc. & Anr. v. R. Chandra Mohan & Ors. [Text of the judgment] Facts: The …

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Weekly Review (2nd June to 8th June, 2014)

/ By / Others

We started this week with Gopika’s post on the dispute between Anchor Health and Proctor and Gamble over the mark ‘ALL ROUND’ that was applied to their respective toothpaste products. She notes that the Single Judge’s decision was based on three primary issues – whether the mark was descriptive, whether it had fallen into disuse and lastly as to whether there was any infringement at all. The court relied on the doctrine of approbate and reprobate to determine the first …

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