Trademark

A Course Correction? What Rangaraj and Kamal Haasan Get Right about Personality Rights

/ By / Trademark

In a marked departure from prior personality-rights jurisprudence, the Madras High Court in T. Rangaraj v. Joy Cridzila and Kamal Hassan v. Neeyevidai seems to recalibrate the threshold for injunctive relief by tethering personality rights to demonstrable commercial misappropriation rather than mere unauthorised reference by the defendants. Arjun Ishaan analyses these orders and highlights how, by separating subjective reputational grievance from enforceable legal injury, the Court restores doctrinal discipline to an area increasingly prone to over-expansive claims. Arjun is a […]

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (January 12 – January 18)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

A post critiquing the Bombay HC judgment in Anand Khosla on the arbitrability of IP disputes. Does the DHC’s reaffirmation in Zydus v. Controller that patent examination and pre-grant opposition operate in different parallel raise concerns about natural justice? A post discussing the same. And another post examining DHC’s decision in Pearl Engineering v. Philips concerning stay of money decrees. This and much more in this week’s SpicyIP Weekly Review. Anything we are missing out on? Drop a comment below

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Caution! Trade Marks Protection through Online Service Providers

/ By / Others, Trademark

Through a public notice issued on January 7, 2026, the Office of the Controller General Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (“CGPDTM”) cautioned popular online registration services including “makeinindia.com”, “cleartax.in”, “startupwala.com” against advertising and solicitation of prospective applicants or clients through digital and online platforms. These entities reach out to stakeholders, offering assistance in trademark registration (brand names, logos, slogans, icons, etc.) through online services. The CGPDTM clarified that the abovementioned entities are neither “Registered Trade Mark Agents” nor “Advocates” under

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (January 5 – January 11)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

More on the DPIIT Working Paper on AI and Copyright – a post on lawful access while ignoring copyright law and a two-part post arguing that Copyright law is ill-suited to address labour displacement caused by GenAI! A post critically examining the DHC’s sweeping judgement on Domain Names. This and much more in this week’s SpicyIP Weekly Review. Anything we are missing out on? Drop a comment below to let us know. Highlights of the Week DPIIT Working Report: Lawful

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Striking Out the Giant: Delhi HC Reaffirms Territoriality in MLB Trademark Dispute

/ By / Trademark

In Sumit Vijay v. Major League Baseball Properties, the Delhi High Court recently held that the Toronto Blue Jays did not enjoy a trans-border trademark reputation in India in 1998, noting pointedly that baseball is not a popular sport in a cricket-centric country like India. Aditya Bhargava analyses how the Court uses this context to reinforce territoriality in trademark law, demanding strict, contemporaneous evidence of Indian reputation and rejecting global fame, internet presence, and abandoned registrations as substitutes. Aditya is

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Regulating Domain Name System: DHC’s Ex Ante Turn

/ By / Trademark

In a series of sweeping judgments on the Domain Name System, the Delhi High Court has framed anonymous and infringing domain registrations as a problem of systemic online fraud rather than routine trademark disputes. Vishno Sudheendra critically examines the Court’s wide-ranging directions, arguing that their ex ante regulatory turn is overbroad, raises serious data protection concerns, and blurs key doctrinal distinctions in domain name law. Vishno is a fourth-year B.A., LL.B (Hons) student at the National Law School of India

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Bata v. Leayan: Examining the Interplay of Sections 17 and 35 of the Trade Marks Act 

/ By / Trademark

The Delhi High Court’s decision in Leayan Global Pvt. Ltd. v. Bata India Ltd. turns on the uneasy interaction between exclusive trademark rights and descriptive use defences. Arshiya Gupta probes the Court’s see-saw framing of Sections 17 and 35, and asks whether collapsing these distinct enquiries risks blurring core principles of trademark doctrine. Arshiya is a third-year law student at National Law University, Delhi, with a keen inclination towards PIL, IPR, and criminal law. Bata v. Leayan: Examining the Interplay

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (December 29 – January 4)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

Starting 2026 with India’s top IP developments of 2025! 3 new posts for our readers, criticising the DPIIT AI-Copyright Working Paper. A post on the SHANTI Act, the possibility of getting patents for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. This and much more in this week’s SpicyIP Weekly Review. Anything we are missing out on? Drop a comment below to let us know. Highlights of the Week A Look Back at India’s Top IP Developments of 2025  What a year it

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A Look Back at India’s Top IP Developments of 2025

/ By / Competition Law, Copyright, Data Exclusivity, Design, Drug Regulation, Geographical Indication, Innovation, Patent, Plant Variety Protection, Podcast, Trade Secret, Trademark

[This post is completely human authored 🙂 These humans include – Praharsh Gour, Vasundra Koul, Arshiya Gupta, and Vikram Raj Nanda. Selection and Supervision by- Praharsh Gour, Swaraj Paul Barooah, and Bharathwaj RamakrishnanResearch Inputs from Yohann Titus Mathew, Riddhi Yogesh Bhutada, Ayush Shetty, Sumit Kumar Singh, Shailraj Jhalnia, Himanshu Mishra, Bhavya Gupta, Aali Jaiswal, Anushka Kanabar, Srishti Gaur, Arshya Wadhwa, and Daanish Naithani.] 2025 was quite an eventful year. On the judicial side, we saw a variety of novel developments, such

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Spicy IP Weekly Review (December 22- December 28)

/ By / Copyright, Patent, Trademark

This weekly review is authored by Vikram Raj Nanda.  From ‘bulldozer justice’ entering the Gen-AI copyright debate to courts pushing back against overbroad foreign discovery requests, this week brought some sharp IP questions to the fore. Also, if you still haven’t sent your submission yet for the SpicyIP-Jhana Blogpost Writing Competition, this is the chance to do so! The deadline is 11:59 PM IST on 30th December. Anything we are missing out on? Drop a comment and let us know.

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