Copyright COVID-19 Design Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (January 17- January 22)


After a week full of interesting IP developments and some very interesting orders (!), here are our summaries for our blog posts, 15 case summaries and other 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   Examining Oppositions: Time for a Deeper Look Recently a monograph on patent oppositions was published by HNLU, Raipur and was…


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Trademark

Rooh Afza v. Dil Afza Part II: Meaning Found in Trademark Protection


In January last year, a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court in the case of Hamdard National Foundation (India) v. Sadar Laboratories Pvt. Limited had refused to grant an interim injunction preventing the defendant from using the mark ‘Sharbat Dil Afza’ which was alleged to infringe on the plaintiff’s mark ‘Sharbat Rooh Afza’. The injunction was refused on the ground that the marks were dissimilar and that similarity in the meaning of the words ‘Dil’ and ‘Rooh’ was not…


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Others Patent

Future of mRNA and win-win for all: Why we need the government to disclose its collaboration agreement


It is critical for the government to be forward-thinking. The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, a government department,  is reported to have provided INR 70 to 100 crores to Gennova Pharmaceuticals for its development of an mRNA vaccine for Covid. The mRNA technology is a versatile platform technology that has been heralded as a new era in vaccines. The platform used by Gennova (saRNA – self-amplifying RNA) overcomes storage / temperature issues that affected previous versions of mRNA vaccines. Unlike…


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Patent

COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Infringement? The Battle Between Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech Continues


The mRNA vaccine platform is a versatile vaccine technology that has the potential to treat several diseases. It has been heralded as a new age in medicine and several countries and companies all over the world are interested in it. However, there is uncertainty over who owns its main components  i.e. the mRNA and the lipids that coat the mRNA to enable delivery. Several intellectual property rights battles are being fought over this new technology. One of the main battles involves…


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Patent

Examining Oppositions: Time for a Deeper Look


As some readers may have noticed, there was recently a report published by Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur on patent oppositions. The report was also presented to DPIIT with suggestions on streamlining patent opposition process and enabling ease of doing business in India. We are pleased to bring to you a guest post by Sandeep K. Rathod critically assessing some key aspects of the report. Sandeep is a lawyer who comes with 2 decades of experience in pharmaceutical law, drug…


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Others

Kerala High Court on Publishing Judgments and Right to be Forgotten: Some Points to Ponder Upon


While remembrance often occupies a higher pedestal in our social setting, forgetting has its own charm! There is a reason muscle memory is often linked to remembering when forgetting may also require an active action! Why all this philosophical fodder suddenly on an IP blog …  Well … there’s a (new?) right in the town called the right to be forgotten (“RTBF”), an antipode of the right to know (or a right to remember, by a logical extension?) which is…


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Copyright

Welcome Clarification?: Police Commissionerate, Jaipur issues Circular on Section 52(1)(za) of Copyright Act


In this post our SpicyIP intern, Gaurangi Kapoor writes on the circular issued by Police Commissionarate, Jaipur on exempting the use of sound recordings during marriage ceremonies.  Gaurangi completed her LLM in IP and Technology law from Jindal Global Law School in 2022. Her current areas of interest are copyright, design and artificial intelligence. Welcome Clarification?: Police Commissionerate, Jaipur issues Circular on Section 52(1)(za) of Copyright Act Gaurangi Kapoor Post-pandemic not only brought back the wedding boom to India but…


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Competition Law Copyright Design Drug Regulation Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (January 10- January 16)


After another busy week here at SpicyIP, we bring out the quick summaries of the 6 blogposts that were put up, along with 12 case summaries and national and international IP developments for you. 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 Bill to Decriminalise IP Offences Misses the Mark and Dilutes Significant Provisions Discussing the proposed amendments to the IP…


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Copyright

V. Prabhakar v. M/S. Saga Films: Madras High Court on Interim Injunction and Section 12A of Commercial Courts Act


The Madras High Court, vide judgment dated 17 November 2022, held that the pre-institution mediation and settlement under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act is mandatory and rejected the plaint for injunction against the release of Tamil movie ‘Yugi’. Brief Facts The petitioner, V. Prabhakar, filed a plaint dated 16 November 2022 alleging that the movie ‘Yugi’ (which was to be released on 18 November 2022) infringed his copyright over the Malayalam movie ‘Dasharatham’ (released in 1989). The petitioner…


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Copyright Patent Trademark

Bill to decriminalise IP offences misses the mark and dilutes significant provisions


The Parliament is considering a bill that decriminalises offences across 42 statutes. Intellectual property rights statutes i.e. the Copyright Act, 1957, the Patents Act, 1970, the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Geographical Indications Act, 1999 are among the laws that are proposed to be amended. The objective of this bill is to increase the ‘Ease of Living and Doing Business in India’. The Statement of Objects and Reasons provide several general reasons for the bill including making India a…


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