A snippet for those tracking trademarks — there are a couple of amendments to the Trade Mark Rules 2002 with effect from 20 May 2010. The key change is the expansion of the Fourth Schedule to include four additional classes of services to the existing list. The notification, which can be accessed here, mimics the list of services present in the Nice Classification, which is an international classification of goods and services for the purposes of registration of trade marks.

With all the controversy surrounding the trademark portfolio, currently in the hands of PH Kurian, the the current Controller General, news that the Intellectual Property Office has made available to the public, complete details relating to Trademark Registry is heartening to note and is another example of his continued efforts to increase transparency and public accountability in the trademark office. From the IPO website’s homepage, a short news report states that: “In a further step to achieve complete transparency in