"Concept level rethinking" helps Virgin survive pre-grant from Jet

/ By / Patent

In a matter closely tracked by patent attorneys and the aviation sector for some years now, the Chennai Patent Office last week finally issued its decision on the opposition filed by Jet Airways and the UK-based Contour Airspace Ltd in favour of the patent applicant, i.e., Virgin Atlantic Airways. You can download and read the 128-page decision here. This case, as you will gather, involves a complex series of events, including the filing of two oppositions, and a parallel re-examination […]

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The bruising battle over the ‘Orchid’ trademark: From Bombay to Chennai

/ By / Trademark

The hospitality services sector in India has always had its fair share of IP litigation. One of the more recent and most interesting cases revolves around the ‘Orchid’ trademark which is being litigated before no less than 3 forums – the Bombay High Court, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and the Registrar of Trademarks at Chennai. (Image from here) The litigation before all three forums were initiated by the Mumbai based, Kamat Hotels (India) Ltd. (KHI) against the Bangalore

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Patent strategy: Filing a provisional patent application (specification)

/ By / Innovation, Patent

Inventors often have many questions related to patent filing and some general ideas about patenting.  But the question that I am asked many times is about the procedure, costs and how/where to start.  I usually advise inventors to go for  provisional patent application (called as a provisional specification in India) first.  This post provides a basic overview of provisional applications, and lists out the pros and the cons.  It would be beneficial to inventors who are looking forward to take their

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"Creation of the WTO" videos

/ By / Uncategorized

A very interesting set of video interviews with many of the people involved in and during the birth of the WTO have been compiled and put on a youtube channel available here. Prof Gabrielle Marceau initiated this project. As described on the channel, “This project began as a tribute to Ambassador Paul Trân Van Thinh on the occasion of his 80th birthday. We set out to retrace, through interviews with friends and colleagues, Paul Trân’s exceptional journey. Paul Trân, who

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Our Hunt for New Talent

/ By / Uncategorized

As mentioned in an earlier post, we’re hunting for new talent at SpicyIP. “Our lights have been dimming of late, and we need some bright sparks to join the SpicyIP team. Therefore, if you think you have what it takes to be a consistent blogger with a keen eye for IP issues and new/creative ways for thinking about them, please send us an email on ipchairnujs [at] gmail.com. Please mention why you think you might be a good fit for

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The Dewarists Television Show in Copyright Trouble?

/ By / Copyright

The Dewarists, a television program produced by Star India, which follows musicians from different parts of the world, collaborating to produce original compositions, while travelling across India. has received critical acclaim from viewers since it was first broadcast a month or so ago. But like many television shows that exceed expectations and have surging popularity, it too has become immersed in a copyright dispute. It is reported that the Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the producers of

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Finally, an Indian music composer gets sued for allegedly copying a foreign melody!

/ By / Copyright

In a decision that is bound to have an impact on the creative faculties of Indian music composers, Justice Manmohan Singh of the Delhi High Court on the 21st of September, 2011 acting on a copyright infringement claim, filed by Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt, has passed an ex-parte interim injunction against Deepak Dev, an awarding-winning music composer from Kerala; and the producers & distributors of the Malyalam movie ‘Urmi’. The order however is restricted to the proposed release of the

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Delhi HC dismisses Bayer’s plea against Natco’s CL

/ By / Uncategorized

In a short order, the Delhi High Court dismissed, as withdrawn, a writ petition filed by Bayer against the publication of Natco’s CL application by the Controller General of Patents. The same petition had been filed by Bayer before the Bombay High Court earlier this month. We blogged about it over here. The order of the Delhi High Court has been pasted before: O R D E R  16.11.2011 The petitioner impugns the order dated 11.08.2011 passed by the Controller of

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Should T-Series challenge the constitutionality of the CCI?

/ By / Competition Law, Copyright

A few weeks ago Shan had carried this interesting post on a complaint made by HT Media to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the Super Cassettes Industries Ltd (SCIL) a.k.a. T-Series. HT Media owns several radio stations, which want to play the music owned by SCIL and both parties are unable to agree on the rate of a reasonable royalty.  The essence of the complaint, as reported by Mint (which is owned by HT Media), is that T-Series,

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Guest Post: The Lady Gaga Decision

/ By / Uncategorized

I’m glad to bring our readers, this excellent guest, on celebrity domain names, by Amba Kak, a fourth year law student at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). In this post, Amba discusses an international domain name dispute with significant repercussions for celebrity fan websites. The Lady Gaga Decision: Fan sites, legitimate interests and bad faith By Amba Kak A few months ago, the National Arbitration Forum, international adjudicatory body for domain name disputes, decided that a celebrity fan

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