Delhi HC on remedies pertaining to trademark infringement and passing off

/ By / Trademark

In its judgment in M/S Mahashian Di Hatti Ltd. vs Mr. Raj Niwas, Proprietor of MHS, the Delhi High Court re-affirmed the differential evidentiary standards prescribed for trademark infringement and passing off. FACTS  The plaintiff uses the registered logo, MDH within three hexagon device on red colour background, in its business of manufacturing and selling spices & condiments. The aforesaid logo has been in use since 1949 in respect of various products such as “Kashmiri Mirch” and “Kasoori Methi”. Registered […]

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Presumption of validity of a (an Indian) patent

/ By / Patent

Prashant had some time back written about the Indian patent and trademark adjudication process. While reading this post, I revisited the section on patent and TM validity as provided in our patent/TM act and rules. Unsurprisingly, the Indian patent law does not provide for a presumption of validity of a patent, whereas under the TM act, registration of a mark is prima facie evidence of its validity. Recently, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in Microsoft v. i4i  case

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Tattoos: Can We Copyright That Too?

/ By / Copyright

Those of you who watched The Hangover 2 might have noticed the tattoo on the face of one of the actors, that looked curiously similar to the one Mike Tyson, the famous boxer, has. Interestingly, the tattoo artist responsible for designing Tyson’s tattoo went to the Federal District Court, demanding that the screening of the movie be stopped on grounds of copyright infringement. He claimed that the movie producers didn’t seek his permission before using the same design on the

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Roger Bates, Pharma Patents and Contempt of Court?

/ By / Patent

A recent piece in the DNA by Roger Bates and Suresh Sati advocates for stronger IP protection in India and the signing upto TRIPS plus provisions in the India EU FTA, using interlia the tantalising prospect of significant FDI flows that would resuscitate India from its abysmal poverty statistic. I was particularly struck by one of the statements in this piece, where the authors note: “India’s patent office and courts have seemingly bowed to pressure from powerful domestic producers to

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IIPS Annual IP Essay Competition, 2011

/ By / Event

The Institute of Intellectual Property Studies (IIPS) is conducting a national IP essay competition on “THE ROLE OF THE LEGISLATURE, THE GOVERNMENT, JUDICIARY AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISES IN PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN INDIA”. In the context of the roles of any of the specific bodies mentioned above, participants may choose any one of the following topics: A) Compulsory licensing of Copyrights: Public interest and entertainment industry B) Is open source policy a competitive alternative to monopoly rights or can the

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Patent Agent Viva: Sense, Sensibility and Constitutionality

/ By / Patent

I’ve received emails from several candidates who took the patent agent exam earlier on this year, decrying interalia the viva (oral exam) process, its inherent biases and the lack of competent questioning by some examiners. We did a few earlier posts elaborating on why the viva process is inherently flawed and why it has no reasonable co-relation to the conceptual soundness or otherwise of a proposed patent agent. When you’ve already addressed complicated patent queries in a written exam and

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Chairman of Raymond Industries under criminal investigation for patent infringement!

/ By / Patent

One of our regular readers, Irfan Modi, has brought to our attention this news report in the Mumbai Mirror regarding the criminal investigation of Raymond Industries and its Chairperson for alleged infringement of certain patent rights held by Mr. Bharat Bhogilal Patel. We had earlier blogged about Bharat Bhogilal Patel’s patents over here. As per the news that we had with us at that time, Mr. Patel was trying to replicate the Ramkumar saga by enforcing two of his patents

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‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ through Litigation – Sergi Transformers v. CTR Manufacturing Industries

/ By / Uncategorized

A recent judgment on the 6th of June, 2011 by the Bombay High Court (available over here and here), in the case of Sergi Transformers v. CTR Manufacturing Industries has finally concluded a series of appeals, counter-appeals plaguing this patent infringement suit at a stage when the Court had not even framed the issues. It is simply terrifying to note that the system allows for so many appeals and revisions at the stage of pleadings itself. This is the perfect

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Guest Post on the Tasini et. al. lawsuit against Huffington Post

/ By / Copyright

Sai Vinod Nayani, a fourth year student of NUJS has sent us this incsive post on the lawsuit filed by Tasini et. al. against the Huffington post. HUFFERS CRISIS! Claim for Equitable Compensation for Enriching the HuffPost by Sai Vinod Nayani This past April, a class action suit was instituted against Ariana Huffington and the Huffington Post by one of their blogger and labour activist, Jonathan Tasini, demanding a share in the $315 million sale of the latter to AOL

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Reforming the patents & trademarks adjudication mechanism in India – Why does the Indian IP Bar continue to sleep?

/ By / Patent

One of the major pitfalls of the current patents & trademarks adjudication mechanism in India is the multiplicity of forums which can revoke both patents and trademarks. Image from here. The Patents Act, 1970 currently provides for three forums before which a patent can be revoked. Under Section 25(2) the Patent Office can revoke a patent under a post-grant opposition. Under Section 64 both the High Court and the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) can revoke patents during the course

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