ITC loses TM dilution case against Philip Morris

/ By / Trademark

We have an anonymous commentator to thank for pointing out in a recent post a Delhi High Court decision where ITC lost its dilution case against Philip Morris over a stylized logo of the popular Marlboro trademark. (Image from here) Readers will recall a post in October last year, around Diwali, when we had posted on the early days of the dispute here. I had received at the time a bunch of replies to that post, including one reader, Anshuman […]

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Latha Nair on 3 Idiots and Contractual Fairness

/ By / Copyright

Latha Nair, who has already graced our blog several times in the past, now writes on the “3 Idiots” controversy, which has been debated extensively on this blog here, here and here. In particularly, she focuses on the “contractual” issues arising out of this highly sensational case. I found her reference to Salman Rushdie particularly interesting, since newspapers are abuzz with Rushdie’s recent visit to India to oversee the adaptation of his magnum opus, “Midnight’s Children” by the legendary film

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Patent Office to make updated patent specifications available under Rule 27

/ By / Uncategorized

The Controller General of Patents – P.H.Kurian – has issued an Office Circular today stating that the latest updated patent specifications will be available, under Rule 27 of the Patent Rules, for inspection and that copies of the same will be provided to the public. Rule 27 of the Patent Rules which provides for the ‘Inspection of published applications’ states the following: “After the date of publication of the application under Section 11A, the application together with the complete specification

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Access to Food now an IP issue?

/ By / Others

Aggressive patent protection is now apparently leading two US based Non profit organizations to challenge patents of nut based product “Plumpy’nut”, owned by Malaunay, France-based company, Nutriset. The two US nonprofits want to produce a high-protein, nut based food product which is extremely beneficial for the malnourished/undernourished. The product provides 500 calorie dosages of vitamins and minerals, and several health experts have agreed that this type of product is greatly beneficial in treating severely malnourished children. (image taken from here)

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Beejasurs of the Indian seed market

/ By / Plant Variety Protection

A news item in the Economic Times (click here) is all praise for Mahyco, an “an Indian seeds company” for registering two varieties of genetically modified wheat. The seed varieties were registered under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Rights Act (Click here for a detailed exposition on the Act). The article observes that the entry of Indian players into the market will create competition in a market that is dominated by multinational companies. The multinational companies dominate the

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Obama-ization of the Special 301 Report

/ By / Uncategorized

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) is holding public hearings with respect to this year’s Special 301 Report. This hearing will allow interested persons to testify before the interagency IPR team. Interested parties including foreign governments wishing to testify at the hearing have been asked to submit a request to testify and a short hearing statement. The hearings are scheduled to be held in March. USTR will also be creating a Special 301 website with links to current and historical

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India to lead efforts in negotiating protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing

/ By / Biological Diversity

Of late the print media has featured several stories of India taking up a leadership position in Biodiversity Conservation. A recent press release has stated that India will be spearheading the developing country perspective in the upcoming 10th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the Convention on Biodiversity scheduled to be held at Nayoga in October 2010. The main agenda of this meet is the adoption of an international protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. India is also hosting the next

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Guest Post: No Man’s Land

/ By / Innovation

Here is a funny take take on the Innovation Bill by Suchita. Suchita will not be able to post regularly because of her job and other commitments. You should however be on the look out for guest posts by her once in a while. In our earlier posts (which can be found here and here) we have extensively dealt with the draft legislation, the National Innovation Act 2008. Its quite interesting to note that, yet to become law, this draft

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NUJS I(P)DEATE Series: Graham Dutfield on Traditional Medicines and IP

/ By / Innovation, Patent

The NUJS IP Chair and IPTLS present the first IP speaker in the “I(P)DEATE” series this year. Yes, owing to protests from certain quarters of engendering a classist bias, we’ve changed the name of our IP discussion series from “VIP” to “I(P)DEATE”. We’re very privileged to have one of the leading IP and development Scholars, Prof Graham Dutfield speak to us on “traditional medicines” and patents: Venue: Room 006, NUJS, KolkataDate: Jan 22, 2010 (Friday)Time: 3 pm to 5 pm

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Banyan Tree spreading its roots: Karnataka High Court on Jurisdiction

/ By / Trademark

A recent order passed by a Single Judge Bench of the Karnataka High Court has reinforced and strengthened the Banyan Tree ruling pertaining to jurisdictional issues in matters of trademark infringement. We are lucky to have a guest post on the subject by Nidhishree B.V., who was had worked on the matter and was able to give us some useful insights. Nidhishree graduated from University Law College, Bangalore University in the year 2005 as a gold medallist and rank student.

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