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A Case of ‘Smart Copying’: ‘Peace Maker’ Restrained from Imitating ‘Officer’s Choice’

/ By / Trademark

Do you enjoy your whiskey? Would you mix up these two labels: Officers choice and Peace Maker? (image below). Well, it appears the courts think most consumers would. Finding these competing labels to be similar, the Delhi High Court (DHC) recently gave Allied Blenders an interim injunction against Hermes Distilleries following claims of trademark infringement of their label in Allied Blenders & Distillers (P) Ltd. v. Hermes Distillery (P) Ltd.,  This post assesses the propriety of the judicial examination of […]

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Wedding Bells or Warning Bells? PPL Refuses to Give an NOC to Play its Sound Recordings at Sangeet, Cocktail Party

/ By / Copyright

Recently, the issue of using sound recordings during wedding festivities popped up again before the Delhi High Court in Canvas Communications v. PPL. SpicyIP intern Reva Satish Makhija discusses the dispute and gives a nuanced understanding of the oscillating debate between the executive and judiciary on this issue. Reva Satish Makhija is a 3rd Year law student at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat. In her free time, she enjoys collecting old Bollywood movie posters. Wedding Bells or Warning Bells? PPL

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (January 29- February 04)

/ By / Copyright, Drug Regulation, Patent, Trademark

After an eventful week, here is our recap of its top IP developments. Last week we published 9 posts on topics such as the proposed Patent (2nd Amendment) Rules, the Delhi High Court-Butter Chicken Controversy, and developments regarding the public search and e-register feature of the TMR website. Don’t forget to check them out on the blog too! Highlights of the Week Comments on the Proposed Patent (2nd Amendment) Rules, 2024 In addition to the typos and ambiguity regarding the

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Semiconductors, IP & India: A Road Less Travelled

/ By / Innovation, Others, Overlaps in IP, Patent

[This post is authored by SpicyIP intern Pranav Aggarwal. Pranav is a second-year student pursuing B.A.LL.B.(Hons) at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab. He has a keen interest in commercial laws, especially in IP and allied fields. His previous post can be accessed here.] Some journals have a practice of providing research prompts on which people can potentially write. But I realised that sometimes prompts without a choice can work really well too. Swaraj shared a Youtube link and asked

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‘Plausibility’ and Admissibility of Post-Published Data in India

/ By / Patent

In May 2023, the UK Court of Appeal upheld the invalidity of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Apaxiban patent for lacking “plausibility”. But how does this finding interact with the position of relevant laws in India? Responding to this question, we are pleased to bring to you this guest post by Amit Tailor, discussing whether the “plausibility” requirement is embedded within the Patent Act. Amit is a postgraduate in Pharmaceutical Sciences from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali)

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Comments on the Proposed Patent (2nd Amendment) Rules, 2024

/ By / Patent

On January 3, 2023 the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) published the  Draft Patent (2nd Amendment) Rules, 2024 inviting public comments on the Proposed Rules. As discussed here, these hastily drafted Rules, full of typos and ambiguity, seem to enforce the amendments introduced by the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 and proposes to set up a new mechanism to hear complaints against offences under Sections 120, 122 and 123 of the Patent Act. The deadline to

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Restrictions on E-Register and Public Search Features of the Trademarks Registry Lifted (Finally!)

/ By / Trademark

Some good news for trademark practitioners! The restriction imposed on the E-Register and the Public Search features of the Trademarks Registry’s website is finally lifted, making them accessible 24×7. As discussed here, the restriction was imposed due to an increased load on the TM application and database servers. A big thanks to one of our readers for sharing the public notice lifting this restriction, in the comments of my previous post. Readers will recall that in our Annual Review of

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Food, Fights, and the Butter Chicken: Some More Thoughts on “The Mystery of the Real Master Chef”

/ By / Others

Yesterday, Aparajita penned a post “Squawking over butter chicken: The mystery of the real master chef” sharing her thoughts on the existing “Who Invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani” issue before the Delhi High Court in Rupa Gujral & Ors vs Daryaganj Hospitality Private Limited. While she has raised several interesting points, there are a few more issues, especially concerning passing off, that I believe need highlighting. This post attempts to make sense of the media frenzy surrounding the issue,

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Cybersquatting: Delhi HC on Infiniti Retail Limited v. M/S Croma – Share & Ors.

/ By / Others

The Delhi High Court granted ex parte permanent injunction against the defendant entities which were misusing Tata’s “Croma” for fraudulent practices. Facts Infiniti Retail Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, is the registered owner of “Croma”. The retail chain “Croma”, which was launched in 2006,  offers a wide range of retail products ranging from electronic products to kitchen appliances. The Trademarks Registry declared “Croma” to be a well-known mark on 24 February 2020. The plaintiff approached the Delhi

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Some Thoughts on the Draft Patent (2nd Amendment) Rules, 2024

/ By / Patent

[This post has been co-authored with SpicyIP Intern Pranav Aggarwal. Pranav is a second-year student pursuing B.A.LL.B.(Hons) at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab. His previous post can be accessed here.] On August 2, 2023, the extremely problematic Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 was passed by the Parliament. As highlighted by Aparajita, here and here, the amendments introduced by the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 dilute the obligation to submit the working statement and introduce new powers for the controller to establish

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