Tag Archives: Bombay High Court

COVID-19 Trademark

Bombay HC Rejects Injunction Plea in Passing Off Action against Serum Institute of India for the ‘Covishield’ Mark


Recently, a Nanded-based pharmaceutical company, Cutis Biotech (‘Cutis’), had filed a passing off suit against Serum Institute of India (‘SII’) for the use of the mark ‘Covishield’. SII has been using the mark for the vaccines manufactured by it while Cutis has been using it for its products such as sanitisers and disinfectants. We had earlier informed our readers about the initial suit filed by Cutis in the Nanded District Court. The suit was subsequently filed in a Pune commercial…


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Copyright Drug Regulation Innovation Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 29 – April 4)


Topical Highlight Intellectual Property Rights in Covaxin – Part 2 (IP Ownership in Publicly Funded Research) In Part II of this post, Anupriya and Swaraj analyse the broader issue of IP ownership in outcomes of publicly funded research. They note that the government’s retention of IPR in Covaxin and the novel mRNA vaccine in the pipeline, would enable it to be in a position to share them with the rest of the developing world. They examine the patchwork of rules,…


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Copyright Design Patent Trade Secret Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 22 – 28)


Topical Highlight Delhi HC Looks Into Access And Innovation Questions On Rare Diseases In this post, Swaraj analyses an order issued by Justice Prathiba M. Singh of the Delhi High Court with regards to patients suffering from ‘rare diseases’. The order sets out three major directives: a) requiring the government to finalize the long pending National Health Policy for Rare Diseases, b) setting up of a ‘National Consortium for Research and Development on therapeutics for Rare Diseases’, and c) setting…


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Copyright Trademark

Copyright and Trademark Offences – Bailable or Not?: Bombay HC Also Weighs In


Recently, the Bombay High Court was faced with a controversial question of law while hearing an anticipatory bail application. The bail application was filed in response to a criminal report registered, inter alia, under Section 63 of the Copyright Act and Section 103 of the Trade Marks Act. The primary issue addressed by the court was whether these offences are bailable in nature or non-bailable. The court ruled on the side of the latter, holding these offences to be non-bailable….


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Copyright Design Geographical Indication Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 15 – 21)


Topical Highlight Sherlyn Chopra Case- Non-Consensual Sharing of Intimate Images/Videos, Obscenity Laws and Copyright Remedies In this post, non-consensual sharing of intimate images or videos from a copyright perspective, in light of the recent case filed against Sherlyn Chopra for sharing obscene content online. She first analyses copyrightability of obscene content. She notes decisions from Israel and England that have used grounds of immorality to deny copyright protection to works. She contrasts this with Indian copyright law where such grounds…


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Copyright Privacy

Sherlyn Chopra Case: Non-Consensual Sharing of Intimate Images/Videos, Obscenity Laws and Copyright Remedies


Factual Background The Bombay High Court recently granted interim anticipatory bail to actor and content creator Sherlyn Chopra, who was charged by the Mumbai Police’s cyber cell for uploading pornographic and obscene videos online. The Court directed the actor to cooperate with the investigation, report at the police station daily from March 15-17, and directed the police to report to it on the next date of hearing, which is March 23. In this post, I use this case to comment…


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Copyright Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 8 – 14)


Topical Highlight The Third to Tango: After Pakistan, Nepal Opposes India’s GI Application for Basmati In this post, Praharsh discusses the implications of Nepal joining Pakistan’s opposition to India’s application for registration of GI over Basmati in the EU. He noted that this could be the first IP dispute between the three South Asian countries.  He highlighted three major reasons reported for Nepal’s opposition: 1) Basmati is grown and consumed traditionally in Nepal; 2) Nepal has worked extensively with national and international…


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Copyright Geographical Indication Innovation Others Patent Publication Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 22 – 28)


Thematic Highlight A Draft “Open” IP Syllabus In this post, Swaraj shared the first draft version of an ‘Open’ IP Syllabus that he along with a small team of researchers has worked on in the last few months. The syllabus is aimed to contain materials that are legally and publicly available free of cost and outside of paywalls, touching upon diverse themes concerning intellectual property law. While the completion of the entire syllabus is expected to take some time, this…


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Copyright Others Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 15 – 21)


Topical Highlight Justice Prabha Sridevan on Govt’s Proposal to Shut Down IPAB and the Way Forward In this guest post,  Justice (Retd.) Prabha Sridevan notes that the Government’s proposal to scrap the IPAB is a welcome change. She argues that the functioning of the IPAB makes the two ostensible reasons for tribunalisation unsustainable: expert insight and speedy justice. She argues that regular courts are also more than capable of eliciting expert opinions, citing multiple cases where this has been done. Further,…


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Copyright Others Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 8-14)


Topical Highlight Breaking: Supreme Court Dismisses Application Seeking Extension of Justice Manmohan Singh as IPAB Chairperson Praharsh informed our readers that this week the Supreme Court dismissed the AIPPI application seeking another extension to the tenure of the incumbent IPAB Chairperson. The application for extension was a part of a writ petition which was disposed of by the court after tagging it to Madras High Court Bar Association decision. Praharsh highlights the issues taken up by the court – the laws regarding…


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