In the landmark judgment Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, the Supreme Court made clear that the state cannot intrude into personal privacy without meeting a three-part test. The intrusion must have a valid legal basis, pursue a legitimate state aim, and be proportionate to that purpose. In other words, the state can access…

The Delhi High Court, in a recent judgment of its Division Bench, considered the interplay between prior use, descriptive marks, third-party use, deceptive similarity, and limitation in a passing-off dispute concerning the marks HASLAB’S DIGESTO and DIGESTO PLUS. The appeal was preferred by Hahnemann Scientific Laboratory India Pvt. Ltd. against the order of the District…

India’s revised film-certification guidelines largely preserve the existing certification framework, but one change is likely to matter in practice: scenes involving narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances must now carry a prescribed statutory warning. For filmmakers and producers, the point is not merely editorial. Drug-related scenes may now require early compliance review during scripting, editing and…

Introduction An unchallenged order of the Trademarks Registry can have significant consequences in subsequent infringement and passing off proceedings. This was underscored by a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in an appeal arising from an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the use of DYNAFRESH against the registered trademark DYNA. The appeal was principally founded…

The High Court of Kerala, in an appeal arising from a trademark infringement and passing-off dispute, reaffirmed the importance of assessing competing trademarks from the perspective of their overall commercial impression, rather than by dissecting individual elements. The Court found that the prominent adoption of the registered mark “STAR” by former employees of the Plaintiff,…

Delhi High Court | C.O. (COMM.IPD-TM) 122/2025 Decision: August 17, 2026 The article discusses rectification petition filed by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited (Dr Reddy’s) under Section 57 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, seeking cancellation of Razenta Pharmaceuticals Private Limited’s (Razenta) registered trademark DAPLOGIN in Class 5. Dr. Reddy’s contended that DAPLOGIN is deceptively similar…

CS(COMM) 904/2026; I.A. 22515/2026 Background Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) filed a commercial suit seeking an interim injunction against Kwick Living (I) Private Limited, which operates under the BECO brand, over its multi-platform advertising campaign, #WarOnWhatsHidden. The campaign featured HUL’s Vim Dishwash Gel and Surf Excel products, their trade dress, and well-known taglines, while claiming that…

The Delhi High Court has once again emphasised the importance of long-standing use, statutory presumptions of validity and the likelihood of confusion in pharmaceutical trademark disputes. In an appeal before the Division Bench, the Court declined to interfere with the interim injunction granted by the Single Judge in favour of Zydus Healthcare Limited and its…

The dispute before the Delhi High Court concerns the alleged imitation of HAVELLS by the Defendants through their use of HAVAI on identical electrical goods. The Plaintiffs, Havells India Limited and Ors., allege that the Defendants, Havai Home Products Pvt. Ltd. and Ors., deliberately adopted a similar stylisation, device marks, colour scheme and overall trade…

The Delhi High Court recently examined the question of territorial jurisdiction in a trademark infringement and passing-off action involving the online presence of the Defendants. The Court considered whether the plaint was liable to be returned under Order VII Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”) where the Plaintiff carried on business…

Executive Summary: The Indian Patent Office has introduced a structured framework for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in patent examination. AI may support classification, prior-art searches, translation, technical analysis and drafting, but every output must be treated as preliminary and independently checked. Confidential or unpublished information must not be entered into public AI tools,…

The Calcutta High Court, in a dispute concerning the use of the mark “PRO” in relation to footwear falling under Class 25, considered whether the use of “PRO BALANCE” by Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands Limited and its associates amounted to infringement and passing off of Khadim India Limited’s registered “PRO” trademark. The Court, while considering…