This is an order passed by the Division Bench (two judge bench DB) of the Madras High Court in an appeal filed by the Appellant, Phonepe Private Limited. Phonepe is a widely used mobile phone application in India for digital payments and financial services. The mark Phonepe is a combination of English word Phone and…
Does using the spouse’s name entitle one to seek protection from a trademark infringement claim? The issue arose before the Madras High Court between two entities dealing in restaurants providing vegetarian cuisine. The Plaintiff, Sangeetha Caterers and Consultants LLP (SCC), filed the suit against the Defendant, New Sangeetha Restaurant (NSR), alleging trademark infringement, passing off…
PepsiCo challenged a PPVFRA order revoking the registration for PepsiCo’s FL2027 variety of potato The court dismissed the appeal, finding that PepsiCo had provided incorrect information as to the date of first sale of its potato variety The date of the first exploitation/sale constitutes important and material information for the application “The onus of providing…
This note briefly discusses the summary judgement passed by the Delhi High Court in a trademark infringement suit and imposing costs on the Defendant who deliberately refrained from taking part in the court proceedings. The Plaintiff, Whitehat Education Technology Private Limited filed the suit against the Defendant, Vinay Kumar Singh to restrain the latter from…
The Bombay High Court has allowed the marks PLASTO and PLAXO to co-exist in respect of similar goods falling in different classes i.e., flexible pipes included in Class-17 and rigid (nonmetal pipes) in Class-19. The order was passed by the Bombay High Court in an appeal filed against the order of the District Judge, Nagpur….
Can the disclaimer of individual words while seeking registration preclude the proprietor from claiming exclusivity over a composite mark containing the said words? This is one of the issues in the instant dispute before the Delhi High Court between two entities running restaurants offering Indo Chinese cuisine. The court concluded the only consequence of such…
It is a settled principle of law that special laws prevail over general laws. However, when the dispute is between two statutes, and both are special statutes in their respective fields which will prevail over the other is to be determined on a variety of factors, including (i) the subject matter in question, (ii) the…
After being cleared by both houses of Parliament, the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 (JVB) received presidential assent on 11th August 2023 and thus became the law. Several provisions in different Acts have been decriminalised through this bill by removing imprisonment provisions and monetary penalties rationalised. The post discusses the changes made by…
According to a recent report released by Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA) and the Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) in 2023, about 25-30% of the products sold in India are counterfeit. Further, around 60-70% of dietary supplements in the market are fake as per 2015 study by Assocham-RNCOS. Counterfeiting not only causes…
The aspect of reputation allegedly earned by the Defendants in the context of their services cannot be of much relevance when it is clear that the Plaintiff is entitled to assert its proprietary rights based on the registered trademark. It is settled law that when an entity decides to use a mark for its goods…
