202004.03
15

Rights over ‘MATRIMONY’ in the digital world

This post discusses on-going battle over ‘MATRIMONY’ marks. The word Matrimony is being offered by Google and used by various third parties along with various prefixes as key words to attract internet traffic as part of Google ‘Adwords’ program (now known as Google Ads). Matrimony.com has objection to such use by parties. The primary issues…

202003.24
15

Peps and Kurlon battle out over ‘No Turn”

Should a prior used mark though used intermittently be given higher threshold and protection than registered mark? The two companies in mattress trade are loggerheads over use of the mark NO TURN. The Plaintiff, Peps Industries Private Limited (Peps) filed the suit alleging trademark infringement and passing off to restrain the Defendant, Kurlon Limited (Kurlon)…

202003.23
16

Rajasthan High Court holds NEERAJ/NIRAJ not similar to NIRAB

Will difference in pronunciation in certain parts of the country leading to phonetic similarity be sufficient to grant an order of injunction? This is the crux of the issue in the instant appeal before the Division Bench (two judge bench) of the High Court of Rajasthan. The Plaintiff, Deepak Vegpro Private Limited (Deepak) filed the…

202003.20
15

Fourth factor in Pharma patent infringement cases

This post analyses the weightage of fourth factor that is ‘public interest’ in granting interim injunction in the pharmaceutical cases in light of an ex parte interim injunction granted in Novartis Ag & Anr vs Sun Pharmaceutical Industries [CS(COMM) 85/2020]. Facts Novartis Ag (hereinafter ‘Novartis’) on the basis of a patent (IN 237430) for their…

202002.12
14

Court rejects acquiescence plea and rule in favour of “Make My Trip”

The conceptual similarity of marks ‘Make My Trip’ and ‘Make My Travel’ and their abbreviation MMT is bone of contention between the parties in travel business. Make My Trip (MM Trip) filed a suit for trademark infringement and passing off against Make My Travel (MM Travel) alleging violation of statutory and common law rights in…

202001.06
13

Roundup of top 10 IP news and developments of 2019

There is never a dull moment in Indian IP scenario. The vibrant market is growing with courts taking up contentious issues in digital world, brand protection and Patent enforcement to provide stable IP environment. The law makers have been busy plugging gaps in IP policy and regulatory issues to encourage innovation. Our post briefly summarizes…

201912.23
13

Understanding the functioning of the Indian Trade Marks Registry

The increased adoption of technology has resulted in better efficiency and accuracy of records at the Indian Trade Marks Registry. It takes under 12 months to register a trademark; it used to take around two to three years. This article analyses the improvements that have been made by the Trade Marks Registry and remaining challenges…

201912.20
13

Dynamic Injunction for “Hydra Headed” Rogue websites

Dynamic injunction has been the newest device to curb the menace of resurfacing pirated websites. In a recent case, UTV & Ors. vs. 1337x.to & Ors., the Delhi High Court issued India’s first ever dynamic injunction, to put a leash or control the websites resurfacing with a different name, by extending the existing the injunction…