Does registration of a composite mark confer on the proprietor monopoly over prominent features of the mark? This is the crux of the issue in the lis between two entities dealing in perfumes and fragrances. The Plaintiffs, Lifestyle Equities C.V. and Ors (Lifestyle) has filed suit against the Defendants, Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club…

In the real world, we are territorially bound. In the virtual world, the boundaries do not exist. In the given scenario, application of the law of the land to the virtual world without any metes and bounds is a debatable territory. In one of the recent cases, Swami Ramdev v. Facebook [CS (OS) 27/2019], the Delhi…

The Trademarks Registry recently received a directive from the Delhi High Court to lay down the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be borne in mind by the officials working at the Registry to improve efficiencies and facilitate the process of prosecution and other related matters. The directions have been issued in the case of writ…

The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications (Patent and Trademark Office) issued annual report for the year 2017-2018 analyzing how the office has performed. Listing out important achievement in terms of improvement in IP administration, digital reforms and reengineering of IP procedures that has resulted in decreased pendency and…

The Indian Patent Office has notified Patent amendment rules on December 4th 2018 which after stakeholders consultation have now been finalized. The major changes brought by the rules are: Encourage electronic submission of documents: In order to further digitize the operations and move towards paperless office, the new Rules require that all documents including executed form…

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) created with much fanfare in 2003 with avowed objective of reducing the backlog has proved to be ineffective with cases languishing for years. The current chairman retired in September 2019 and no appointment of Chairman or Technical member (Patent and Copyright) has been made. This has brought functioning of…

Can the use of a house mark be sufficient to identify the origin of the goods so as to avoid confusion and deception? The parties in Meso Private Limited v Liberty Shoes Ltd (Commercial Appeal No 362 of 2019 in COMM Notice of Motion (L) No 1184 of 2019) were vying for the rights to…

Sun Pharma Laboratories Ltd (Sun) has filed this suit before the Delhi High Court to restrain the Defendant, Ajanta Pharma Ltd (Ajanta) from using the mark GLOTAB. Sun and Ajanta are registered proprietors of the GLOEYE and GLOTAB marks respectively both of which are used for treating eye ailments. Interestingly both parties’ products are registered…

Indian Patent Office (IPO) is trying to walk the path that t USPTO paved in 2006 by extending its first PPH program to the Japanese patent office (JPO) on a pilot basis. To implement PPH, the Indian patent office has brought amendment in the Patent Rules 2003 notified in September 2019. The objective is to…

The filing of working statement is a peculiar requirement under the Indian Patent Act. Section146 (1) read with Rule 131 (2), requires every Patent holder to submit before 31st March, a statement on Form 27 to declare whether a Patent has been worked or not in India. The structure of the form and details required to be…