This is an appeal before the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the order of the Commercial Court, Indore. The gist of the appeal is the interpretation of the agreement entered into between the parties in the year 2015 in relation to transfer of various trademarks upon payment of the agreed consideration. Facts in a nutshell…

The note discusses the cancellation petition filed by GSK Consumer Healthcare SA (GSK) against the Respondent Celebrity Biopharma’s (Celebrity) registration for the mark OTRINIR. GSK sought cancellation based on their prior adoption and use of the mark OTRIVIN. While deciding the case, the Delhi High Court has discussed in detail the Anti-dissection and common-to-trade rule…

This note briefly sums up the judgement passed by the Madras High Court in a suit between two entities dealing in ‘bitumen emulsion.’ The Plaintiff, Hindustan Colas Private Limited (Hindustan) filed the suit against the Defendant, Muthoos Enterprises (Muthoos), alleging copyright infringement, passing off, and consequential reliefs. Hindustan’s case: They adopted the mark ‘Hincol’ along…

Premier SPG opposed the registration of PREMIER LEAGUE in Class 25 based on its PREMIER marks and PREMIER-formative marks in the same class The court found that there was no deceptive similarity between the marks and that the only common element was theword ‘Premier’ Premier SPG clearly could not have a monopoly over the word…

This is an order passed by the Division Bench (Two Judge bench) of the Madras High Court in an appeal against the order of the Single Judge. The Plaintiff, TVS Electronics Limited, filed the suit against the Defendant, Jitender Kumar, alleging trademark infringement, passing off, etc., and to restrain the latter from using the mark…

This post summarizes an order passed by the Division Bench (Two Judge Bench) of the Madras High Court in an appeal against the order of the Single Judge granting an injunction in favour of Britannia Industries. The Plaintiff, Britannia Industries Limited (Britannia) filed the suit against the Defendant, ITC, before the Madras High Court alleging…

Facts of the case: The Design office has up until now taken the view that GUI is not capable of being registered as a Design for the following reasons: The graphic user interface, i.e., display screen for hand-held computing devices, is a function of a computer screen, which is an application based on a computer…

Facts of the case: Plaintiffs claim that they have formulated their own Fantasy Sport Mobile App which differs from the prevalent Fantasy Games Leagues. Plaintiffs’ Fantasy Sports Game is registered under the Copyright Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act 1957’) and being literary/dramatic work, the copyright work includes detailed working of the fantasy…

This is an order passed by the Bombay High Court in an appeal filed against the order of the District Judge-4, Pune. The word ‘ANNA’ is the bone of contention among two entities dealing in South Indian delicacies. The Plaintiff, Shantapa, filed the suit against the Defendant, Anna before the District Judge – 4, Pune,…

The court opined that this manner of dealing with a patent application was extremely arbitrary and whimsical and when the judgment was reserved on 29 September 2014, there was an obligation on the Hearing Officer to pass orders within a reasonable period. The time of four years that had been consumed was completely contrary to…

Two entities using an identical mark/name ‘Addison’ are at logger heads. The Plaintiff, Addison & Company Limited filed the suit against the Defendant, Addison Cable Pvt. Ltd, before the Madras High Court, alleging trademark infringement, passing off, etc. This note discusses the contentions raised by the parties and the judgement passed by the High Court….

There is no copyright in ideas and copyright can only be claimed in expression of the ideas as also that there must be a substantial similarity between the two rival works for the Plaintiff to claim copyright infringement. The Delhi High Court recently reiterated the idea-expression dichotomy and upheld that an author cannot be granted…