Intellectual Property

In a recent decision, the Delhi High Court in Bigtree Entertainment v Brain Seed Sportainment, recently denied the Plaintiffs (www.bookmyshow.com), an interim injunction against the Defendant’s use of the domain bookmysports.com....

In a recent case, Kamdhenu, manufacturers of steel rods had obtained a design registration in 2014 for a certain type of steel bars it was manufacturing. It alleged that Aashiana had infringed its registered design, and successfully obtained an interim injunction against the latter company.A speedy disposal of the injunction was issued once the matter was contested by Aashiana. Here’s a look at what led to this rather quick decision by the court and what it could mean towards ensuring that the rights of the parties are truly protected in theory as well as practice....

Sumathi Chandrashekaran of Obhan Mason looks into the possible implications of a recent tender regarding blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, issued by the IPO. The changes that would come about as a result of these implementations would dramatically improve user experience of the IPO services. Here’s a closer look at what the impact would be at each stage of application and grant....

Sumathi Chandrashekaran of Obhan Mason looks at the facts, the judgement and the implications of the trademark infringement suit involving the milk cooperative Nandini, that recently came to a close in the Supreme Court. The judgement, which was in favour of ‘Nandhini Delux’, a restaurant, has opened up many issues for the consideration of business owners with regard to resistering and then establishing a trademark....

The first post trial SEP case, involving both patent and competition laws, has given SEP holders some relief. The Philips case involving its patents relating to DVD video players, offered an interesting and relevant platform for jurisprudence on cutting edge patent and anti-trust issues such as essentiality, standard setting, and exhaustion. This article discusses the facts of the case and the various reasons why the decision of the Delhi High Court is far from satisfactory and is likely to cause some heartburn to implementors....

As India agrees to sign up for the WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty, it scales up a level on protection of rights in the digital environment. Here's a look at what it will mean for authors, as well as actors, musicians, singers and producers of soundtracks, In terms of monetary benefits, international protection, investor trust and more....

The recent demise of Steve Ditko, the artist and co-creator of Spider-Man (along with Stan Lee) is an opportunity to revisit the story of how the movie rights for the superhero character were negotiated between Marvel and Sony over the past decade or so....

The Copyright Office recently put out its final Practice and Procedure Manual for examinations of applications in literary, artistic, musical, cinematograph film and sound recording works. This publication comes after the draft guidelines were put up for public notice and comment earlier this year. The Manual details how different types of applications will be handled. We put together the information on computer programmes, databases, websites, and apps....

In a rare design judgement from India, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court, held that an infringement case is made out if the essential part of a design is similar to the essential part of the alleged infringing design. In the judgement, it reversed the decision of a Single Judge Bench of the same court, which had declared that the design in question was infringing....