Indian Trademark Statistics for July (Third Week), 5 Crore Penalty for a Trademark Infringement, Ryanair Sued Over Trademark Infringement, TeeStory Launches Official Disney Merchandise, and more brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsels.
TRADEMARK QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“An image is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service”- Daniel J. Boorstin
INDIAN TRADEMARK STATISTICS
Last week, the Indian Trademark Office have had a decrease in its work pace. The total number of applications disposed through show cause hearings has decreased by twenty six percent (26%). Similarly, the total applications published in the trademark journal has decreased by thirty one percent (31%). However, there has been an increase of twenty four percent (24%) in the total hearing notices issued.
Weekly Indian Trademark Statistics
| Particulars | Last Week | This Week | Change in % |
| Total Trademark Applications Examined by Trademark Office | 9868 | 7403 | A decrease of 25% |
| Total Applications Disposed through Show Cause Hearings | 5942 | 4393 | A decrease of 26% |
| Total Applications Published in the Trademark Journal | 8354 | 5749 | A decrease of 31% |
| Total Registrations Granted | 8634 | 7478 | A decrease of 13% |
| Total Hearing Notices Issued | 9391 | 11669 | An increase of 24% |
| Total Renewals Notices Issued | 1806 | 2286 | An increase of 27% |
Trademark Statistics by Office
Total Number of New Applications Received from July 10th, 2019 to July 17th, 2019
| Sr. No | Jurisdiction | New Applications | Examined | Published | Registered |
| 1 | AHMEDABAD | 877 | 436 | 461 | 725 |
| 2 | CHENNAI | 1207 | 613 | 1138 | 1539 |
| 3 | DELHI | 2459 | 1282 | 1624 | 2446 |
| 4 | KOLKATA | 357 | 209 | 238 | 411 |
| 5 | MUMBAI | 1522 | 849 | 1294 | 2058 |
| Total | 6422 | 3389 | 4755 | 7179 |
Yearly Trademark Statistics
Trademark Statistics from January 1st, 2019 to July 17th, 2019
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Filed – 185402
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Examined – 85574
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Published – 112589
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Registered – 162963
INDIAN TRADEMARK UPDATES
5 Crore Penalty for a Trademark Infringement
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, the world’s third largest steel producer filed a trademark infringement suit against Kishore D Jain & Jeetendra Burad against using the trademark NIPPON and the logo on counterfeit pipes. This suit was filed by Nippon after they received a complaint from Saudi Arabia-based Yanbu Steel Company regarding the quality of carbon seamless pipes to be used in oil plants. Yanbu Steel informed that Jain & Burad falsely made them to believe that these pipes were manufactured by Nippon. It was later discovered that these pipes were manufactured by a third party manufacturer and Jain & Burad affixed Nippon Steel’s trademarks on the pipes and provided forged signatures bearing Nippon Steel’s trademarks/logo to the trading company. The Bombay High Court made relevant observations that if pipes in oil plants do not meet the requisite quality and standards, it will lead to serious accidents and disasters. The Court in order to send out a stern message against such activities which are of a serious and criminal nature has imposed a Rs. 5 Crore penalty on Jain & Burad, and directed the costs to be paid to the Tata Memorial Hospital, a charitable organization based in Mumbai.
INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK UPDATES
Ryanair Sued Over Trademark Infringement
Car-Freshner Corporation, the US Company known for “Little Trees’ car air freshener, has sued Ryanair, an Irish airline, for using an image of its registered trademark ‘Little Trees’ for its car rental booking service. Little Trees air fresheners are very popular in the US and were first created in 1952 by Julius Samann, the founder of the company. The company has claimed in the suit that its logo of stylized tree image was used by Ryanair in its services as well as emails sent to its customers. Car-Freshner is seeking damages or an account of profits in relation to the alleged use of the trademark, along with a letter of undertaking from Ryanair not to use its trademark in the future.
Amazon in Trouble Over Prime
A Missouri trucking company, Prime Inc, has filed a trademark infringement suit against Amazon, the technology giant, for using the term Prime for transportation services. The trucking company while filing the suit in the Western District of Missouri, has accused Amazon of using marks which are identical in appearance, sound and commercial impression, and causing irreparable injury to its business, reputation and goodwill. Prime Inc has claimed in the suit that it has been using the mark for more than forty years for conveyance services. The company is seeking monetary damages which is “greater of three times Amazon’s profits or three times any damages it has sustained as a result of Amazon’s past and current trademark infringement and related unfair competition”.
BRAND LICENSING & MERCHANDIZING UPDATES
UYoung Strikes a Deal with CCTV
UYoung, a leading children’s entertainment and media company, has collaborated with CCTV, China’s state-owned broadcaster, to license multiple shows to be broadcast on CCTV-14, a children’s channel. The agreement will result in the broadcast of some well known children’s shows such as Mia and Me, Messy Goes to Okido, and Space Racers. Being China’s leading children’s channel, the content will be made available to over a billion viewers.
TeeStory Launches Official Disney Merchandise
TeeStory, the online fashion e-commerce player has recently launched the official collection of Disney merchandise on their website. The collection features various all-time favourite Disney characters such as Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Aladdin, Goofy, Toy Story: Sheriff Woody, etc.
FRANCHISING UPDATES
KFC to Franchise 61 More Outlets
Yum! Brands’ KFC India is selling 61 outlets located across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana to Devyani International, the largest franchisee for Pizza Hut and KFC in India. This move is in pace with the company’s global strategy to exit capital intensive operations and to focus on brand growth and development. Devyani International, promoted by Ravi Jaipuria backed RJ Corp., had also acquired 13 KFC restaurants in Kerala and Goa late last year. With this latest franchising, KFC India will be directly operating 10% of the total 400 KFC outlets spread across the country. KFC India is also targeting to set up 50 more additional outlets predominantly through franchisees.
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION UPDATES
Indori Poha Likely to Join GI Race
The famous breakfast staple, Indori Poha and three other popular food items, ‘doodh se bani shikanji’ (milk-based sweet drink), ‘laung sev’ (a clove-flavoured snack) and ‘khatta meetha namkeen’ (sweet and sour dry snack) from the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh will be filed for GI status soon. An organization of food manufacturers in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore are gathering documents which can throw light on the history of these local food items to support the GI applications. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Institute in Indore will be facilitating this GI process.
Authored and compiled by Shreya Chaddha & Uma T.S
About BIP’s Trademark Attorneys
The Trademark News Bulletin is brought to you by the Trademark/Copyright, Licensing & Transactions Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. Led by Sanjeeth Hegde, BIP’s Trademark Attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to contact@bananaip.com with the subject: Trademark News.
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