Half the year is gone, and we, as usual, were curious to find out who are all in the race to top the patent charts this year. We found an article that gives a comprehensive view of the US patent statistics and list of top contenders (in terms of number of granted patents and published patents). So, we performed a search to identify details of patent activity of the top 10 in the lists provided by Sqoop. The search methodology…
Tejesh, based out of Bangalore, had allegedly discovered that browsing on Airtel's 3G network was being slowed down by code that helps Airtel generate revenue from data services offered by the telecom service provider. After making the discovery, Tejesh posted the code along with screen shots on Git Hub. In response, Flash Networks, the owner of the code sent a cease and desist notice to Tejesh alleging copyright infringement. It also sent a DMCA take down notice to Git Hub,…
American music publisher, Bourne Co., co-founded in 1919 by songwriter Irving Berlin, has initiated a copyright dispute lawsuit before the New York Supreme County Court against the UK-based Booey & Co. Ltd. alleging conspiracy to deprive Bourne Co. of its share of rights in the highly popular song ‘These Foolish Things’ written by Eric Maschwitz and Jack Strachey.
Released in 1936, renditions of the song were recorded by various artists including Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald as well as…
Under Section 39 of the Indian Patents Act, 1970, an Indian resident is required to file his invention first in India, and only after a period of six weeks from the date of filing, a filing could be done for the same invention outside India. Alternatively, the Indian resident could file Form-25 with prescribed fee, requesting the Controller for a Foreign Filing License (FFL), and can go ahead with such filling after obtaining the license . If the invention is proved to be relevant…
The Delhi High Court has passed an ex-parte interim injunction against Shakti Mattresses & Gears Pvt. Ltd. on 29th May 2015, to restrain from dealing in the goods and services, under the mark ‘SPINE GUARD’, which is a registered trademark of the plaintiff, Peps Industries Pvt. Ltd.
To briefly state the facts, the Plaintiff, Peps Industries Pvt. Ltd., is engaged in the business of manufacturing, marketing and sale of sleep comfort products such as mattresses, pillows, cushions, sofas, beds and…
This conflict is between a world-renowned luxury-clothing brand and a renowned restaurant and bar in a city. The Delhi High Court decided the trademark infringement tussle in favor the luxury brand ZARA, not because it is celebrated around the world but simply to protect the brand’s trademark rights.
ZARA, an internationally reputed brand, the plaintiff sued Zara Tapas Bar for trademark infringement and sought injunction restraining the defendant from infringement, passing off and dilution of its trademark. The plaintiff contended…
Creativity forms the foundation of intellectual property and intellectual property law. The latter has no existence in the absence of the former. We, Intellectual Property (IP)/Patent attorneys, earn our bread and butter from creators and inventors. One of the joys of being an intellectual property attorney is the opportunity to work with geniuses. While the opportunity leaves one happy and contented on most days, IP attorneys once in a while come across personalities, very difficult to handle.
Many a time,…
It has been reported that Apple's new programming language Swift, which is now in its second version will be made available as open source software (OS) under a permissive license. However, the specific license under which it will be made available as OS has not been specified. Some bloggers are of the opinion that it would most probably be available under Apache or another BSD style license. Over the last five years, flexible licenses have taken over the viral GPL…
Our World is no more segregated into 7 continents and 247 countries. It is One Big Global Village. We can have access to anything that is exclusively available in one part of the world in our home country. For this, we ought to thank Globalization, Commercialization and Industrialization. The coming up of more industries, MNCs has made our world a better place to live in - a more accessible place to live in. But this does come with a cost.…
“What's in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.” William Shakespeare famously quoted these lines in his creation of the romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. Enter 21st century and these famous lines could be debated to the ends of time. In today’s world, where there are fakes of fakes and more fakes than actual products, Shakespeare might have thought differently.
Trademark Infringement and Passing off is something that we are all too familiar…