Indian Trademark Statistics for March (Second Week), Trademark Battle over a Whiskey Brand, NBA Fanwear Apparel in India, Harley Davidson and its Bizarre Trademarks, Erode Turmeric GI and more, brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsels.
TRADEMARK QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Value of a Trade Mark is directly proportional to your Aggression and Risk Ratio.” – Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala
INDIAN TRADEMARK STATISTICS
In the last week, the Indian Trademark Office has picked up its pace in the past week. The total number of applications examined has increased by thirty eight percent (38 %). Similarly, the total number of registrations granted has increased by eight percent (8 %).
Weekly Indian Trademark Statistics
| Particulars | Last Week | This Week | Change in % |
| Total Trademark Applications Examined by Trademark Office | 5060 | 7026 | An increase of 38% |
| Total Applications Disposed through Show Cause Hearings | 4782 | 5798 | An increase of 21% |
| Total Applications Published in the Trademark Journal | 7631 | 7949 | An increase of 4% |
| Total Registrations Granted | 5231 | 5661 | An increase of 8% |
| Total Hearing Notices Issued | 6494 | 6959 | An increase of 7% |
| Total Renewals Notices Issued | 1456 | 1496 | An increase of 3% |
Trademark Statistics by Office
Total Number of New Applications Received from March 07th, 2019 to March 13th, 2019
| Sr. No | Jurisdiction | New Applications | Examined | Published | Registered |
| 1 | AHMEDABAD | 793 | 455 | 859 | 599 |
| 2 | CHENNAI | 1094 | 546 | 1415 | 1342 |
| 3 | DELHI | 2263 | 1064 | 2263 | 1747 |
| 4 | KOLKATA | 337 | 193 | 531 | 346 |
| 5 | MUMBAI | 1563 | 804 | 2230 | 1438 |
| Total | 6050 | 3062 | 7298 | 5472 |
Yearly Trademark Statistics
Trademark Statistics from January 01st, 2019 to March 13th, 2019
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Filed – 69301
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Examined – 35294
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Published – 73370
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Registered – 55228
INTERESTING BRAND NEWS
Harley Davidson and its Bizarre Trademarks
Harley Davidson Inc., the motorcycle major had applied to trademark the sound of the V-twin engine used in its vehicles. Besides the sound, Harley Davidson had also attempted trademarking different shapes and curves of motorcycle parts and even an entire motorcycle. The motorcycle major also had spent a fortune on taking other motorcycle makers to court over the sounds and shapes of its bikes.
INDIAN TRADEMARK UPDATES
Officer’s Choice vs. Fauji
Allied Blenders and Distillers Pvt. Ltd, one of the leading players in the Indian liquor industry filed for a trademark injunction to restrain Govind Yadav from using the term ‘Fauji’ for being conceptually and deceptively similar to its own brand, ‘Officer’s Choice’ which was adopted in 1988. The contentions by Allied Blenders is that the term ‘Fauji’ was a commonly used Hindi phrase for ‘Military Officer’ and moreover, the color combination and the product label is deceptively similar to ‘Officer’s Choice’. Allied Blenders further argued that since both the parties are in the identical business of manufacturing/selling whisky, the probability of confusion among consumers was high.
The High Court of New Delhi observed that not only were the two marks phonetically different but the literal meaning of the two words was also different. The word “Officer” identifies “a person in power” and on the other hand, “Fauji” means a soldier who is not a military officer. Further, there was no resemblance in the product labels. The Court, therefore held that there was no resemblance or similarity between the marks and their labels.
INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK UPDATES
Alibaba Settles Trademark Dispute with Alibabacoin
Chinese e-commerce platform, Alibaba has now reached a worldwide settlement with the Dubai based crypto currency firm, Alibabacoin Foundation, bringing the trademark dispute to an end. Last year, Alibaba had filed a trademark infringement suit against the crypto currency firm to refrain them from using a similar/identical trademark “ALIBABA”. In October 2018, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York had granted a preliminary injunction against the crypto currency firm. However, In March 2019, the companies have agreed for a settlement under which the crypto currency firm will not use trademarks that include the term “ALIBABA” worldwide. Moving ahead, Alibaba Foundation will be known as ABBC Foundation and the crypto currency is renamed as “ABBC coin”.
BRAND LICENSING UPDATES
NBA Fanwear Apparel in India
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has signed a multi-year merchandising partnership with Mumbai based Suditi Industries Ltd, to launch a range of NBA fanwear apparel in India. The apparel range will feature the widest range of the NBA merchandises from all 30 NBA teams. The fanwear apparel will be available in departmental stores nationwide and through e-commerce sites Jabong and Myntra.
7-Eleven Stores Soon in India!
Future Retail Ltd, India’s retail major, has signed a master franchise agreement with 7-Eleven Inc, a Japanese owned American international chain of convenience stores. As per the agreement, SHME Food Brands, a subsidiary of Future Retail will open the first store in India under the 7-Eleven brand and will also re-brand some of its existing stores. Future Retail’s operating retail chains such as Big Bazaar, Hypercity, Nilgiris, Brand Factory, Foodhall said that 7-Eleven’s entry in India will bring greater convenience to shoppers by modernising and reorganizing the existing retail environment. 7-Eleven currently operates 67,000 stores in 17 countries that stay open 24/7.
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION UPDATES
Erode Turmeric Finally Gets GI
The famous Erode Turmeric which is said to possess medicinal characteristics has been granted GI tag for the spice category falling under class 30 of the GI classification. The traditional cultivation methods along with the peculiar agro-climatic conditions in Erode make the turmeric unique in nature. Erode is also said to be the largest markets for turmeric in India. The application was filed by Erode Manjal Vanigarkal Matrum Kidangu Urimaiyalargal Sangam in 2011.
BANANAIP TIP OF THE WEEK
A trademark does not grant you the rights to the meaning of a word in other languages. If you have a trademark for Apple it does not mean that you can stop other from the use of words that mean apple in other languages.
Author: BIP Trademark Attorneys
Led by Sanjeeth Hegde, BIP’s Trademark Attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. They work on trademark filing, prosecution, management, licensing, franchising, merchandizing, litigation, and strategy for clients such as PEPS, Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Essilor, Samsung and the IITs.
The weekly trademark news initiative is a part of their pro bono work and is aimed at spreading trademark awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.
If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Trademark Attorneys at contact@bananaip.com
