This post was first published on 16th April, 2012.
Germany is considered to be the birthplace of the automobile since late 1870's when Karl Benz and Nikolaus Otto independently developed four-stroke internal combustion engines. Germany has the largest share of passenger car production in Europe with over 29% market share, followed by France (18%), Spain (13%) and the United Kingdom (9%). Nearly six million vehicles are produced in Germany each year, and approximately 5.5 million are produced overseas by German brands.…
This post was first published on 25th July, 2012
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games is scheduled to take place in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July. Since the Olympics is around the corner, we would like to share some interesting patents issued pertinent to athlete performance.
The patent (US6013007) discusses about a Global Positioning System (GPS) based personal athletic performance monitor for providing an athlete with real-time athletic performance feedback data. A feedback device, worn by the athlete is configured…
This post was first published on 25th June, 2014.
This blog series is intended to conceptualize the principles behind copyright assignments and licenses.
Copyrights, like any other Intellectual Property Rights are considered a part of Property Rights and hence can be transferred just as corporeal properties. This transfer of ownership under Copyright Law happens in three different ways; first, by executing an Assignment deed; Second, by executing a License Agreement; and third, by transmission of rights by way of operation of law. In…
This post was first published on 25th July, 2013.
Public Funded Research Institutions and educational institutions in India have begun to realise the importance of commercialising their Intellectual Property, a phenomenon that was long overdue. While a large number of these institutions are yet to be woken up to the trend, those that have tasted success are willing to explore further in order to push their returns northwards.
Commercialising intellectual properties of research institutions has obvious benefits:
when returns…
This post was first published on 14th October, 2014.
As discussed in our earlier post, the Doctrine of Foreign Equivalents under the Trademarks Law requires the Trademark Office to translate foreign words to English in order to determine whether certain marks qualify for trademark registration or not. In this post, we are looking into whether the Indian Courts consider this doctrine an acceptable principle of the Trademark Law.
Indian Courts have not faced the question of applicability of this doctrine in many…
This post was first published on 6th December, 2014.
TSM test is the Teaching, Suggestion and Motivation test. It simply means, when analysing the obviousness of an invention while comparing it with prior art, these are the three questions that have to be asked:
Is the prior art quoted instrumental in teaching the reader the method of producing the invention?
Does the prior art or any of its contents suggest any method of producing the invention in question?
Does the…
This post was first published on 25th August, 2014.
Owing to the ever increasing gas prices, fuel efficiency offered by vehicles has become a strong deciding factor among buyers. Diesel bikes are a great benefit for people obsessed with fuel efficiency but unfortunately diesel bikes are currently not offered by any OEMs for the masses. Royal Enfield’s Taurus was the only diesel motorcycle that was in mass production until some time ago. The vibration produced by diesel engines in a motorcycle, jolts the…
This post was first published on 1st September, 2014.
In continuation to the previous post in the series, we shall now be looking into the system of IP protection for computer programs that existed prior to the adoption of Copyright and Patent Laws.
Though it can be said that Copyright and Patent Laws are the more popular systems of IP protection for computer programs, it was Trade Secret Law that was initially resorted to for the protection of software, primarily because, previously, computer programs bundled…
This post was first published on 6th August, 2013.
It has been made amply clear in this column earlier that Intellectual Property (IP) can be an important tool for businesses to build, consolidate and grow. Having said that, considering the hype given to the subject, it is easy for a SME to misconstrue its potential and value. So, I wish to start this note by reiterating that IP is only one, among many layers that can form part of a company's…
This post was first published on 2nd September, 2014.
If there is one question that can spark a controversy, it must be this - Is it possible to trademark the name of God?
Section 9(2) (b) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, which deals with Absolute grounds for refusal of registration, mandates that a mark shall not be registered as a trademark if it contains any matter likely to hurt religious susceptibilities of any class or section of the citizens of India.…