This week's trademark updates are as follows -
Karnataka HC Overturns Civil Court Order – Allows Vogue Institute to Retain the name ‘VOGUE’
Overturning the order passed by the Bengaluru City Civil Court, the Karnataka High Court has allowed the Vogue Institute to retain the name ‘VOGUE’ in their name and their trademark. The Karnataka HC stated that the test applied by the Trial Court to assess whether a common person would be confused upon seeing the word ‘VOGUE’, was…
This is a rundown of last week’s news updates on Antitrust:
Competition Commission of India issued orders against firms guilty of bid-rigging and cartelization
The Competition Commission of India (CCI), India’s fair markets watchdog, found that six firms had engaged in cartelization in the supply of Low-Density Poly Ethylene covers (LDPE) to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) by determining prices, allocating tenders, coordinating bid prices, and manipulating the bidding process directly or indirectly. CCI issued a cease-and-desist order against the…
FACTS OF THE CASE
In this case, Cipla Limited, the Respondent/Plaintiff, filed a suit for permanent injunction before the Madras High Court. The suit was against Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Limited, the Applicant/Defendant, as it infringed the Respondent/Plaintiff’s copyright and registered trademarks as follows:
The Applicant/Defendant imitated and substantially reproduced the artistic packaging, trade dress and labels of the Respondent/Plaintiff’s ‘BUDECORT RESPULES’ and ‘DUOLIN RESPULES’ which amounted to infringement of their copyright in artistic works. These were Budeonide Nebuliser Suspension BP,…
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited vs Cipla Limited
In this case, the Respondent/Plaintiff filed a suit for a permanent injunction before the Madras High Court against the Applicant/Defendant for infringement of its copyright and trademark. The Court herein, granted an interim injunction in favour of the Respondent/Plaintiff. Henceforth, the Applicant/Defendant filed three applications with a plea to vacate the interim relief granted on grounds of urgency. The plea was based on the fact that the drugs were of a huge amount,…
Earlier this week, the words, “Compulsory License”, “Section 84” and “Indian pharma” once again made the headlines. This time however, it wasn’t a new case being brought forth; instead it was the decision to bury two old ones.
The news reports suggested that two Indian drugmakers had given up a battle to copy drugs developed by Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca, blaming a lack of government support for cheap generics and pressure from Big Pharma. The two Indian drug makers…
Mark Twain once said “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please”. How is this relevant to this Compulsory Licensing post here? You need to read on to discover that.
The history of Compulsory Licensing can be traced back to the UK Statute of Monopolies in 1624, which ruled out monopolies associated with patent, and stated that grants should not be mischievous to the State‘ or hurt trade. The UK recognized compulsory licensing in terms of…