Swarovski’s Shining Trademark Win, Walmart Accused for Trademark Infringement, DPIIT Issues GI Logo, Tagline Usage Guidelines and Other News

 
Indian Trademark Statistics for July (First Week), Cardi B’s Trademark Denied Registration, Teletubbies Arrive on ASOS, Hershey’s and Emoji Secure a Sweet Deal, Swarovski’s Shining Trademark Win, brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsels.

TRADEMARK QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Unlike other forms of IP, trademarks are there to stay, to stay and provide business/competitive value as long as your business lasts.” – Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala, BananaIP Counsels.

INDIAN TRADEMARK STATISTICS

Last week, the Indian Trademark Office have had a mixed pace. The total number of applications disposed through show cause hearings has increased by four percent (4%). Similarly, the total applications published in the trademark journal has increased by eleven percent (11%). However, there has been a decrease of seventy three percent (73%) in the total hearing notices issued.

Weekly Indian Trademark Statistics

Particulars Last Week This Week Change in %
Total Trademark Applications Examined by Trademark Office 7943 6057 A decrease of 24%
Total Applications Disposed through Show Cause Hearings 4465 4286 A decrease of 4%
Total Applications Published in the Trademark Journal 6498 7193 An increase of 11%
Total Registrations Granted 6226 6544 An increase of 5%
Total Hearing Notices Issued 10574 2884 A decrease of 73%
Total Renewals Notices Issued 2082 2152 An increase of 3%

Trademark Statistics by Office

Total Number of New Applications Received from June 26th, 2019 to July 3rd, 2019

Sr. No Jurisdiction New Applications Examined Published Registered
1 AHMEDABAD 991 351 662 730
2 CHENNAI 1367 561 1510 1499
3 DELHI 2646 1159 2065 2107
4 KOLKATA 390 174 328 240
5 MUMBAI 1460 742 1505 1623
Total   6854 2987 6070 6199

Yearly Trademark Statistics

Trademark Statistics from January 1st, 2019 to July 3rd, 2019

  • Total Number of Trademark Applications Filed – 172653
  • Total Number of Trademark Applications Examined –  78614
  • Total Number of Trademark Applications Published – 115682
  • Total Number of Trademark Applications Registered – 149601

INDIAN TRADEMARK UPDATES

Swarovski’s Shining Trademark Win

Swarovski Aktiengesellshaft, a well-known crystal jewellery maker filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction against Durgesh Kumar Patwa, proprietor of M/s. Bajrang Beads for infringing their registered trademark “SWAROVSKI” and logo. Durgesh was engaged in selling, manufacturing, soliciting and trading jewellery, gemstones, artificial stones or allied products using the mark/label SWARAWSKI, SWAROVSKI and its logo and its variants having artistic features, getup, layout and lettering style similar to that of Swarovski. On the basis of the documents filed and the evidence, the Delhi High Court noted that Swarovski is the registered owner of the trademark SWAROVSKI and its logo and the trademark have acquired distinct features due to the long and continuous use. The Court further, awarded damages of INR 25,000 to be paid to Swarovski.

INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK UPDATES

Walmart Accused of Trademark Infringement

JetBlue Airways Corporation, the sixth largest airline in the US, has filed a trademark infringement suit against the multinational retail corporation Walmart. While filing the suit in Manhattan Federal Court, JetBlue has claimed that Walmart is infringing the trademark of Jetblack in its text-based personal shopping service. JetBlue said that Walmart’s use of the trademark was likely to confuse the consumers and dilute their brand. JetBlue is seeking monetary as well as punitive damage.

Cardi B’s Trademark Denied Registration

Cardi B, the American singer and rapper, seems to have hit a snag with her new trademark filing for ‘Okurrr’. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in an initial office action, has denied registration for the term.  The singer had applied for the mark in March 2019 for apparels as well as stationary. The USPTO while rejecting the application have stated that the term Okurrr is ‘widely-used commonplace expressions’ and no individual should have monopoly over it. However, this is not a final denial by the USPTO. The singer now has six months of time to respond to the objections raised.

BRAND LICENSING UPDATES

Hershey’s and Emoji Secure a Sweet Deal

The Hershey Company, one of the largest and widely popular chocolate manufacturers in the world, has inked a licensing deal with the iconic brand Emoji Company to launch a limited edition of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Emoji Bar this year. The limited edition will feature 25 different emojis including the excited heart eyes face, thumbs up, kissing lips, sunglasses smile, wink and more.

Teletubbies Arrive on ASOS

Teletubbies, the much loved British pre-school children’s television series, has arrived on ASOS, the British online fashion retail. In the licensing deal between Teletubbies’ brand owner DHX Media, ASOS and Poetic Brands, a licensing apparel company, a new range of T-shirts inspired by the beloved series will be sold on the online fashion brand website. The new range will use the characters of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, along with the logo of Teletubbies.

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION UPDATES

DPIIT Issues GI Logo, Tagline Usage Guidelines

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently issued preliminary draft guidelines which allows wholesale or retail outlets or e-commerce platforms to use the GI logo and the tagline for display and sale of GI products with prior approval. However, the registered owners of the GI do not need any prior approval. The guidelines which were issued as a part of the government’s initiative to promote and market Indian GI products states that the logo will act as a certifying mark that can be used to identify all Indian products that are registered as GIs. DPIIT had launched a common GI logo and tagline in August last year.
 
 
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, IP Transactional 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.
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.
Disclaimer: Kindly note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down.
 

Leave a comment

Connect with Us

BananaIP Counsels

No.40, 3rd Main Road, JC Industrial Estate, Kanakapura Road, Bangalore – 560 062.

Telephone: +91-76250 93758+91-80-49536207 | +91-80-26860414/24/34
Email: contact@bananaip.com

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Checkboxes

© 2004-2024 BananaIP Counsels. All Rights Reserved.