Weekly Trademark Updates

This week’s trademark updates are as follows:

The Delhi High Court has issued an ad interim injunction in favour of Live Law Media Private Limited, the business that owns the legal portal livelaw.in, preventing “Tiya Law Library” and a Haryana-based attorney from using the mark/name “Live Law” until further orders and ordering the internet service providers to block access to the website that was operational under a domain that was confusingly similar to livelaw.in. After reviewing the provided papers, Justice Pratibha M. Singh issued an ex-parte interim judgement on Monday stating that, “Considering the use of an identical mark/name in respect of identical services being offered by the Defendant Nos.1 and 2, as also, the subscriber base and immense goodwill of the Plaintiff, this Court is of the opinion that the use of the mark ‘LIVELAW.INFO’ and the domain name ‘www.livelaw.info’ would be violative of the Plaintiff’s rights in the mark ‘LIVE LAW’. Therefore, the Plaintiff has made a prima facie case for the grant of an interim injunction”. The Court also stated that the Defendant had launched the website livelaw.info with the a “clear intention of encashing upon the goodwill and repute” of Live Law’s mark and name.

After four years of legal battle between Happy Belly Bakes Bakery and Amazon, a civil court ruled in favor of Happy Belly Bakes on August 30th, finding that Amazon had infringed the Bengaluru-based bakery’s trademark. Amazon argued that Happy Belly Bakes, situated in Bengaluru, lacked goodwill and reputation. The court dismissed this suit, stating that the bakery had been open since 2008 and that the “contention of the defendant demonstrated their arrogance.” “As a result, the use of the brand HAPPY BELLY is unquestionably infringing and passing off of the plaintiff’s property,” the court decided. Amazon was also told to withdraw the products from the Indian marketplace.

Another well-known Goan product, the sausages known as chouriso, may soon receive Geographical Indication (GI) classification, joining the ranks of items like mancurad mangoes, feni, Khola chilies, and Moira bananas. Contrary to common belief, the number of people involved in making Goan sausages is declining despite their recognition and popularity. According to experts, a GI tag for the product is essential to preserve the brand identity and commercial viability of the Goan chouriso.

The creation of the “Stan Lee Universe” has been agreed upon by Genius Brands International and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment. The name, physical likeness, physical signature, live-action and animated motion picture, television, online, digital, publishing, comic book, merchandising, and licensing rights to Stan Lee and his intellectual property creations from the past, present, and moving forward will be assumed by “Stan Lee Universe.” The “Stan Lee Universe” will be constructed from the collection of all the characters and Intellectual Property (IP) that Stan Lee developed after Marvel Entertainment. It will produce and license about seven titles per year from a collection of more than 100 original Stan Lee works.

Authored by Lavanya Anand (Associate, BananaIP Counsels) and Rohan Koshy Cherian (Intern).

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This post is brought to you by BananaIP Counsels’ Trademarks and Copyright Attorneys

About BananaIP Counsels’ Trademarks and Copyright Attorneys

This Weekly Trademark Updates Bulletin is brought to you by the Trademarks and Copyright Division of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. Led by Sanjeeth Hegde, BananaIP Counsels’ trademark and copyright 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: Weekly Trademark Update.
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