Posts Tagged: "India"

In the spirited world of whiskey, legal battles ferment in the form of trademark litigation. In the vast realm of whiskey production, where brands are as carefully crafted as the spirits themselves, clashes over trademarks have become common. The legal complexities swirling within the whiskey industry encapsulate the struggles of renowned manufacturers to protect the unique identities they have painstakingly cultivated for their whiskey brands. From the nuances of trade-dress like labelling and branding, to shape marks for detailed bottle designs, whiskey companies engage in multifaceted litigations to safeguard their trademarks.

Recently, Humans of Bombay (HOB), a storytelling platform, filed a suit seeking an injunction to prevent the unauthorized use of their copyrighted material by another organization, People of India (POI). This includes alleged infringement of content created by HOB, literary works, materials, films, and various creative expressions. HOB connects with individuals willing to share stories or experiences and creates audio-video content. This is subsequently shared on their website and Instagram account in various formats, such as interviews, written pieces, and posts. The current suit centers around the complaint that POI have launched a nearly identical Instagram account, featuring content that closely resembles what’s found on HOB’s account.

A letter sent to the United Kingdom’s International Business and Trade Secretary today urged scrapping proposals that health groups say would undermine the generic medicines industry in India. The letter refers to a leaked document that indicates the UK will be asking India to agree to a number of patent provisions as the two countries negotiate a trade deal today.

Patent laws and antitrust laws (known as competition laws or anti-competitive laws in other jurisdictions), may seem antithetical to each other at first glance. Antitrust law is concerned with ensuring the existence of a free and fair market by promoting fair competition practices and discouraging monopolies, which often stagnate business innovation. In contrast, patent law grants inventors a limited period of exclusivity in exchange for disclosing their invention- i.e., a monopoly of sorts. These opposing objectives may not, however, be quite as conflicting as they initially appear to be. Both of these laws aim to balance individual interests with the greater public interest. In the July 2022 case of Vifor International Ltd. v. CCI, we see this intersection of patent and competition laws in India. The case highlights how these laws can exist in tandem and provide relief to the aggrieved.

In Part I of this series, we provided an overview of foreign filing restrictions for cross-border inventions around the world. For a deeper examination, we will narrow our focus to some of the most common countries for filing. The United States, China, and India are among the most popular patent filing venues in the world. While all three countries require a Foreign Filing License (FFL) before filing abroad or otherwise first filing in the home country, the specific requirements vary.

A trademark is accorded reputation through its prolonged use and the goodwill it holds in the market where it operates. A trademark is believed to have a reputation when the general public recognizes the product by its mark. The reputation of a well-known trademark knows no bounds, and therefore foreign trademarks with a reputation are accorded protection in India. This concept of trans-border reputation protection follows the principle of universality, which states that once the reputation of a trademark transcends the physical boundaries of the country in which it was registered and gains popularity in other countries as well, it is to be protected in all relevant jurisdictions. Thus, the trademark owner is entitled to protection under the doctrine of passing-off if it can prove that the reputation of its trademark transcended geographical borders by way of promotions, advertisements and media communications. 

On September 21, 2021, India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry published amended Patents Rules, 2021, to amend the 2003 Patents Rules. The amendment now includes a new category, “eligible educational institutions,” which qualifies for the same reduced fees as natural persons, startups, and small entities. This means any “eligible educational institution” will pay 80% reduced fees for the entire patent filing and prosecution, thereby hopefully incentivizing those institutions to apply for more patents, and bringing India a step closer to becoming a global player in patent filings.

Despite India’s progress in many areas, from science to literature to technology, protection for intellectual property rights (IPR) is a topic that has come under scrutiny. The IP laws in India have remained vastly unchanged and unreviewed over the past few decades. Recently, however, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce (PSCC) decided to review IPRs in India. The Committee, led by Chairman Shri V. Vijayasai Reddy, was made up of 11 members of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) and 21 members from the Lok Sabha (lower house). On July 23, 2021, the PSCC presented a report to the Rajya Sabha titled Review of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime in India (the Report). In the Report, the Committee pointed out the “challenges in strengthening the country’s IPR regime, the related procedural and substantive constraints, legal aspects and other issues, such as low awareness of IPR, counterfeiting and piracy, IP financing, and IPRs in agriculture and pharmaceutical sector, etc.”

In India, a similar administrative adjudicatory body to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), called the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), was constituted by a Gazette notification of the Central Government in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on September 15, 2003…. However, the IPAB was eradicated by the Central Government of India by way of the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalization and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021, published in the Gazette of India on April 4, 2021…. To address the backlog and growing number of cases, the Delhi High Court, on the recommendations of a two-member judge committee, recently announced the creation of the Intellectual Property Division (IPD) in a press release titled “Creation Of Intellectual Property Division in the Delhi High Court.”

A decade-long legal battle over the fragrant, long-grain Basmati rice is heating up between neighboring countries, India and Pakistan. Both countries are attempting to claim exclusive ownership over Basmati in the lucrative European market, and the battle is now coming to a boil. Geographical Indications (GIs) establish intellectual property rights (IPRs) for products that originate from specific regions and attribute qualities, reputation or other characteristics linked to the geographic area. GIs are covered under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, and is also governed by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The horrific second wave of COVID-19 in India has compelled the government to introduce an expedited vaccination drive from May 1, 2021, where all citizens above the age of 18 (and not just priority groups) will be eligible to register. The program also came with the promise of an introduction to several new vaccines in the market. A majority of the states also decided to roll out the vaccine for free. Unfortunately, reports that stock had run out followed shortly in several states. States like Maharashtra and Delhi had to keep the drive on hold. Bengaluru also faced supply problems ahead of the drive. A popular proposition is that patent restrictions and exclusivity of “know-how” are a barrier to adequate production of vaccines.

While coronavirus spent the majority of 2020 wreaking havoc on earth, pharmaceutical companies have been busy at work trying to invent a vaccine to combat it. Several companies, such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, have competed neck and neck to be the first to deliver a cure to the world. Renowned pharmaceutical companies have been successful in developing the vaccine, which will be protected under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS).

The precedent with respect to the patentability of Computer Related Inventions in India ranges from little to non-existent; but not for lack of trying. In December 2019, the High Court of Delhi in Ferid Allani v. Union of India (2009 SCC Online Del 11867) examined the rejection of a patent by the Indian Patent and Appeal Board (IPAB) to a Computer Related Invention (CRI).

On March 25, 2020, the Indian government declared lockdown throughout the country, and we could not have anticipated the number of issues across all sectors that would surface in such a short time. Copyright infringement through social media turned out to be one such issue. At a time when so many industries are facing losses both in terms of work and revenue, the newspaper industry in India has not been spared. The newspaper companies have lost a large number of subscribers to their physical newspapers due to fear of the spread of COVID-19. Recently, a national Indian daily newspaper published a news article stating that sharing PDF copies of an e-newspaper on messaging apps is illegal and that group admins and individuals can be held liable for unauthorized circulation.