Article
Divisional Applications in India: Evolving jurisprudence
By XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The article in this issue of IPR Amicus discusses elaborately the evolving jurisprudence of Divisional Applications in India. The article notes that in India, a divisional application under Section 16 of the Patents Act, 1970 may be pursued to overcome an objection by the Patent Office on the unity of invention, or voluntarily by the Applicant if the claims of the parent Application are directed to more than one invention. Citing a recent decision of the Delhi High Court, the authors note that in India, plurality of invention must be gleaned from a reading of the claims of the parent application and that the laws in other jurisdictions are relatively different on this point. The authors in this regard also point out certain principles as laid down in various decisions of the IPAB, that are to be adhered to while dealing with divisional applications. The authors end the article with a note that the principles laid out by the Courts may be relied upon for guidance in strategizing national phase entries and divisional applications thereon…
Ratio decidendi
- Patents – Doctrine of Equivalents applicable for process/method patents as well – Delhi High Court
- Trademarks – No passing off in use of word ‘VOGUE’ for an institute of fashion technology – Karnataka High Court
- Trademarks – Argument of ‘family of marks’ available only to a Plaintiff – Delhi High Court
- Mark ‘Dhola Tharu’ is deceptively similar to essential part of label mark using words ‘Dhola Maaru’ – Delhi High Court
- Mark ‘HAIR SPA’ describes the characteristics of a product and is a common descriptive expression – Delhi High Court
News Nuggets
- Trademarks ‘SITARED’ and ‘SITARA-D’ are not deceptively similar
- Trademark ‘Shopibay’ is phonetically similar to ‘ebay’
- Trademark and automobile safety – High Court restrains use of mark ‘M.G.’ for automobile accessories
- Marks ‘VOIVO’ and ‘VCLVC’ are deceptively similar to the mark ‘VOLVO’
