News
IP rights cannot be allowed to be violated even if drugs for use against Covid
08 June 2021
In a suit for alleged infringement of the copyright in the artistic work in the trade dress and attempt to pass off and infringe the trademark of the plaintiff in the word ‘Respule’, the Madras High Court has advised the defendant to suitably alter not only the trade dress, layout colour combination, design and artistic work on the label but also the words which are deceptively similar to plaintiff's trade mark.
Creditors/lenders can initiate insolvency proceedings against personal guarantors
05 June 2021
The Supreme Court in a recent judgment has held that the Notification dated 15 November 2019 (‘Notification’), which notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority for Insolvency Resolution Process for Personal Guarantors to Corporate Debtors) Rules, 2019 (Rules), is ‘legal and valid’.
Customs Valuation – Notional transportation cost not includible in value of fuel remaining in aircraft after incoming international flight
26 May 2021
The Larger Bench of the CESTAT has recently held that notional cost towards freight charges is not required to be added to the value of Aviation Turbine Fuel remaining in the aircraft after its international flight into India. It held that firstly there was no transportation of ATF by the airlines and secondly, only the actual cost ‘paid’ or ‘payable’ can be added to the transaction value while no cost was incurred by the airlines here.
Crushing, pulverizing, converting and packing of spices into powder form is ‘manufacture’
26 May 2021
The Larger Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (‘CESTAT’) has on 25 May 2021 held that the activity of crushing, pulverizing, converting and packing of spices into powder form amounts to ‘manufacture’. The question as to whether the activity would be liable to service tax under Business Auxiliary Service (‘BAS’), was thus answered in negative.
Construction cess not payable on contracts not having any construction component
24 May 2021
The Supreme Court, in its recent judgment, has finally settled a long pending issue by holding that contracts which cover works other than civil works and do not involve any construction, do not attract cess under the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996.
Mere forwarding of WhatsApp messages as received when not amounts to sharing ‘unpublished price sensitive information’
18 May 2021
The Securities Appellate Tribunal has held that mere ‘forwarded as received’ WhatsApp message circulated on a group regarding quarterly financial results of a Company, closely matching with the vital statistics, some time before the publication of the same, not amounts to an unpublished price sensitive information (‘UPSI’) under SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015.
Design – Compliance with standards when can lead to ‘prior publication’
14 May 2021
The Delhi High Court has rejected the contention that compliance with published standards can never be sufficient to constitute ‘prior publication’ of a design. The Court was of the view that this would have to be determined upon a consideration of the particular design and the published standards.
Distribution of assets in liquidation – No priority for first charge holders if security relinquished
06 May 2021
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has held that priorities amongst the secured creditors (first charge or second charge) will not prevail in distribution of assets in liquidation, in a case where the creditors had elected for relinquishment of security interest and for distribution of assets according to Section 53 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
Copyright Rules 2013 amended – Electronic means of communication, annual transparency report by Copyright societies, etc.
20 April 2021
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a notification on 30 March 2021 to amend the Copyright Rules, 2013. It may be noted that many of the changes now notified were earlier published for public comments in May 2019 through the Draft Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2019. Some of the changes are listed below.
Provisional attachment – Conditions prescribed by statute must be strictly followed
20 April 2021
Observing that the power to order a provisional attachment of the property of the taxable person including a bank account, under Section 83 of the HPGST Act [equivalent to Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017] is draconian in nature, the Supreme Court has held that the conditions prescribed by the statute for a valid exercise of this power must be strictly fulfilled.