News
Trademarks – Registration of composite marks with unique combination of common words
26 October 2020
The IPAB recently concluded that the Appellant’s marks, ‘GLOW & LOVELY’ and ‘GLOW & HANDSOME’ were inherently distinctive in nature. The IPAB emphasized that the marks were a unique combination of two common English words which when merged together resulted in composite marks yielding different and distinctive commercial impressions, as the words combined had distinct meanings by itself and one did not serve as an adjective to the other and were thus completely unconnected to each other.
‘Nokia’ to be a registered as a well-known trademark in India
22 October 2020
Setting aside the Registrar’s Order, the IPAB has recently allowed permitting the mark, ‘NOKIA’, to be declared as a well-known mark in India. The Appellate Board was of the view that the Order rejecting the application was passed without application of the mind and was against the law. The primary observation by the IPAB was that the Respondent-Registrar ought to have taken due care and consideration to the evidence submitted by the Appellant which could have prevented an appeal to the IPAB.
Patents – Anticipation by prior claiming and patentability under Section 3(d)
19 October 2020
In a recent update in the pharmaceutical sector, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board allowed the appeal filed by Pfizer Products Inc., an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation, under Section 117A of the Patents Act, 1970 against the impugned order passed by the Controller of Patents & Designs on September 3, 2015, in respect of Patent Application No. 00991/MUMNP/2003 (‘IN’991’), and directed that the said application be granted by the Indian Patent Office (IPO).
Fraudulent websites – AMUL obtains temporary injunction
16 October 2020
The Delhi High Court has passed a partly ex-parte ad-interim order on August 28, 2020 which was further modified on September 08, 2020 against certain defendants running deceptive websites, restraining them from the unauthorised use of the well-known trademark ‘AMUL’, as a prefix or suffix in their domain names.
Stamp duty on property lease – No difference between property owned by Government and private person
15 October 2020
The Bombay High Court has rejected the contention of the stamp duty authorities that as the leased property was owned by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the market value of the said property cannot be decided and hence stamp duty needs to be paid on 100% of the amount paid for the lease instead of 90% of the market value as contemplated under Article 36(iv) of Schedule I to the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958.
Trademark infringement – Interlocutory injunction cannot be granted merely on basis of public interest
12 October 2020
In a case where by an ad interim Order injunction was granted against manufacture and sale of APIXABID product, and where the appeal against that ad interim order was pending in the Court, the Appellate Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has dismissed the interlocutory application by the defendant to permit them to sell 58,000 strips of the said medicine, manufactured by the applicant/defendant prior to the passing of the interim order.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) – Relaxations effective October 2020
01 October 2020
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (‘CBIC’) has on September 30 issued number of notifications to relax or defer certain GST provisions. Some of the important changes worth noticing are, deferment of annual returns for FY 2018-19, relaxation in e-invoicing provisions for a month, deferment of dynamic QR Code for B2C transactions, and extension of exemption to service of transportation of export goods by aircraft/vessel.
Rate of duty when notification issued on same date when bills of entry presented
28 September 2020
Observing that the self-assessment was carried out based on the rate of duty which prevailed at the time of the presentation of the bill of entry, the Supreme Court has upheld the High Court’s Orders setting aside re-assessments, by the Customs department, due to a notification issued later on the date of presenting of bill of entry, enhancing the rate of duty.
Patents – Divisional application when cannot be rejected
16 September 2020
The IPAB has set aside the Order of the Controller of Patents rejecting the divisional application under Patents Act, 1970. The Board observed that the Controller erred in not appreciating that it was technically impracticable to make compound of formula (I) dependent on the main claim of the parent application, which was directed towards compound of formula (III). It observed that it was settled that when an independent sub-claim cannot be made dependent on the main claim...
Transfer of property – Procedural way out for removal of encumbrances
10 September 2020
The Kerala High Court has explained the procedural way out for removal of an encumbrance from an immovable property under Section 57 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 (‘TPA’). It is noteworthy that an operative, substantive and procedural way out to facilitate the realisation of the intrinsic value of encumbered estates and other immovable properties within the annals of TPA is very rarely been invoked in court of law.