Articles

In-depth analytical articles on Indian IP law including prosecution,enforcement, statutory interpretation and case developments

Trademark Rectification Proceedings – Sections 57 to 60 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999

Leave a Comment / Trademark Article

The Register of Trade Marks is not an immutable document. While registration confers significant legal presumptions in favour of the proprietor and is treated as prima facie evidence of validity under Section 31 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the register is not beyond challenge. Marks may find their way onto the register through error,

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Revocation of Patents under Section 64 – Grounds and Procedure

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A patent, once granted, is not inviolable. The Patents Act, 1970 recognizes that the grant of a patent is an administrative act performed on the basis of an examination that, however thorough, may not always capture every deficiency in an application whether a failure of novelty, an insufficient disclosure, a statutory exclusion that was not

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Moral Rights and Author’s Special Rights under Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957

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Copyright law operates on two distinct but interconnected axes. The first is economic – the bundle of exclusive rights that allows a creator to control the reproduction, distribution, performance and communication of their work and to extract financial value from it. The second is personal – the connection between a creator and their work that

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Non-Patentable Subject Matter in India: A Complete Guide to Section 3

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The grant of a patent is not an automatic entitlement that follows from novelty or inventive step alone. Before any invention can be examined on those standard criteria, it must first clear a foundational threshold: it must constitute a patentable subject matter under Indian law. The Patents Act, 1970 draws this threshold with deliberate precision

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Relative Grounds for Refusal under Section 11 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999

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The examination of a trademark application in India operates at two distinct levels. The first level, governed by Section 9 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, concerns the inherent qualities of the mark itself – whether it is distinctive, whether it is descriptive, whether it offends public policy. These are the absolute grounds and they

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Fair Dealing under Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957 – A Comprehensive Analysis

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Copyright law is, at its core, a bargain. Society grants creators a bundle of exclusive rights over their works for a limited period, in exchange for the enrichment that creative expression brings to public life. But the bargain was never intended to be unconditional. An absolute monopoly over the use of a work would impede

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Absolute Grounds for Refusal under Section 9 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999

Leave a Comment / Trademark Article

A trademark application in India does not receive registration as a matter of course. Before a mark enters the Register of Trade Marks and the statutory rights of an exclusive proprietor crystallize, the application must pass through a rigorous examination process administered by the Trade Marks Registry. That examination is governed by two distinct categories

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Digital Copyright in the Internet Age: Online Infringement, Intermediary Liability and Safe Harbours

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The internet has fundamentally altered the economics and architecture of creative expression. Content that once required physical manufacture, distribution and retail can now be reproduced, transmitted and accessed globally within seconds, at virtually no cost. This transformation has been a gift to creators and audiences alike – but it has also made large scale copyright

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