Among the most commercially significant and doctrinally complex questions in contemporary Indian trademark law is the extent to which the visual and physical appearance of a product or its packaging its trade dress can be protected as a trademark. In a marketplace saturated with competing products, the overall commercial appearance of goods has become one […]
Trade Dress and Product Shape as Trademark in India Read More »
Delhi High Court | Valmiki J. Mehta J. | 25 May 2018 AIRONLINE 2018 DEL 256 | CS (COMM) No. 890/2018 Background Christian Louboutin SAS, the renowned French luxury footwear company, filed a commercial suit before the Delhi High Court seeking injunction against infringement of its trade marks, passing off and damages. The plaintiff claimed
Supreme Court of India | M. Jagannadha Rao & Y.K. Sabharwal JJ. | 9 May 2000 AIR 2000 SC 2114 | 2000 (5) SCC 573 Background The appellant, S.M. Dyechem Ltd., claimed to have commenced business in 1988 in food products including potato chips, potato wafers, corn-pops and preparations made of rice and rice flour.
The history of trademark law is, in significant part, a history of expanding frontiers. What began as a system designed to protect word marks and simple devices the merchant’s mark stamped on goods to identify their origin has evolved over centuries into a framework broad enough, in principle, to accommodate almost any sign capable of
Colour Marks, Sound Marks and Non-Traditional Trademarks in India Read More »
Of all the categories of marks that traverse the trademark registration process in India, descriptive marks present the most nuanced and intellectually demanding set of questions. They occupy the contested middle ground of the distinctiveness spectrum neither inherently protectable like fanciful or arbitrary marks, nor wholly beyond protection like generic terms and their treatment reveals,
Descriptive Marks and the Acquired Distinctiveness Doctrine in Indian Trademark Law Read More »
High Court of Delhi | Justice S. Ravindra Bhat | 7 January 2010 I.A. Nos. 12940/2009, 12941/2009 & 12942/2009 in CS(OS) 1894/2009 BACKGROUND The plaintiff, ITC Limited, is described in the pleadings as one of India’s largest private sector companies with an annual turnover of Rs. 23,144 crores, engaged in diverse businesses including hotels,
ITC Limited v. Philip Morris Products SA and Others Read More »
A trademark is not merely a badge of origin it is a commercial asset of potentially enormous value, capable of generating revenue far beyond the direct sale of the goods or services to which it is attached. The mechanisms through which that value is extracted and shared between the proprietor of the mark and third
Trademark Licensing and Registered User Agreements under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 Read More »
High Court of Judicature at Bombay | Notice of Motion No. 230 of 2015 in Suit (L) No. 957 of 2014 Decided on 20 July 2016 Judge: Justice A.K. Menon Citation: 2017 (69) PTC 79 (Bom) Background Raymond Limited is a company based in Mumbai and is the successor to Raymond Woollen Mills Limited. It
Raymond Limited v. Raymond Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd. Read More »
Delhi High Court | CS(OS) No. 41/2008 | I.A. No. 279/2008 Decided on 9 April 2009 Judge: Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw Citation: 2009 (41) PTC 284 (Del) Background Rolex SA is a company incorporated under the laws of Switzerland and is headquartered in Geneva. The company traces its origins to 1905 when Hans Wilsdorf established
The law of passing off occupies a foundational position in the Indian intellectual property landscape. It is the common law action through which traders protect the goodwill and reputation they have built in their unregistered marks, trade names, get-up and other indicia of commercial identity against misappropriation by competitors who seek to exploit that reputation
Passing Off in India – Elements, Evidence and Remedies Read More »