Tag: Bombay High Court
July 11, 2024
Intellectual Property | Design
Intellectual Property | Design
What meets the eye is greater than the sum of its parts...
The Bombay High Court recently held that visual appeal is the ultimate test of a valid design, and that combining old integers into a form that creates a different visual appeal than its parts is also capable of qualifying as a design that is new and original. ......
July 4, 2024
Intellectual Property | Patent
Intellectual Property | Patent
Shortcuts in patent filing will not work: Bombay HC
Bombay High Court clarifies that patent applicants must provide substantive and complete responses to first examination reports, in order to meet the compliance requirements under Section 21(1) of the Patents Act, and to avoid the application being deemed abandoned. ...
May 30, 2024
Intellectual Property | Patent
Intellectual Property | Patent
Appeals against Pre-grant Patent Oppositions and Exhaus...
Patent laws, including in India, usually allow oppositions to be filed against patent applications, either before or after they are granted. Appeals against decisions in opposition matters may also be permitted in some cases. In India, an appeal against a decision of a Controller may be filed in post-grant oppositions, but the law is not as straightforward when it comes to appeals in pre-grant oppositions. ......
March 29, 2023
Corporate Law | General Corporate Advisory
Corporate Law | General Corporate Advisory
Put Option Clauses – A Growth Chart
The validity of put option clauses in contracts has been a subject of detailed scrutiny for the Indian government, for several years. The discourse surrounding put option clauses originated from Section 20 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 ("Act")—which was subsequently omitted by the 1995 amendment to the Act. ......
September 28, 2021
Intellectual Property | Design
Intellectual Property | Design
Narrowing the Field: Selection Patents and Purposive Se...
Inventions that fall within, or overlap with, disclosures in the prior art are called “selection inventions”. Generally, selection inventions involve the selection of one or more specific embodiments, such as individual elements, subsets, or sub-ranges, within a larger known set or range disclosed in the prior art. This raises critical questions around how the novelty and inventive step of selection patents should be judged. ......
September 2, 2021
Intellectual Property | Design
Intellectual Property | Design
Design Marking in India: Essential or Avoidable?
Design marking is a method used by proprietors to signal that their article is protected by design rights. It entails “marking” an article in a manner that informs the public at large that the article in question is the subject matter of a registered design. The issue of whether design marking is necessary or not has come up on occasion before Indian courts, who have tackled how such marking acts as an indicator of registration, and explained the rights that follow. ......
August 25, 2021
Corporate Law | General Corporate Advisory
Corporate Law | General Corporate Advisory
Freedom of Speech and Expression vs. Content Regulation...
The Government of India, in February 2021, introduced the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“Rules”) under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”), to regulate intermediaries, publishers and individual creators of news and current affairs content and online curated content. ......
April 7, 2021
Intellectual Property | Copyright
Intellectual Property | Copyright
Is your original work automatically protected by copyri...
One of the first questions that comes to the mind of an artist or a creator, as soon as a work is created, is how can the work be protected. Is protection available only if the work is “registered”, or does protection follow automatically from the time of its creation? The issue of whether copyright registration is compulsory or not is a long standing one; and due to various conflicting judgements in India, artists and creators have always been uncertain about this matter. ......
March 17, 2021
Intellectual Property | Trademark
Intellectual Property | Trademark
The art and craft of franchising in India
Licensing and franchising intellectual property (IP) offer strategic competitive advantages to a brand. Franchising is a situation where a franchisor controls and supervises the exploitation of a trademark while allowing the use of the tradename, the get up and the reputation and goodwill associated with the trademark. ......
INCRORPORATING AND ENFORCING AN ARBITRATION CLAUSE FROM ANOTHER CONTRACT: WHY SPECIFIC REF...
In recent years, arbitration has become one of the most popular methods of resolving commercial disputes. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ("Act") lays down the framework for arbitration proceedings in India, enabling parties to settle disputes out of court. In this blog post, we will examine the recent judgement by the Delhi High Court in Unthinkable Solutions LLP v. Ejohri Jewels Hub Pvt. Ltd , which highlights the importance of specific reference while incorporating and enforcing an arbitration clause from another contract. ...
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the PIL seeking for guidelines restricting hate speech...
The Supreme Court of India ("Court") adjudicated a Public Interest Litigation ("PIL") that was filed by the Hindu Sena Samiti, on November 14, 2024. The petitioners raised concerns about inflammatory statements made by various political figures, alleging that such statements threatened public order and national security. ...
REWIRING INDIA’S FRAMEWORK FOR APPOINTMENT OF AN ARBITRATOR
The recent judgment by the Supreme Court's ("Court") constitutional bench in Central Organisation for Railway Electrification v. M/s ECI SPIC SMO MCML (JV) brings in a fresh vision for Indian arbitration law. The landmark judgment delivered by a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud addresses. ...
Criminal Cases Cannot be Filed Against Journalists Merely Because Their Writings Amount to...
The Supreme Court of India (the "Supreme Court") passed two interim orders in October 2024, both of which ruled in favour of journalists against whom FIRs have been filed. In both instances, the FIRs were registered against the journalists for writing articles, alleging that the Uttar Pradesh Government favours individuals from certain castes for their appointment to administrative posts. ...
THE RBI NOTIFIES NEW DIRECTIONS ON COMPOUNDING
On September 12, 2024, the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance notified the Foreign Exchange (Compounding Proceedings) Rules, 2024 ("Compounding Rules"), in supersession of the Foreign Exchange (Compounding Proceedings) Rules, 2000. Subsequent to the notification of the Compounding Rules, the Reserve Bank of India ("RBI") notified the new directions on the compounding of contraventions. ...
Balancing Privacy and Efficiency with SEBI’s New Data-Sharing Policy
On October 8, 2024, through a consultation paper released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI") a new policy has been proposed on data-sharing for the purposes of research and analysis ("Policy"). The Policy is applicable to all intermediaries and Market Infrastructure Institutions ("MIIs") and is aimed at streamlining business operations in India's financial markets while addressing critical data privacy challenges. . . .
Media Persons Cannot Be Prosecuted for Defamation for Discussing the Contents of a Publicl...
Recently, the Kerala High Court ("Court") ruled that media persons, in discussing the contents of a publicly available book, cannot be prosecuted for defamation. The media persons, in conducting such discussions, would be exercising their freedom of speech through engaging in fair comment and criticism. ...
Telecommunication Right of Way Rules, 2024
On September 19, 2024, the Department of Telecommunications, ("DoT") issued the Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024 ("RoW Rules") under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 ("Telecom Act"). The RoW Rules, which will come into force on January 1, 2025, seek to regulate the establishment, operation and maintenance of underground telecommunications infrastructure. ...
BEWARE Social Media Influencers: Don’t Say What You’re Not Qualified to Say
In a recent judgment, the Delhi High Court ("Court") dealt with the emerging issue of social media influencers commenting on topics they are unqualified to discuss, particularly when such comments have the potential to harm a brand's reputation. The case of Zydus Wellness Products Limited v. Mr. Prashant Desai , highlights the growing responsibility of influencers. ...
The Bombay High Court Strikes Down Rules Empowering the Central Government to Form Fact-Ch...
In January 2024, a division bench of the Bombay High Court consisting of Justice G. S. Patel and Justice Neela Ghokale (the "Division Bench") pronounced a split verdict in the case of Kunal Kamra v. Union of India & Ors. In the said matter, the constitutional validity of the amendments made to Rule. ...
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