INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY UPDATES FROM INDIA

Published On: 09/05/2023

Practice Area: Intellectual Property

Authors:

Bharadwaj Jaishankar
Kshitij Parashar
Meetali Agarwal
Sana Singh
Lavanya Anand
Ruchika Bhaskar
As we embark on the second quarter of 2023, we are delighted to present to you our next edition of the newsletter, focused entirely on the world of Intellectual Property Rights. India has been making conscious effortsin building and growing its innovation framework which is evident from the fact that the Indian Government recently acquired 127 patents for 6G technology. The Courts have also been vigilant in protecting the rights of creators and brand owners to usher the wave of innovation and drive business growth. This is rightly evident from the Court’s coming of age ruling in the ‘Subway v. Suberb’ case, and the recent ‘Swiggy domain name dispute’. Simultaneously, the High Court of Delhi declaring the stylized logo of the French luxury brand, Hermes as awell-known trade mark also indicates the Courts sheer eagerness in recognising and safeguarding the transborder reputation enjoyed by notable international marks. This edition also tracks an interesting litigation centred around design infringement where the Court passed injunction in order to protect the registered keyboard design of the Japanese company, Casio. The judgement is likely to have a positive impact on the existing framework concerning Industrial Design in India. A few snippets of this edition that are worth reading include the underlying tussle between Zee Music and Spotify, Joan Mitchell Foundation issuing Cease and Desist to Louis Vuitton over use of paintings in handbag advertisements, and NFT and Metaverse related trade mark filings of Yves Saint Laurent and Amazon. So, without further ado, let’s dive into this edition!