Recent Articles
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Designs · Calcutta HC · Landmark · Digital IP
Calcutta HC: Graphical User Interfaces Are Registrable Designs Under the Designs Act, 2000
Landmark ruling in NEC Corporation & Ors. vs Controller of Patents and Designs holds GUIs qualify as registrable designs. Physical embodiment and permanence are not statutory requirements — digital designs visible during normal device use satisfy all requirements under the Act.
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Designs · India · DPIIT · Legislation
India Releases Comprehensive Concept Note on Proposed Amendments to the Designs Act, 2000
DPIIT's January 2026 Concept Note proposes sweeping reforms: protection for virtual designs and GUIs, a 12-month grace period, deferred publication up to 30 months, revised 5+5+5 term structure, multiple-design applications, and accession to the Hague Agreement and Riyadh Design Law Treaty.
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Trademarks · Nepal · International · Compliance
Nepal Issues Critical Compliance Deadlines for Pending Trademark Applications Following September 2025 Civil Unrest
The Department of Industry (DoI), Nepal issued a Supplementary Notice on December 1, 2025, following the destruction of physical trademark files during the September 9, 2025 Gen Z civil unrest. Brand owners with pending applications must act urgently or face permanent forfeiture of rights.
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Trademarks · India · Non-Conventional Marks
India Registers Its First Olfactory (Smell) Trademark: A Historic Milestone in Non-Conventional Trademark Protection
On November 21, 2025, the CGPDTM accepted India's first-ever olfactory trademark — a rose-like floral fragrance applied to tyres by Sumitomo Rubber Industries — using a pioneering seven-dimensional olfactory vector developed by IIIT Allahabad to satisfy graphical representation requirements.
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Patents · Delhi HC · Procedural
Delhi HC Interprets 'Date of Grant': When Controller Signs Order, Patent Is Granted (Vertex Pharmaceuticals)
The decisive point in time is when the Controller signs the order under Section 15 — not when uploaded on the IPO website or when the certificate is generated. Pre-grant opposition filed after signed order but before upload is not maintainable.
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Patents · Delhi HC · Restoration
Delhi HC Grants Patent Application Restoration: Agent Error Does Not Defeat Rights (Synertec)
Patent application restored despite missed Form-18 deadline caused by patent agent error. Court rules that intent to prosecute was clear and delay was not intentional — substantive rights cannot be defeated by procedural lapses.
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Patents · Delhi HC · Inventive Step
Delhi HC: Inventive Step Must Be Evidence-Based, Not Assumption-Driven (Dong Yang PC)
Vertical Rotary Parking System patent allowed. Controller's rejection based on "common general knowledge" without evidence set aside. Court emphasizes: obviousness cannot rest on vague assertions — decade-long gap between prior art supports non-obviousness.
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Trademarks · Delhi HC
Trademark Proprietor Cannot Claim Monopoly Over Entire Class: Delhi HC (PRO-EASE vs PRUEASE)
Registration in a class does not grant exclusivity over all goods in that class. Rights extend only to goods for which the mark is actually used — and estoppel applies to contradictory litigation positions.
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Designs Act · Supreme Court
Supreme Court Formulates Two-Pronged Test: When Does Section 15(2) Bar Copyright? (Inox vs Cryogas)
A comprehensive two-pronged test to determine eligibility for Designs Act protection and when copyright in engineering drawings is extinguished by industrial application.
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Trademarks · International · Maldives
Maldives Enacts Landmark Trademark Act 2025 (Law No. 19/2025)
The first comprehensive statutory trademark framework for the Maldives — replacing the cautionary notice system with a modern registration regime. Comes into force November 11, 2026.
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Patents · China · AI
China's Patent Examination Guidelines Amendments: AI, Biotech, Dual Filings — Effective Jan 2026
CNIPA's comprehensive amendments cover inventor disclosure, dual patent retention elimination, refined inventiveness standards, and new examination criteria for AI models and bitstream inventions.
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Trademarks · Madras HC
Madras HC: COVID Lockdown Filing Delays Cannot Cause Deemed Abandonment
Affidavit filed within deadline but unsigned due to pandemic restrictions treated as valid. Court emphasizes procedural provisions cannot defeat substantive rights in extraordinary circumstances.
In Depth
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Patents · India · Amendment Rules 2024
Salient Features of Patent Amendment Rules 2024
The March 2024 amendments to the Patent Rules 2003 introduce gender and age disclosures for inventors, revised examination timelines, updated Form 1 requirements, and key changes to national phase filings and divisional applications. A comprehensive breakdown for practitioners.
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Trademarks · Delhi HC · Google Ads
MakeMyTrip vs Booking.com: Using Rival's Mark on Google Ads = Trademark Infringement + Passing Off
Justice Pratibha M. Singh of the Delhi High Court restrained Booking.com and Google from using the 'MakeMyTrip' mark as a keyword on the Google Ads Program in India — holding that competitors encashing on a rival's trademark reputation through keyword bidding constitutes both infringement and passing off.
"Statutes must be interpreted in light of technological advancements and contemporary commercial realities — digital designs deserve the same protection as physical designs."— Calcutta High Court, NEC Corporation & Ors. v. Controller of Patents and Designs, March 2026
Archive
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Designs Act · Delhi HC · Three-Judge Bench
Delhi HC Three-Judge Bench: Infringement Suits Against Registered Design Proprietors Are Maintainable; Passing Off Available (Mohan Lal)
Landmark three-judge bench ruling: design infringement suits are maintainable against other registered proprietors under Section 22; common law passing off is available to design holders; infringement and passing off can be pursued concurrently but not in a single composite suit.
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Designs Act · Delhi HC · Five-Judge Bench · Landmark
Delhi HC Five-Judge Bench Overrules Mohan Lal: Composite Suits for Design Infringement and Passing Off Are Maintainable (Carlsberg)
A five-judge bench in Carlsberg Breweries v. Som Distilleries overruled the earlier three-judge bench restriction in Mohan Lal, holding that design infringement and passing off claims arising from the same transaction can be combined in a single composite suit under Order II Rule 3 CPC.
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Trademarks · Myanmar · International
Trademark Registration in Myanmar: New Trademark Law 2019 & Transition to IPO Filing
The Myanmar Trademark Law enacted January 2019 replaces the deed-based cautionary notice system with a modern IPO filing regime. Transition timelines, re-filing obligations, and strategy for Indian businesses.
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Trademarks · Madrid Protocol · India
Advantage of Madrid Filing in India: Benefits & Drawbacks After the 2017 Rule Amendments
India joined the Madrid Protocol in 2013. The 2017 rule amendments narrowed the advantages significantly — this analysis compares Madrid vs direct national filing strategies and when each is optimal.