Division Bench Stays the Interim Injunction Granted to Kibow Biotech, calls Methodology of the Single Judge Bench for Establishing Prima Facie case “Flawed”
In this post, Praharsh discusses a Madras High Court Division Bench decision staying an interim injunction granted by the Single Judge Bench in a patent infringement dispute holding that the order “does not appear to be justified”. He first summarises the findings of the Division Bench. He then noted the court’s ruling that the subject matter of the dispute attracted application of Section 3(c) and no patent can be granted over the discovery of a bacterium. Moreover, the Single Judge also ignored that the strains of the bacterium used by the plaintiffs and the defendants were different. The court termed the Single Judge’s methodology to determine prima facie case based on efforts undertaken by the plaintiffs flawed. Furthermore, he highlights that the court took due notice of the strong presence of the defendants in the market and delayed infringement action brought by the plaintiffs, and thereby indirectly applying the clean hands doctrine. Finally, he concludes by discussing the noteworthy direction of the court in asking the defendants to deposit a sum of 3 crores as security, thus employing equity in interim hearings.
Tracing the Contours of Copyrightability of ‘Unique Sports Celebrations’
In this guest post, Kedar analyses the copyrightability of unique sports celebrations. He first argues for the need for copyrighting such celebrations, highlighting factors such as merchandisable popularity and fiscal stability for players and incentivising more innovative celebrations. He then highlights that these celebrations would satisfy the originality requirement and have to be differentiated from generic sport moves such as a kick which are essential for playing the sport by everyone. He finally argues that sports celebrations consisting of a combination of steps could be considered choreographic works and thus granted protection as ‘dramatic works’.
Other Posts
Webinar on ‘Trade Secret and Access to Medicine’ by CUSAT and TWN [September 22]
We informed our readers that the DPIIT IPR Chair of the Inter University Centre for IPR Studies at the Cochin University of Science and Technology and the Third World Network are jointly organizing a free webinar on “Trade Secret and Access to Medicine” on September 22, 2021. Further details, including the link for registration, are provided in the post here.
NUALS Kochi’s Webinar Series on ‘Evolving Facets of IPR’ [September 23]
We also informed our readers that the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR), NUALS is organising a webinar series on ‘Evolving Facets of IPR’ on September 23, 2021. The deadline for registration for the webinar is September 20, 2021. Further details, including the link for registration, are provided in the post here.
Call for Papers: NALSAR’s Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law (IJIPL) Vol. 12 [Submit by November 20]
We announced that NALSAR Hyderabad’s Indian Journal of Indian Intellectual Property Law (IJIPL) is inviting papers for publication in Volume 12 of the journal. The deadline for submission is 20th November, 2021. Further details including the submission guidelines are available here.
Decisions from Indian Courts
- The Delhi High Court in Reddys Laboratories Ltd. v. Fast Cure Pharma, refused to grant an injunction at an ex-parte stage against the defendants for their use of the ‘RAZOFAST’ mark in light of the plaintiff’s registered ‘RAZO’ mark. [September 14, 2021]
- The Calcutta High Court in Sri Parvathy Saltern Private Ltd. v. Panda and Brothers, granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the Respondents from using the get-up/ artistic work similar to the Petitioner’s registered artistic work for the sale of salt. [September 13, 2021]
- The Delhi High Court in DFM Foods Ltd. v. Ishvi Food Private Ltd., granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the defendants from using any mark deceptively similar to the plaintiff’s registered ‘CURLS’ mark. [September 13, 2021]
- The Calcutta High Court in Sanjit Kumar Mandal v. Shabuddin Sekh, granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the Respondents from using the get-up/ artistic work similar to the Petitioner’s ‘ASLI MUNNA BHAI TOBACCO’. [September 13, 2021]
- The Bombay High Court in Laboratories Griffon Pvt. Ltd. v. Rajiv Mukul Proprietor of Zee Laboratories, granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the defendants from using any mark deceptively similar to the plaintiff’s registered ‘GLIMET’ mark. [September 13, 2021]
- The Delhi High Court in Relaxo Footwears Ltd. v. Nikhil Footwears, granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the defendants from using any designs imitating the plaintiff’s registered designs for footwears. [September 10, 2021]
- The Delhi High Court in Delhi Public School Society v. Deepak Kumar Pal, suspended the registration of trademark ‘Delhi Public International School’ in the name of the Respondent till further orders in light of Petitioner’s registered DPS marks. [September 10, 2021]
Other News from India
- The E-filing and online services for patents in India have been resumed.
- India’s first Geographical Indication (GI) store has been opened at the Goa International Airport in Dabolim.
- The Himachal Agriculture University has applied for a Geographical Indication (GI) tag registration for Japonica Red Rice.
News from Around the World
- In a case filed by Stephen Thaler, part of the Artificial Inventor Project, US Federal Judge Leonie Brikema has ruled that an AI cannot be considered an ‘inventor’ of a patent.
- Leading educational publishing company, Pearson, has sued Chegg Inc. for selling answers to Pearson’s textbook questions without authorisation.
- The popular database Honey Impact, for the game Genshin Impact, is being threatened to be taken down in light of warnings issued by the legal staff of miHoYo, the game’s developer.
- Pop star Rihanna has dropped a case instituted by her in 2019 against her father for false advertising and invasion of privacy.
