INSIGHTS

Introduction : Traditionally, trademarks have included words, logos, symbols, labels, and other visible signs that identify the source of goods and services. However, modern branding increasingly focuses on sensory experiences instead of just visual cues. Today, businesses aim to establish brand recognition through sounds, shapes, colors, scents, movements, textures, and even holograms. This shift has led to the development of non-traditional trademarks. Non-traditional tra

Introduction : Every registered trademark faces the prospect of collision with common parlance. The skin care product acquires reputation with the help of a phrase, which customers utilize to describe the intended effect of this kind of cosmetics; the website that helps in finding tickets to events registers the word “journey”; the accessory producer wants to notify the client that the valve is suitable for the leading pressure cooker brand. The Section 30 of the Trade Marks

Introduction : A name is arguably the most intimate possession of an individual, yet the law increasingly views it as a mere commodity - a brand, a licensable domain, a source of tortious dispute. Indian courts have grappled with the question of when a celebrity name ceases to be a personal appellation and becomes a commercial asset subject to trademark-style protection. The implications of this distinction touch all manner of speech and commerce, from memes to merchandise an

Introduction : The digital revolution has fundamentally changed the geography of commerce, and by extension, the geography of litigation. In an era where a small enterprise in Coimbatore can list products on a global marketplace accessible to a consumer in Delhi, the question of “where” a trademark is infringed has become a complex jurisdictional puzzle. For many years, plaintiffs have attempted to assert the jurisdiction of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, widely regarded as a

Introduction : In today’s globalised and competitive market, trademarks are not just mere symbols or words of trade but have emerged as powerful business assets that carry with themselves brand values, market reputation and an extraordinary commercial value. However, due to factors like international trade, a greater evolution in the categories of goods and services, an adequate and a consistent trademark classification system is required to potentially simplify different cla

Introduction : In April 2023, the Indian Space Policy allowed private companies to use the country’s launch vehicles, satellites and rockets, ending ISRO’s monopoly. This landmark policy indicates a shift from operational missions to advanced research and commercialisation. Within the next two years, the ISRO’s commercial arm, New Space India Limited, has registered over 70 technology transfer agreements with private entities. While this framework was meant to provide a comme

Introduction : Intellectual property is part of corporate transactions like acquisitions and joint ventures, but now it is a prominent asset in corporate transactions. A franchise of trademark, a portfolio of patents, and a proprietary codebase may be more valuable than the business itself. Unlike land and machinery, IP asset is an intangible business asset. Its value is in the statutory and contractual title that is granted to it. Incomplete or defective title may not entitl

Introduction : There is a peculiar relationship between trademark law and domain names. Trademark laws were built for a physical world of labels, packaging and shop frontages. On the other hand, a domain name is a human readable numeric IP address within ICANN’s domain name system. However, when a consumer types a bank’s name, for instance, in a browser address bar, they are placing exactly the kind of source identifying trust in that string of characters that trademark law h

Introduction : The current food industry is not defined by culinary expertise alone, but rather by the power of brand. It might be hard for a customer to recollect all ingredients used in making a particular burger or the spices added to the signature curry, but they will remember where they bought it from. This transition from product recognition to source recognition makes trademarks not just a formal procedure in the process of doing business, but one of the most valuable

Introduction : University spin-offs find themselves at a tricky junction, having valuable and innovative inventions but limited funding and fast deadlines in commercialization process. They do not have resources to “blanket file” patent applications as corporations can to preserve the possibility of obtaining protection in various countries. It should be strategically chosen which patents will be sought for in which time frame. Luckily, there are international mechanisms that

Introduction : For many years, the Indian trademark register had been characterised by an apparent contradiction. On the one hand, there were those who adopted and used marks in the ordinary course of trade. On the other hand, there were registrations on a “proposed to be used” basis which remained uncommercialised but continued to stand in the way of subsequent registrations. The situation is made worse where such registrations remain alive as mere defensive acquisitions or

Introduction : Indian Real Estate emerging as a key pillar to the economy of the nation has been resistant to the prevailing economic uncertainty. This is because of the intangibility, wealth creation, lower fluctuations, future stability, leverage opportunities, portfolio diversification and other features that are attached to it. According to people there is an inherent aspect of stability and protection that comes in combo with such investments. But this stability is not i