Recent Articles
🔬
Patents · Doctrinal Analysis · Section 3(d)
Critical Analysis: Intra-Cellular Therapies — Doctrinal Gaps and Implications
A doctrinal critique: the judgment's "coverage equals disclosure" novelty reasoning under-engages genus-species doctrine, and its affidavit-curing approach sidesteps a real natural-justice question.
💊
Patents · Delhi HC · Section 3(d) · Novelty
Case Analysis: Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. v. Controller of Patents (Delhi High Court, 2026)
Delhi HC upholds rejection of deuterated gamma-carboline compound claims on lack of novelty and Section 3(d) — leaving inventive step undecided as unnecessary.
⚖️
Designs · Delhi HC · Costs · Commercial Courts Act
Delhi HC on Crocs v. Bata: Shaping Cost Awards in IP Disputes
Bata awarded Rs. 24,63,400 in real litigation costs after Crocs' design registration was cancelled — applying Uflex to close a 12-year suit and signal a "costs follow the event" culture.
🇨🇳
Trademarks · China · CNIPA · Legislative Reform
China Trademark Law 2026 Revision: Key Changes Every Brand Owner Must Know
The most consequential China TM Law rewrite in a decade: bad-faith filing penalties, a two-month opposition window, dynamic marks, and rebalanced damages — effective 1 January 2027.
⚖️
Trademarks · Copyright · Jurisdiction · E-Commerce
Digital Storefronts Define Trademark Jurisdiction, Rules Delhi HC
Rukhmani Keshwani v. Raju Agarbatti Works — GST-verified IndiaMart listings plus online deliveries are enough to ground Delhi jurisdiction under Section 20(c) CPC. No completed sale required: purposeful commercial targeting is the test.
⚖️
Trademarks · India · Rectification · Post-IPAB
The Jurisdiction Battle in Trademark Rectification: How Two Delhi High Court Rulings Exposed a Post-IPAB Fault Line
Dr. Reddy's "dynamic effect" doctrine versus the Hershey Larger Bench reference — where can rectification petitions be filed after the IPAB's abolition? The definitive question now awaits a Larger Bench.
⚖️
Designs · Passing Off · Order XIII-A CPC
Prior Disclosure, Fatal Consequences: Delhi HC Dismisses Design Infringement Claim but Preserves Passing Off in Composite Suit
Delhi HC grants summary judgment dismissing a design infringement claim after the plaintiff's own pre-filing sales and website disclosed the design — but the parallel passing off claim survives for trial.
🌐
Patents · India · Form 3 · Foreign Filing
Foreign Filing Disclosure in India on Form 3: A Practitioner's Guide to Disclosure and Risk Management
A comprehensive guide to Form 3 obligations under Section 8 of the Patents Act — covering who must file, what to disclose, timelines, consequences of non-compliance, and risk management strategies for patent applicants with co-pending foreign applications.
⚖️
Patents · India · Jan Vishwas Act 2026
Jan Vishwas Act, 2026: Transforming India's Patent Punishment Framework
Effective June 1, 2026 — "Penalties" reframed as "Punishments"; Section 118 discretionary relief for non-sensitive Section 39 violations; Section 119 register falsification offence omitted, shifting prosecution to BNS.
📱
Patents · Delhi HC · Section 3(k) · Software Patents
Delhi HC Dismisses BlackBerry Patent Appeal: Colour-Coding Email Recipients Not Patentable Under Section 3(k)
Justice Tejas Karia upholds refusal of BlackBerry's 2008 application for domain-based colour coding of email recipients — holding no hardware-level technical effect, the invention falls within the Section 3(k) exclusion for computer programmes per se. Inventive step also lacking in view of D1, D2, and D3.
📋
Patents · India · Compliance · Deadline Alert
Form 27: Everything a Patentee and Licensee Must Know About Statement of Commercial Working in India — Compliance Deadline: 30 September 2026
Form 27 is a statutory obligation under Section 146(2) of the Patents Act, 1970. With the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024 shifting the filing cycle from annual to triennial, the first consolidated deadline for most patentees falls on 30 September 2026. This comprehensive guide covers who must file, what changed, disclosure requirements, penalties under the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023, extension procedures, and a practical compliance checklist.
🌿
Patents · Delhi HC · Biodiversity Act · NBA Approval
Delhi HC Clarifies NBA Approval Timing in Patent–Biodiversity Interface
Delhi High Court sets aside a refusal order on an herbal pain-killer patent, holding that NBA approval is a condition precedent to 'grant' — not to the hearing — and that the Controller must defer, not refuse, where approval from a third-party authority is pending and the applicant has communicated its status.
™
Trademarks · Delhi HC · Prior User Rights · Well-Known Mark
Delhi HC: Prior User Rights Trump Well-Known Mark Status — Kent Cables Defeats Kent RO for Fans
The Delhi HC Division Bench restrained Kent RO from using KENT for fans despite its well-known mark status, holding that Kent Cables' prior use since 2006 established superior rights.
🖥️
Designs · Calcutta HC · Landmark · Digital IP
Calcutta HC: Graphical User Interfaces Are Registrable Designs Under the Designs Act, 2000
Landmark ruling in NEC Corporation vs Controller of Patents and Designs holds GUIs qualify as registrable designs — digital designs deserve the same protection as physical designs.
🏛️
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. Procedural provisions cannot defeat substantive rights in extraordinary circumstances.
📐
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: virtual designs, GUIs, 12-month grace period, deferred publication, revised 5+5+5 term, and Hague Agreement accession.
🇨🇳
Patents · China · AI
China Unveils Major Patent Examination Amendments: AI, Biotech, Dual Filings
CNIPA's comprehensive amendments cover inventor disclosure, dual patent retention elimination, refined inventiveness standards, and new examination criteria for AI models.
🔄
Patents · Delhi HC · Writ Jurisdiction
Delhi HC Restores Synertec's Patent Application: Agent's Docketing Error Doesn't Cost Applicant Its Rights
In writ jurisdiction, Delhi HC set aside a deemed-withdrawal under Section 11B(4) after the patent agent miscalculated the Form-18 deadline by a year — diligence outweighed the agent's error.
🇲🇻
Trademarks · Maldives · International
Maldives Enacts Landmark Trademark Act 2025: Cautionary Notice System Replaced
The Maldives enacted its first comprehensive trademark statute on 11 November 2025, replacing decades of reliance on cautionary notices. A new IP Office (MIPO) administers a modern first-to-file system.
🇳🇵
Trademarks · Nepal · International · Compliance
Nepal Issues Critical Compliance Deadlines for Pending Trademark Applications Following September 2025 Civil Unrest
The DoI, Nepal issued a Supplementary Notice on December 1, 2025, following destruction of physical trademark files. Brand owners must act urgently or face permanent forfeiture of rights.
™
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.
⚖️
Designs Act · Supreme Court
Supreme Court Formulates Two-Pronged Test: When Does Section 15(2) Bar Copyright? (Inox vs Cryogas)
Landmark ruling on copyright vs design protection. Engineering drawings lose copyright once commercial production exceeds 50 articles, shifting protection to the Designs Act.
💻
Patents · Madras High Court · Section 3(k) · CRI
Madras HC Affirms Patentability of Computer-Related Innovation
Ab Initio's data-lineage patent restored: Section 3(k) excludes only abstract software, not CRIs delivering genuine technical contribution — even without novel hardware.
⏱️
Patents · Supreme Court · Section 12A
SC Clarifies Section 12A Mediation Exemption for Continuing IP Infringement
A five-point test for the Section 12A urgent-relief exemption: continuing IP infringement carries its own inherent urgency, and filing delay alone does not defeat it.
⚖️
Patents · Supreme Court · Section 106 · Forum Shopping
SC Transfers Patent Suit to Prevent Forum Shopping: Atomberg v. Eureka Forbes
Delhi suit transferred to Bombay to avoid parallel proceedings; SC also confirms Section 106 groundless-threats suits survive independently of a later-filed infringement suit.
🖥️
Designs · Calcutta High Court · GUI · Section 2(d)
Calcutta HC Appoints Amicus Curiae on GUI Registrability: Erbe Elektromedizin
Despite the Ust Global precedent favouring GUI registrability, repeated Patent Office refusals prompt the Calcutta HC to appoint an amicus to conclusively settle the question.
🌹
Trademarks · India · Non-Conventional Marks
India Registers Its First Olfactory (Smell) Trademark: A Historic Milestone
On November 21, 2025, India's CGPDTM accepted its first-ever olfactory trademark — a rose-like fragrance applied to tyres by Sumitomo Rubber Industries, using a pioneering seven-dimensional olfactory vector.
👟
Designs · Trademarks · Supreme Court · Passing Off
Supreme Court Declines to Interfere with Revival of Crocs' Passing Off Suits
SC dismisses Bata and Liberty's SLPs against a Delhi HC ruling reviving Crocs' passing off suits — the dual design/passing-off protection question stays open for trial.
🅿️
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.
📅
Patents · Delhi HC · Procedural
Delhi HC Interprets 'Date of Grant': When Controller Signs Order, Patent Is Granted (Vertex Pharmaceuticals)
The decisive point is when the Controller signs the order — not when uploaded on the IPO website. Pre-grant opposition filed after signed order but before upload is not maintainable.
In Depth
📋
Patents · India · Amendment Rules 2024
The Patent (Amendment) Rules 2024: New Flexibility, Hard Deadlines
The March 2024 amendments introduce gender and age disclosures for inventors, revised examination timelines, updated Form 1 requirements, and key changes to national phase filings and divisional applications.
🔍
Trademarks · Delhi HC · Google Ads
Keyword Advertising and Trademark Infringement: MakeMyTrip v. Booking.com
Justice Pratibha M. Singh restrained Booking.com and Google from using the 'MakeMyTrip' mark as a keyword on the Google Ads Program in India — competitors encashing on a rival's trademark reputation 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
From the Archive
⚖️
Patents · India · Section 64 · Revocation
Delhi High Court Clarifies Patent Revocation Rights: Expired Patents Can Still Be Revoked
A revocation petition survives patent expiry, and a Section 107 defence in an infringement suit does not bar a parallel revocation petition under Section 64.
🌏
Strategy · ASEAN · Patents · Trademarks · Multi-Jurisdiction
ASEAN IP Filing Strategy: Coordinating Patents and Trademarks Across Six Markets Cost-Efficiently
No regional ASEAN IP system exists — but with disciplined sequencing of PCT national phases, Madrid Protocol filings, and jurisdiction-specific timing, brands and innovators can build robust multi-country protection without unnecessary duplication.
🇧🇩
Trademarks · Bangladesh · Examination · Filing Strategy
Bangladesh Trademark Law: Single-Class Filing and the New Substantive Examination Regime from February 2025
Substantive examination at DPDT, Bangladesh is now operative from February 27, 2025 — replacing the earlier formality-only check. Single-class filing remains mandatory. Filing strategies for brand owners must be fundamentally recalibrated.
🇪🇺
Patents · Europe · Unitary Patent · Indian Innovators
Unitary Patent System 2025: A Practical Guide for Indian Inventors and Businesses Entering Europe
Since June 2023, a single Unitary Patent covers 18 EU states — saving up to €4,000 over 10 years versus individual national validations and enabling pan-European injunctions through the UPC. What Indian applicants need to plan for.
🇲🇲
Trademarks · Myanmar · International
Myanmar's New Trademark Law: A Shift Toward Modern Registration
The Myanmar Trademark Law 2019 replaces the deed-based cautionary notice system with a modern IPO filing regime. Transition timelines and strategy for Indian businesses.
📋
Patents · India · Rules · Compliance
Patent (Amendment) Rules 2019: Expedited Examination Eligibility Expanded
The 2019 amendment broadened expedited examination eligibility under Rule 24C and clarified startup/small entity fee benefits in Indian patent prosecution.
🌐
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.
🏛️
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 overruled the earlier restriction, holding that design infringement and passing off claims arising from the same transaction can be combined in a single composite suit.
📊
Trademarks · Madrid Protocol · Filing Strategy
Madrid Protocol vs. Direct Filing in India: A Comparative Analysis
The 2017 amendment closed the fee gap between Madrid and direct filing in India — but direct filing's faster examination timeline remains a key differentiator.
📋
Trademarks · Rules · Compliance
Trademark Amendment Rules 2017 Notified: Forms Consolidated, Fees Restructured
The most consequential Indian TM procedure overhaul in years: 74 forms cut to 8, revised fees, expedited processing, and a new well-known mark determination route.
⚖️
Trademarks · Copyright · Supreme Court · Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction Under Sec. 62 Copyright Act & Sec. 134 TM Act: IPRS v. Sanjay Dalia
The foundational anti-forum-shopping ruling on Section 134 jurisdiction — later distinguished in Rukhmani Keshwani (2026) as a narrow anti-abuse doctrine, not a blanket restriction.
🛃
Trademarks · Customs · Border Enforcement
Customs Enforcement of IP Rights: The 2007 Enforcement Rules
How the 2007 IP (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules let rights holders intercept suspect shipments at the border before they reach the domestic market.
📮
Trademarks · Madrid Protocol
Notice of Provisional Refusal by the Indian Registry Under Madrid Protocol
International Registrations designating India face the same substantive examination as national filings — and strict, easy-to-underestimate response deadlines.
📋
Trademarks · Rules · Compliance
Trademark (Amendment) Rules 2014 Notified
Procedural refinements to Indian trademark filing and processing — an incremental step later followed by the more substantial 2017 amendment.
🛡️
Designs · Bombay HC · Section 22 · Infringement
Design Registration as a Defence in an Infringement Suit: Whirlpool v. Videocon
Can a defendant's own design registration shield him from a prior registrant's infringement suit? The Bombay HC said no — following Delhi's Micolube ratio and entrenching a High Court split with Calcutta that remains unresolved. Full analysis on our IP Law Blog.
⏳
Trademarks · India · Estoppel · Acquiescence
Doctrine of Estoppel by Acquiescence for Trademark Infringement
Section 33 of the Trade Marks Act: prolonged, knowing inaction by a proprietor can bar later enforcement against a mark used honestly and openly for five years or more.
📡
Patents · SEPs · FRAND
Nothing FAIR In FRAND: Ericsson v. Micromax and India's First SEP Case
Ericsson's SEP suit against Micromax founded Indian FRAND jurisprudence, opening the still-unresolved royalty-base debate over standard-essential patent licensing.
⚖️
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 on design infringement and passing off — subsequently considered by the five-judge bench in Carlsberg.
💊
Patents · Supreme Court · Section 3(d)
Supreme Court Rejects Novartis Patent for Glivec Under Section 3(d)
The landmark Novartis v. Union of India ruling: enhanced physical properties alone do not satisfy Section 3(d) — applicants must show enhanced therapeutic efficacy.
🔄
Trademarks · Restoration
Delhi HC Upholds Trademark "MBD" Restoration 29 Years After Renewal Lapse
An extraordinary restoration turning on continuous use evidence and absence of prejudice to third parties, despite a nearly three-decade gap since removal.
🌍
Designs · Section 19(1)(b)
Foreign Publication Alone Is Not "Prior Publication" for Design Cancellation
A design disclosed abroad cannot be cancelled in India without showing the disclosure actually reached or was accessible to the Indian public.
🌐
Trademarks · Rule 38(4)
Website Posting Alone Is Not "Communication" Under Rule 38(4)
Uploading a Registry order to a public website does not trigger statutory response timelines — actual notice to the affected party is required.
📄
Patents · Delhi High Court · Claim Amendment
Amendment of Claims in an Infringement Suit Cannot Be Made Without Amending the Plaint
Glaverbel v. Dave Rose: a claim amendment allowed in one suit cannot be imported into a related suit without formally amending that plaint.
🍷
Regulatory Compliance · Advertising Law
Alcohol Advertising, Packaging and Labelling Requirements in India
India's TV advertising ban on alcohol has long pushed liquor brands toward surrogate advertising through allied products and event sponsorship.
💊
Patents · Section 84 · Compulsory Licensing
Compulsory Licence for Patents in India: Statutory Framework Under Section 84
Section 84 lets any interested person, including an existing licensee, apply for a compulsory licence after 3 years if public need, affordability, or local working requirements go unmet.
📐
Designs · Overview
Industrial Design Law and Practice in India: An Overview
A primer on the Designs Act 2000: registrability requirements, the 10+5 year term, Locarno classification, and the strict no-grace-period novelty rule.
🗄️
Trademarks · Administrative
DIPP Admits Trademarks Registry Lost ~44,000 Application Files
A major administrative failure exposing the risks of paper-based filing, and part of the case that drove the Registry toward later digitisation.
🛃
Trademarks · Customs · Constitutional
Samsung Loses Challenge to Constitutionality of Customs IP Rules
An early challenge to the 2007 IP Enforcement Rules failed, giving durable legal footing to the border-enforcement framework still used today.