Battle of Kwiks, Japan Applies for GI Tag, Zuckerberg to Testify before FTC, Google May Challenge CCI Ruling, Patent Statistics, and more.

India Patent Statistics

The 43rd issue of the Patent Journal, 2022 saw a total of 896 patent applications being published. An increase of about 17.71% was seen from the preceding week in the number of applications being granted. Chennai leads in the number of applications published followed by Bangalore. Read More

Trademark Updates

The Race to Win: Ninety-One Bicycles v. Ninety-Nine Bicycles

The proprietor of the mark ‘Ninety-One Bicycles’ filed a trademark infringement suit against the defendants who were selling bicycles under the mark ‘Ninety-Nine Bicycles’. The Delhi High court found the "Ninety Nine / 99" marks to be deceptively similar to the "Ninety One / 91" marks. Read More

Battle of the Kwiks: Fevi Kwik Manufacturer gets Interim Relief

Pidilite Industries Ltd, the manufacturer of Fevi Kwik, has received interim relief against Fixo Industries in an infringement suit, thus preventing the defendant from selling products bearing ‘Fixo Kwik’. The court found the two marks to be deceptively similar. Read More

Sake: The First Japanese GI application in India

Nihonshu or Japanese Sake, is the first good for which the Embassy for Japan in New Delhi has filed an application to obtain a Geographical Indication Tag before the GI Registry in Chennai. In the application for registration, nihonshu was described as a valuable beverage and part of the culture. Read More

Triumph of TIME Institute

The Delhi High Court granted a temporary order in favour of Triumphant Institute of Management Education (T.I.M.E), thus restraining ‘Times Coaching Centre' from the use of infringing marks. Read More

GI Mahotsava: A Tribute to India’s Priceless Treasures

‘GI Mahotsava’, a six-day celebration of the valuable assets of Incredible India, was organised in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The celebration featured goods with GI-tags of over 11 states along with GI-tagged crafts being exhibited. Read More

Antitrust and Data Privacy Updates

Mark Zuckerberg to Testify before FTC

The FTC has issued objections against the purchase of Within Unlimited, Virtual Reality (VR) content-making company by Meta on the grounds of it being detrimental to the competition in the market and its tendencies to create a monopoly. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms' CEO, is expected to testify in defence of this acquisition. Read More

Google Likely to Challenge CCI Ruling

While Alphabet Inc. has not commented, the lead counsel for the company has called the CCI ruling "riddled with inherent and patent infirmities", and the company is likely to challenge the ruling. The company, home to the tech-website Google, has faced two significant antitrust fines from the CCI in the last few weeks, concerning its in-app commission policy and mobile platform. Read More

Bed Bath & Beyond, Twilio Suffer Data Breach

The American companies Bed Bath & Beyond, and Twilio, have admitted that third parties gained access to and committed theft of their data with malicious intentions. Both companies have suffered similar breaches in the past, leading to access by third parties to customer data. Read More