ASWAL ASSOCIATES- Intellectual Property Law firm India

The Trademark (Amendment) Rules, 2014 have been notified, revising the official government fees payable for trademark filings in India. With effect from August 1, 2014, the government fee for filing a trademark application has been increased from INR 3,500 to INR 4,000 per class—an increase of approximately 15%. A Pattern of Periodic Fee Revisions This is not the first such revision in recent years. The government fee had previously been increased in December 2010, when it rose from INR 2,500 to INR 3,500 per class. The latest amendment, therefore, marks the second increase within a four-year period, reflecting the Trademark Registry's ongoing efforts to align its fee structure with rising administrative and operational costs. Increase in Fee for Expedited Examination Alongside the increase in the standard filing fee, the government fee for expedited (express) examination of trademark applications has also been revised upward, from INR 17,500 to INR 20,000 per class. Expedited ...

  A Critical Analysis of Whirlpool of India Ltd. v. Videocon Industries Ltd. ( S. J. Kathawalla, J., Bombay High Court, Notice of Motion No. 2269 of 2012 in Suit No. 2012 of 2012, decided May 27, 2014) Core question: Can an infringement suit under Section 22 lie against a person who is himself a registered proprietor of a design? And, on the facts, was there infringement and passing off? Core statutory provisions: Sections 2(c), 6, 11, 19 and 22, Designs Act, 2000 I. Introduction The Designs Act, 2000 grants a registered proprietor a time-bound monopoly over the visual features of an article, but it does not say, in so many words, whether that monopoly can be enforced against another person who has himself managed to register a similar or identical design. Whirlpool of India Ltd. v. Videocon Industries Ltd. is the leading Bombay High Court authority answering this question, and it did so by adopting — and thereby entrenching — the position first taken by the Delhi High ...