14th September, 2011

Trademark dispute over 'Reliance'

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and a bag maker from Surat, India, are engaged in a legal battle over the trademark "Reliance" in the Gujarat High Court. The Surat-based luggage and school bags manufacturer Asim Plast insists that he be allowed to retain the brand name "Reliance", which he claims to be using for his products since 1982.

The bag maker had earlier applied for trademark registration in 2000, citing that it was used since 1995. The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks accepted the application and published it in 2003 in the Trademark Journal. This was opposed by RIL claiming that it legally owned the "Reliance" trademark.

Asim Plast then sought to make changes in its application claiming the trademark was in use since 1982 and that 1995 was mentioned by mistake. The assistant registrar of trademark allowed the bag maker to go ahead with "Reliance", though it was opposed by RIL

The multinational company challenged the ruling at Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), which in 2007 set aside the registrar's order mentioning that Asim Plast made the changes in the application with devious intentions.

Asim Plast has now sought review of the IPAB decision from the Gujarat High Court.


Suven granted four product patents for CNS molecules

India-based Suven Life Sciences has been granted four product patents in Australia and New Zealand for its new chemical entities (NCEs), which could be used for treating disorders associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Huntington's disease, and schizophrenia.

The four product patents, three of which are from Australia and one from New Zealand are valid through 2027. The issued patents cover the class of selective 5-HT compounds of Suven that are being developed to treat cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Products developed out of these molecules may be out-licensed at various phases of clinical research, according to the company.

The pharmaceutical company now has eleven patents from Australia and twelve from New Zealand for the NCEs.

DuPont accuses Heraeus of solar paste patent infringement

A German materials company Heraeus has been accused of patent infringement by DuPont, a US multinational company. DuPont filed papers in the US District Court of Delaware, alleging infringement of a solar technology patent.

DuPoint alleges that Heraeus breached a patent related to its "front-side metallization paste materials", which are used in the manufacture of solar cells. The company accuses Heraeus of "manufacturing solar cells and inducing its customers to manufacture solar cells, using Heraeus H94XX series and H92XX series front-side silver pastes".

DuPoint’s Solamet product is the leading technology for metallization in crystalline silicon and thin-film solar cells and has been helpful in increasing the efficiency of solar power. DuPont has been active in the photovoltaic market in recent years, acquiring US solar start-up Innovalight in July as part of its efforts to strengthen its solar-related annual revenues, from $1bn at present to $2bn by 2014.

ICC and MCA in copyright violation

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) have been accused of copyright violation during the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The anti-piracy manager of Novex Communications, authorized to issue licenses for Yash Raj Films has registered an FIR against them with the Marine Drive police, Mumbai. The treasurer of the MCA, the  chief executive officer of the ICC, the joint secretary of the ICC, the joint secretary of the MCA and DJ Hiren from the event management company Leading Age have been named in the FIR.

The ICC and MCA had been informed by Novex Communications before the World Cup started, that they should buy the rights of the music that would be played during the tournament. The company was assured that songs from Yash Raj films would not be played. However songs were played in the Sri Lanka-New Zealand match and ICC also played Chak De!, another Yash Raj song after India won the World Cup. The ICC and MCA were then sent a legal notice which was not responded by either of them.

The ICC upholds that it had requested the MCA to acquire all licenses and legal rights. The parties had settled for a compensation of Rs 10 lakh after much discussion. The ICC has however refused to pay this amount.


China ranks 6th in international trademark filings

According to the Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China became the world's sixth largest applicant for international trademark registry this year.

In 2010, the WIPO had received a total of 39,687 trademark applications worldwide, out of which, 1,928 came from China, an annual increment of 42.2 percent. This is the second fastest increase worldwide after the Republic of Korea.

China is the among the world's most active applicants in terms of the number of applications and its domestic trademark registry applications are also increasing fast, with the number of applications exceeding 1.4 million so far this year.

S Korea and Japan sign copyright agreement

South Korea and Japan have signed an agreement to cooperate in protection of copyrights and related rights of their cultural products.

The two governments will work mutually to improve the copyright situation in the Asia-Pacific region, under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for strengthening cooperation in the fields of copyrights and neighboring copyrights.

A joint project intended to increase policy exchanges and cooperation among South Korea, China and Japan, and revitalize exchanges of South Korean and Japanese experts on copyrights matters is also in the offering