21st June , 2011
6 Ballygunge Place Registers Address as Trademark in India
6 Ballygunge Place, a restaurant in south Kolkata has registered its address of the same name as a trademark in India.
This is the first time that a house address including the plot number and location has been permitted by the India’s trademark office to be registered as trademark. The Bengali restaurant intends to use the mark on restaurants in India, the U.K., France and the U.S.
The Counsel for the restaurant convinced the trademark office that its address is an exclusive tangible asset that had been developed over time. 6 Ballygunge Place has now achieved a trade mark/service mark registration. Two outlets with the 6 Ballygunge Place address have been opened in Salt Lake, Kolkata and Bangalore, following the registration.
EU Protected GIs for Carp, Beans and Apricots
Beans, apricots and carp are the three agricultural commodities join the elite group of Europe's protected geographical indications.
Fagiolo Cuneo (PGI), Karp zatorski (PDO) and the Gonci kajszibarack (PGI) have recently been entered in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications of the European Union.
The Fagiolo Cuneo is an Italian bean grown in a particular area of Italy’s province of Cuneo. It is a dried bean with a thin skin and high iron content and is dried off the plant. Karp zatorski is a greenish carp from a region of western Poland called the “Valley of the Carp”, which has a good meat yield. Gönci kajszibarack is a spherical Hungarian apricot habitually used to make brandy.
Amazonian biodiversity to be digitalized by Brazil
The Brazilian government and IBM have signed a partnership agreement which will facilitate Brazil to digitalize information on Amazonian biodiversity with the help of the New York-based multinational technology and consulting U.S. Company.
This project, called Wikiflora, would allow the research community including the scientists and teachers to share knowledge and findings on biological diversity. Brazil has strong IT infrastructure to do the project, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology.
The Amazonian rainforest which represents over half of the Earth's remaining rainforests covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America with its territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest, nearly 60% of the rainforest lies within Brazil.
Academy claims infringement of Oscar trademark
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have claimed infringement of their trademark by Star Vijay TV, an entertainment channel broadcasting in Tamil. They have approached the Delhi High Court alleging that Vijay TV copied the esteemed Oscar statuette for trophies to be presented during its awards ceremony. The Academy, which has a registered trade mark for their statuette, has sought permanent injunction against the use of the trophy by the Indian TV Channel.and Rs. 20 lakhs as damages.
The petition claims that the respondents are using the trophy for entertainment services, similar to its nature of services. The statuette in question holds a shield at its chest, as opposed to the statuette of the plaintiff which holds a sword at its chest. Vijay TV is organizing an award function on June 25 for presenting the trophies. The petitioner has demanded a stay on the award ceremony or to make necessary changes before the award ceremony. The court has however declined to grant any interim relief and allowed the organizers to go ahead with the awards function.
A single judge Bench referred the case for mediation and observed that in case the parties failed to resolve the issue, petitioner should produce a sample of the Oscar trophy on July 13, the next date of hearing. The petitioner submitted it was not possible to bring it to India for legal battle as it is made of pure solid gold.
Nokia and Apple sign patent license agreement
Apple Inc. now joins the growing number of Nokia licensees. The world’s two biggest mobile phone makers have signed a patent license agreement which would end all legal disputes between them including the withdrawal of their respective complaints to the US International Trade Commission.
Apple would pay an undisclosed one-time fee and subsequent royalties to the Finnish handset maker. The two mobile-phone making companies have been in dispute since October 2009. Nokia had alleged that California-based Apple infringed its patents and had demanded royalties on the millions of iPhones sold since its launch in 2007. Nokia had 46 patents asserted against Apple in civil lawsuits and complaints lodged with the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Nokia, a world leader in the development of handheld device and mobile communications technologies and which has over 10,000 patents will have a license to some technology of Apple, which in turn will get a license to some of Nokia’s patents.
Suven Life Sciences gets two more product patents
Suven Life Sciences, a Hyderabad-based biopharmaceutical company has received two more product patents in the key markets in the world. The company procured one patent each from Europe and New Zealand.
These patents which are valid till 2027 and 2025 were received for the New Chemical Entities (NCEs) to be used in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.
With the two new product patents, Suven Life Sciences now has ten granted patents in Europe and 11 in New Zealand.
