IPR NEWS – WEEKLY UPDATES FROM 25TH JULY- 30TH JULY
Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd And anr v. Neeraj Food Products
Mondelez India Foods Private Limited (previously Cadbury India Ltd.) and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited filed a suit against the defendant for trademark infringement of their product “CADBURY GEMS” or “GEMS”. The Delhi High Court on 26th July 2022 gave the judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the defendants to pay Rs. 10 Lakhs as damages to Cadbury and the actual costs in the amount of Rs. 15,86,928 after noting that the company had incurred significant costs for the litigation in a case involving an interim injunction that had been in effect since 2007 within three months. The Court noted that the use of the contested mark “JAMES BOND” or “JAMEY BOND” violated the plaintiff’s trademark because of the misleadingly similar packaging along with copyright violations of the character “GEMS BOND” that Cadbury uses to promote their product, thereby acting as a complete knock-off. The Court granted a permanent and mandatory injunction on the defendant for passing off, causing confusion in minds of children and misleading the consumers who associate their childhood with GEMS.
Khadi & Village Industries Commission v. Raman Gupta & Ors.
The plaintiff is the registered owner of the trademark “KHADI” and its variants since the year 2014 with the user claim of 1956 in numerous classes in Hindi and English , having their website under the domain name lawfully registered as ‘www.kviconline.gov’ since 1st July 2010 and is governed by the ‘Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act of 1956’. Even the ‘Charkha Logo,’ adopted by the Plaintiff in 1956 is widely utilized on the goods and services the Plaintiff offers. The Bench affirmed the same and stated that the plaintiff is entitled for protection against the trademark infringement committed by the defendants which sells PPE kits, masks, hand sanitizers, fireballs, under the trademark ‘KHADI BY HERITAGE’ along with the ‘Charkha Logo’, because of the confusion that might be caused to the consumers due to the similarity in the logos. The Court ordered the defendants to pay damages to the tune of Rs. 10 lakhs and costs of Rs. 2 lakhs are awarded in favor of the Plaintiff.
TV Today Network Pvt Ltd v. Newslaundry & Ors.
The TV Today Network which owns the TV channels India Today and Aaj Tak had filed a suit against sued Newslaundry for copyright infringement and defamation, requesting Rs 2 crore in damages, in October 2021. The plaintiff demanded the removal 65 YouTube videos and 34 articles that were posted on the Newslaundry website and asked for similar relief against the content posted by the defendant in their social media handles and requested the Court to prevent Newslaundry and its journalists from “writing, tweeting or posting” anything disparaging about its stations, anchors, or management. The Delhi High Court refused to grant interim injunction because “there was neither any balance of convenience in favor of the network nor was irreparable loss being caused”.
Netflix v. Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear & Ors.
The Netflix Inc. on 29th July 2022, filed a lawsuit against the artists Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear for copyright infringement of the songs featured in their show Bridgerton, in which Netflix owns exclusive rights over the songs of the show, the musicals and its derivative works. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants through their Grammy wining theatrical music album by the name Unofficial Bridgerton Musical have re-appropriated original elements from their show, its plot points and the expression extended beyond the scope of fan fiction .As per the lawsuit, Netflix denies giving the defendants the approval to create derivative works of the show for profit and wants to prevent the alleged infringements along with claiming of damages.
Litigation over Covid-19 Vaccine Patent Claims
CureVac in the start of July had filed a suit for patent infringement against BioNTech regarding its use of mRNA technology for the Comirnaty vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer. COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech and Pfizer have filed a lawsuit before the US District Court in Massachusetts seeking relief in their favor that they did not infringe the three US patents of CureVac related to RNA-based vaccines. The plaintiffs have alleged that the defendant is trying to reap the benefits out of their COVID-19 vaccines after the defendant have failed in their attempts to create one and that their vaccine Comirnaty does not operate in the same manner as the technology of CureVac.
Global GI Expo In China
The 1st World Geographical Indication Products Expo was held in Luzhou, Sichuan Province, southwestern China, which showcased products with certified origin. With the theme of “Strengthening the Protection of Geographical Indications (GI) and Promoting High-Quality Industrial Development”, the objective of the conference is to facilitate in the promotion of trade and commerce in GI products, technology exchange, cultural exchange and investment promotion with participation of nearly 1,000 of GI products from more than 20 countries.
Promotion Of GI Products From Varanasi
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gifted the products of Varanasi bearing GI tags (including Banarasi Gulabi Meenakari and wood carving) to foreign delegates during the G7 summit to promote and publicize GI products of India in the International Platform. Subsequently, 8 more products from Varanasi such as the Banarasi paan, shehnai, tabla, Ramnagar bhanta (Brinjal grown in Ramnagar area of Varanasi), Karonda (A fruit that grows in abundance in Chiraigaon area of Varanasi), Lal Peda (a sweet dish), Langda Aam (mango variety grown around Varanasi) and Adamchini rice are in line for obtaining GI status and their applications have been filed in the last two years.
Theos Food Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. v. Theobroma Foods Pvt. Ltd.
The parties to the suit had approached the Delhi High Court regarding the trademark infringement suit with respect to their products related to pastries and confectionery. On 29th July 2022, based on the settlement arrived, the Court noted that Theobroma agreed to restrict the usage of the prefix “THEOS/THEO’S” only for the five products namely; Theo Dutch Truffle Cake, Theo Chocolate Mousse Cup , Theo Mava Cake , Theo Dense Loaf , Theo Quiche in their physical outlet menu and not the online menu. In turn it has also been agreed that the applicant is eligible to register the own trade mark under the name “THEOS/THEO’S as a word mark or device mark to be restricted to the area of Delhi-NCR region.
S Chand And Company Ltd. v. Preeti Agarwal and Ors.
The plaintiff S. Chand and Company Ltd. which is a renowned publication company had filed a suit against the defendant for seeking permanent injunction restraining infringement of copyright, claim for damages, rendition of accounts. The Plaintiff and the 2nd defendant R.S.Agarwal have a relationship since 1991 and have entered into publishing agreements. The Delhi High Court in consideration of the above adjudicated that defendants shall not print books with the caption “from the house of R.S. Aggarwal” and the pending books should be exhausted within a period of 5 months and the caption should be removed from their websiteswww.rsaggarwal.com, www.radianbooks.in, www.radianlearning.com or www.radianlearning.in.
USPTO Becomes A Partner In WIPO Green
The USPTO has joined as a WIPO GREEN partner, which focuses on promotion of green and sustainable technology and included various stake holders such as major technology companies, intellectual property (IP) offices, business groups, research institutes, and nongovernmental organizations. By partnering as a member, the USPTO will help in the identification of organizations and individuals who produce and sell green technology and also help in conducting of programs like Climate Change Mitigation, Patents for Humanity awards competition.
Megan Thee Stallion and Big Sean sued for Copyright Infringement
With relation to their 2020 album- GO CRAZY, 2 artists have initiated a copyright infringement claiming that the song is nearly identical to their song- KRAZY (2012). It is claimed that the song is nearly identical in terms of timing, melodies, harmonies, tones, cadence, reverb, and wording within the chorus as their track and they term the act to be willful and deliberate. The suit seeks damages and injunctive relief for copyright infringement.