News
Design filing simplified – Public Notice for designs registration issued
27 December 2022
The Public Notice dated 16 December 2022, issued by the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs, & Trademarks, Boudhik Sampada Bhawan, Mumbai, announced the much awaited and promised adoption of complete digitized e-filing and processing of design applications by the Designs Wing of the Indian Patent Office (IPO) in order to expedite the procedure of industrial design registrations in India.
GST Council’s 48th Meeting – Highlights
17 December 2022
The 48th Meeting of the GST Council was held on 17 December 2022 under the chairpersonship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister. Few important trade facilitation measures including important measures for streamlining compliances in GST, as recommended by the GST Council, are highlighted
Trademarks – Argument of ‘family of marks’ available only to a Plaintiff
13 December 2022
Quoting with approval the book McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition, the Delhi High Court has observed that the doctrine of ‘family of marks’ is an argument available only to a Plaintiff asserting its rights and not to a Defendant to prove its defence against a Plaintiff’s intervening rights.
Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022: Key Takeaways
23 November 2022
The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (the “Bill”) has been proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on November 18, 2022 for public consultation. This was released pursuant to the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s Data Protection Bill, 2021 (“2021 Draft”) and a series of drafts following the judgment of the Supreme Court in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) v. Union of India.
TDS on indirect payments – ‘Commission’ includes both direct and indirect modes of payments
21 November 2022
The Supreme Court in the case of Singapore Airlines Ltd. v. CIT has held that provisions of Tax Deduction at Source (‘TDS’) under Section 194H of the Income Tax Act, 1961 would apply in case of commission paid by indirect mode of payment. The Court in this judgement dated 14 November 2022 observed that the word ‘commission’ is to be interpreted expansively, inclusive of both direct and indirect modes of payments.
Trademarks – International registration – Deemed protection under Section 35E(5) cannot be extended when opposition filed within time
09 November 2022
The Delhi High Court has held that in case of failure of the Registrar of Trade Marks to notify its acceptance of extension of the trademarks under international registration (under the Madrid Protocol) where India has been designated to the International Bureau, a deemed protection cannot be extended to the trademark where the same has been opposed within the time for notice of opposition.
Provisions of MSMED Act will prevail over Arbitration Act – Presence of independent arbitration agreement is not material
02 November 2022
The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 31 October 2022 has held, that Chapter-V of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (‘MSMED Act’), dealing with delayed payments to micro and small enterprises would override the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘Arbitration Act’).
No interest and penalty imposable on demand of Customs Additional duty, SAD and surcharge
18 October 2022
The Bombay High Court has recently held that interest and penalty cannot be recovered by taking recourse to machinery relating to recovery of duty.
Arbitral Tribunal to provide rationale for determination of interest rate in the award
12 October 2022
The Supreme Court has ruled that when discretion is vested on an arbitral tribunal to award interest at a rate that it deems reasonable, then a duty would be cast upon the arbitral tribunal to give reasons as to how it deems the rate of interest to be reasonable.
Bar of patentability under Section 3(d) – Non-identification of ‘known substance’ is fatal
06 October 2022
The Delhi High Court has held that for an objection of non-patentability under Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, 1970 to be raised, the basic pre-condition would be the identification of the ‘a known substance’. Section 3(d) bars patentability of a ‘new form’ of ‘a known substance’, without establishing enhanced therapeutic efficacy.