TRADEMARK

SOUTH AFRICAN LAW FIRM RESTRICTED FROM INFRINGING UPON SINGH & SINGH'S TRADEMARK

A single bench of the Delhi High Court comprising of Justice Sanjeev Narula has restricted a South-Africa based law firm from using the trademark "Singh and Singh" or any other similar or deceptive mark that has the potential to deceive consumers into confusing it with India's Singh & Singh Law Firm LLP. The court took into consideration the global outreach and presence of the Indian law firm, and the fact that they are both involved in providing services of a similar nature, and concluded that there is a high likelihood of the average consumer confusing the Defendant's "Singh and Singh" mark as another branch of the Plaintiff's Indian firm.

Reference:

1 https://www.barandbench.com/news/delhi-high-court-restrains-south-african-law-firm-trademark-similar-indias-singh-singh

TRADEMARK

DELHI(C) HARLEY-DAVIDSON SUED NEXT FOR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

A single bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice Anish Dayal has issued an ex parte ad interim injunction against a Punjab-based food chain called Donito's, for infringing upon Domino's trademark for selling pizzas and burgers. The balance of convenience was in Domino's favour, since it was evident that the continued use of the defendant's trademark would cause irreparable harm to it. Donito has been completely restricted from using, promoting or selling any product(s) bearing any mark similar to Domino's registered trademark. The court has ordered Donito to remove all references to its device marks related to pizzas and burgers from its domain website www.donito's.in. Further, the Court has also instructed all social media and e-commerce platforms to take down the listing of Donito products.

Reference:

1 https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/delhi-high-court/delhi-high-court-dominos-pizza-trademark-259713

TRADEMARK

MCDONALD'S REFUSED BIG MAC TRADEMARK IN EUROPE

The Luxembourg-based EU General Court ruled in favour of the Irish Supermac and refused to confer US fast food chain McDonald, with the exclusive right to use the words "Big Mac" for its poultry products. The refusal of the mark amounts to a partial win for McDonald's Irish rival Supermac. The Irish company had filed a suit in 2017 to have McDonald's Big Mac mark revoked for use on beef and chicken products. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) had initially dismissed the application for revocation; however, the General Court decision has partially reversed this order due to McDonald's failure to provide sufficient evidence to prove genuine use for a continuous period of five years in the European Union.

Reference:

1 https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/no-more-chicken-big-macs-eu-court-rules-against-mcdonalds-trademark-case-2024-06-05/

PATENT

XIAOMI FACING LEGAL CHALLENGES IN INDIA AND FRANCE

Xiaomi is facing legal challenges in India and France for infringing Sun Patent Trust's patent over Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) technology, which is a mobile communication standard that builds upon the foundation of the original LTE standard and offers higher data rates, higher system capacity, and lower latency. Sun Patent Trust, the company holding over 3,000 former Panasonic patents, has sued Xiaomi for unauthorized and unlicensed use of its patented technology in its 4G smartphones since 2018. It claims that the use of this technology in Xiaomi phones enables faster speed and better performance compared to the use of regular LTE. The two companies have been unsuccessfully trying to negotiate a deal since 2019. The present suit has been filed before the Delhi High Court and has a value of over $300 million (around Rs. 24,978 crores).

Reference:

1 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/xiaomi-sued-in-india-and-france-for-using-this-technology-in-its-phones-since-2018/articleshow/110539028.cms

PATENT

DELHI HIGH COURT AWARDS 217 CRORES AS LOST PROFITS DAMAGES FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT

The Delhi High Court has passed a judgement against Mobi Antenna Technologies, requiring it to pay Rs. 217 crores as damages to Communication Component Antenna Inc (CCA) for infringement of 'Asymmetrical Beams for Spectrum Efficiency", patent (Indian Patent No. 240893). The court calculated the amount of damages using the 'lost profits' method established by its decision in the case of Strix Ltd. v. Maharaja Applicances Limited (2023), which takes into account the potential reasonable profit a patentee would have earned if the infringing product had actually been sold by the patentee. It must be noted that the Defendant company abandoned the proceedings midway resulting in the Court delivering an ex parte decree.

Reference:

1 https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/jis16052024sc9772016005304-542342.pdf

COPYRIGHT

LIBRARY GENESIS SUED BY TEXTBOOK PUBLISHERS

A group of textbook publishers have moved a Manhattan federal court against an online "shadow library", Library Genesis (LibGen), for copyright infringement on a "staggering scale." LibGen is one of the most popular online/shadow libraries, offering free and downloadable PDF copies of over 6 million books belonging to a variety of subjects and genres. The complainants have claimed that the online library has illegally circulated and distributed over 20,00 textbooks owned by them. The group of publishers have demanded an unspecified amount of damages and an order to cancel or transfer LibGen's domain names to them.

Reference:

1 https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/textbook-publishers-sue-shadow-library-library-genesis-over-pirated-books-2023-09-14/

TRADE SECRET

BOEING LIABLE TO PAY $ 72 MILLION

A federal jury in Seattle holds Boeing liable to pay $72 million to electric aircraft startup Zenum Aero for theft of its trade secrets to power competing hybrid-electric planes. The Jurors recognized that Boeing had copied Zunum's technology by investing $ 5 million in their company through its venture capital division, Horizon X in 2017. Zunum was awarded $ 81.2 million for the misappropriation of the trade secrets and $ 11.6 for tortious interference. However, the jury also found that the company had failed to mitigate about $ 20.8 million worth of damages, thereby bringing down the total award to $ 72 million.

Reference:

1 https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/boeing-hit-with-72-mln-verdict-ev-aircraft-trade-secrets-case-2024-05-31/

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Lex Mantis
Lex Mantis
D-4, B-Wing, 4th Floor, Barodawala Mansion
81 Dr. Annie Besant Road
Worli
Mumbai
400 018
INDIA

© Mondaq Ltd, 2024 - Tel. +44 (0)20 8544 8300 - http://www.mondaq.com, source Business Briefing