Laudatory

Senior Examiner of Trade Marks, Delhi rejected registration of a device mark in Class 39 on ground, subject trademark is laudatory and objectionable in terms of Section 9(1)(b) of The Trade Marks Act, 1999. Counsel appearing on behalf of NRI Taxi Service Ltd. correctly places reliance on Mohd. Rafiq v. Modi Sugar Mills Ltd., […]

Chhabirani

Only one Academy Award has ever been revoked in history of Oscars. ‘Young Americans’ won for Best Documentary in 1969. It was discovered, ‘Young Americans’ had played in a theater in October, 1967. Oscar was handed over to ‘Journey Into Self’. _____ 03.10.1980 – Chhabirani was gang-raped… 23.04.2002 – We are satisfied, present case is a […]

The Nature of Judicial Power: Hon’ble Justice B.V. Nagarathna

Tirath Ram Rajindra Nath, Lucknow v. State of U.P., AIR 1973 SC 405 held, there is a distinction between encroachment on judicial power and nullification of effect of a judicial decision by changing law retrospectively. The former is outside competence of Legislature. The latter is within its permissible limits. It would be permissible for Legislature […]

Public Document

Saurav Das has prayed States to enable free public access to a Charge Sheet, filed as per Section 173 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, in furtherance of rationale as established in Youth Bar Association of India v. Union of India, (2016) 9 SCC 473. Reliance on Youth Bar Association of India; Sections 74 […]

Submarine

‘SUBERB’ is not phonetically similar to ‘SUBWAY’. ‘Sub’, when used in context of sandwiches, is an abbreviation for ‘Submarine’, which represents a well-known variety of long-bodied sandwiches. Mr. Submarine Ltd. v. Bikas, 1975 CarswellOnt 1001-Mr. Submarine Ltd. v. Emma Foods, 1976 CarswellOnt 1006-Mr. Submarine Ltd. v. Haralambos Voultsos, 1977 CarswellOnt 1041 testifies to commonality of […]

Pension is Not a Bounty IV

Rule 54(14)(b) of The Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 requires, ‘family’ member of a deceased Government Servant must have a close nexus with the deceased Government Servant. Therefore, a son or daughter adopted by a widow of a deceased Government Servant, after death of the Government Servant, could not be included within definition of […]

Sikkimese

Any provision which is arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Article 14 can be struck down. Section 10(26AAA) of The Income Tax Act, 1961 excludes Indians who have settled in Sikkim, prior to merger of Sikkim with India on 26.04.1975, but whose names are not registered as ‘Sikkim Subjects’. There is no difference and/or distinction between […]

Unchartered Ocean of Policy Decision VI

R.K. Garg v. Union of India, (1981) 4 SCC 675 laid down, laws relating to economic activities should be viewed with greater latitude than laws touching civil rights such as freedom of speech, religion, et cetera. Bhavesh D. Parish v. Union of India, (2000) 5 SCC 471 observed, while dealing with economic legislation, Court would […]

The Nature of Judicial Power: [Some] Pending Collegium Recommendations

Hon’ble High Court Hon’ble Chief Justice Date of Birth Calcutta Prakash Shrivastava 31/03/1961 Bombay S.V. Gangapurwala [Acting CJ] 24/05/1962 Madras T. Raja [Acting CJ] 25/05/1961 Allahabad Rajesh Bindal 16/04/1961 Karnataka Prasanna B. Varale 23/06/1962 Patna Sanjay Karol 23/08/1961 J&K Tashi Rabstan [Acting CJ] 10/04/1963 Madhya Pradesh Ravi Malimath 25/05/1962 Punjab and Haryana […]

Swiss Military

The Trademarks Act, 1999 Section 2(1)(za)(iv): ‘trade description’ means any description/statement/indication, direct or indirect, as to country in which goods were made/produced/provided. Section 2(1)(i)(I): ‘false trade description’ means a ‘trade description’ which is untrue or misleading in a material respect as regards goods to which it is applied. Section 9(2)(a): a mark shall not be […]

Morality of Constitutional Tort

Needless to say, no one can either be taxed or penalized for holding an opinion which is not in conformity with constitutional values. It is only when an opinion gets translated into action and such action results in injury or harm or loss, an action in tort will lie. Courts cannot turn a blind […]

Unchartered Ocean of Policy Decision V / The Demonetization Recommendation

Shri P. Chidambaram submits, result of demonetization was disastrous. But, if Notification No. 3407(E) [08.11.2016] had a nexus with objectives to be achieved, Notification No. 3407(E) [08.11.2016] would not be bad in law merely because some citizens suffered through hardships. It will not be proper for Court to enter into an area which should be […]

Comparative Advertising III

‘GLUCON-D TANGY ORANGE’ v. ‘DABUR GLUCOPLUS-C ORANGE’ The TV commercial identifies ‘orange glucose’ as ‘product category’. But, is it disparaging in nature? Disparagement is an act of belittling someone’s goods or services with a misleading remark. The TV Commercial does not disparage any ‘orange glucose’ drink. Disparagement cannot be a far-fetched inference. It would […]

Design Piracy / No Bottle, Just Bottle II

Plaintiffs allege infringement by Defendant of their Registered Design No. 306577 which was the subject matter of Diageo Brands B.V. v. Great Galleon Ventures Limited, 2022 SCC OnLine Del 2350 [‘Great Galleon’] as well. Senior Advocate, Amit Sibal points out, Section 22 of The Designs Act, 2000 identifies ‘obvious’ and ‘fraudulent’ imitation as the test. […]

The Revival of Ray XC

Constitution Bench in Sukhdev Singh v. Bhagatram Sardar Singh Raghuvanshi, (1975) 1 SCC 421 held, the words ‘rules’ and ‘regulations’ are used in an Act to limit powers of a statutory authority; any action of such bodies in excess of their power or in violation of restrictions placed is ultra vires; statutory bodies cannot use […]

Quia Timet III

Learned Counsel for Appellant-Defendant states, Learned Single Judge has erred in not considering: Respondent-Plaintiff had bypassed Section 12A of The Commercial Court Act, 2015, which prescribes pre-institution mediation as a mandatory requirement. Respondent-Plaintiff is not only a prior adopter but also a prior registrant and allegation of suppression is irrelevant. Court is in agreement, packaging […]

Referred to Larger Bench XVII Answered: Illegal Gratification I

“The question, ‘whether in absence of evidence of complainant / direct or primary evidence of demand of illegal gratification, is it not permissible to draw inferential deduction of culpability / guilt of a public servant under Section 7 and Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988?’, requires a Larger […]

Referred to Larger Bench XXXIII: K. Meghachandra, (2020) 5 SCC 689

With greatest respect to Hon’ble Bench [R. Banumathi, A.S. Bopanna & Hrishikesh Roy JJ] which dealt with K. Meghachandra Singh v. Ningam Siro, 2020 5 SCC 689, we find, attention was not invited to binding decisions of Coordinate Bench in M. Subba Reddy v. A.P. State Road Transport Corporation, (2004) 6 SCC 729 and Constitution […]

Quia Timet II / The Drastic Power of Rejecting a Plaint VII

My Lord, Allegations in Plaint are Sufficient? No. In assessing whether a quia timet plaint can be rejected outright [Order 7, Rule 11], Teva Pharmaceutical Industries v. Natco Pharma Limited, (2014) 212 DLT 321 cautions, a quia timet action must not be speculative, merely alleging without factual basis. The statement of claim must allege […]

Product Configuration Trade Dress

Plaintiffs are manufacturers of containers, used to store food products, sold under the brand name ’Tupperware’. Defendant is also a manufacturer of containers, used for storage of food products, sold under the brand name ‘Signoraware’. Plaintiffs have brought this action seeking remedies in respect of Plaintiffs’ Suit Products [MM Square, Best Lunch Bag and Spice […]

The Last Word

A Diversion for Lawyers and Others