Search Indian IP Case Law
Judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Courts on patents, trade marks, copyright, designs and geographical indications — organised by Act and section, each with a link to the judgment on the court’s website.
Recently added judgments
Case notes prepared by the Ragulika IP team, each linked to the judgment on the court’s website.
Havells India Limited & Anr. v. Havai Home Products Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.
Even a registered proprietor may be restrained from using a trade mark where the ingredients of passing off are established. Section 27(2) preserves the common-law remedy of passing off notwithstanding the statutory rights arising…
Anti-Dissection RuleDeceptive SimilarityDishonest AdoptionPassing OffTrade MarksIndustria De Diseno Textil, S.A. v. Registrar of Trade Marks & Anr.
Section 11(2) does not require an earlier mark to have a formal declaration of well-known status before its owner can oppose a later mark; the provision only requires that the mark is well known. The term 'entitled' in Explanation…
Anti-Dissection RuleBad FaithDeceptive SimilarityPhonetic SimilarityPatentsIntra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. v. The Controller of Patents
Although the deuterated compound demonstrated approximately 72% higher parent-drug exposure in the blood, the comparative studies showed substantially similar pharmacological activity between the deuterated and non-deuterated comp…
Deuterated CompoundsHeterocycle-fused Gamma-carbolinesParent Drug ExposurePharmacological ActivityTrade MarksNew Balance Athletics Inc. v. Astormueller AG and Ors.
Registration of a mark is no defence to a passing off action, since rights under Section 27(2) are independent of and override the bar in Section 28(3) on one registered proprietor suing another for infringement. Registration mere…
Anti-Dissection RuleDeceptive SimilarityInitial Interest ConfusionPassing OffCopyrightOpella Healthcare Group v. Pureca Laboratories Pvt Ltd (Copyright)
A defendant cannot defend a copyright infringement suit on the basis of a registration that has been cancelled by an unchallenged rectification order which found the artistic work to be a copy of the plaintiff's pre-existing get-u…
Artistic WorkColourable ImitationCopyright RectificationLabel DesignTrade MarksOpella Healthcare Group v. Pureca Laboratories Pvt Ltd (Trade Marks)
Where a coordinate bench, following an unchallenged rectification order, has found the mark in question deceptively similar to the plaintiff's registered mark, the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the infri…
Deceptive SimilarityPassing OffPharmaceutical MarksPrior UseTrade MarksParle Products Pvt. Ltd. v. The Registrar of Trade Marks & Anr.
Where two parties file competing applications for registration of an identical or deceptively similar trade mark on a proposed-to-be-used basis, priority for registration under Section 18 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 is determined…
Approbation and ReprobationPrior RegistrationPriorityProposed to be UsedCopyrightPreity G. Zinta v. Google LLC & Ors.
When someone uses AI to create deepfakes or morphed content that distorts or alters how a performer's actual performance looks or sounds, without her consent, this violates her moral rights under Section 38-B of the Copyright Act.…
AI DeepfakesIntermediary LiabilityMoral Rights of PerformersPersonality RightsCopyrightSaregama India Ltd. v. Black Madras Films & Ors.
Copyright in a musical composition is distinct from copyright in the sound recording and cinematograph film in which the composition is incorporated. The composer, as author of the musical work, retains copyright in the musical co…
Assignment of RightsCinematograph FilmComposerLiterary and Musical WorksPatentsSulzer Mixpac AG v. Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs
Adjudication under the Patents Act has to be guided by the statute rather than by a mechanical, step-by-step application of judicial formulas. A patent decision cannot be overturned or deemed invalid solely because it did not stri…
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