During last week’s Practice Work Shop (PWS) Session, Aditya Mittal, Trainee Associate, led a discussion on the topic “Can marking products as ‘Patent Pending’ yield benefits for the patentee in the current Indian market scenario?”. The session saw an engaging discussion with attorneys expressing their views on the pros and cons of marking products as ‘Patent Pending’ and its foreseeable impact on the market. The session also saw some interesting exchange of views on what should be the ideal time for an inventor to push out his product in the market and whether the ‘Patent Pending’ mark could aid in this regard.

ALG’s Ashwani Balayan spoke on Compulsory Licensing and Related Issues in Asia during the IPO Annual Meet, 2021 which concluded last week. The panel discussion, moderated by Sharon Reiche, covered key developments at an international level. The North America region was covered by Beverley Moore, the Latin America region was covered by Ricardo Nunes, and Bettina Wanner covered the TRIPS IP Waiver.

A ‘Special Legal Issues Seminar- General IP’ (SLIS-GP) was conducted by Sannidhi Mahapatra, Associate, on the different types of potential/actual parties to IP law suits under Order I Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The seminar delved into the application of Order I Rule 10 to impleading third parties to a lawsuit, the relevant provisions thereunder, and various landmark case laws in which courts elaborately analysed these provisions. The session saw interesting questions and insights from the team, including whether the applicant/plaintiff should bear the cost of getting impleaded, and whether the addition of several parties acts as a hindrance to effectual adjudication of disputes.

The presentation can be accessed here.

During last week’s Practice Work Shop (PWS) Session, Hardik Choudhary, Associate, lead a discussion on whether IP firms are awake to the mental health issues of their members. The session witnessed an engaging discussion on recognizing and having an active conversation on mental health in the IP community. The discussion also looked into whether there are any specific factors affecting mental health among IP lawyers, and discussed the possible steps to create a conducive work environment by promoting sensitization to mental health issues and recognizing burnout, especially in view of the current work from home model followed by a lot of firms.

General IP Interns – Jahnvi Sharma, Shubham Singh, Ashley George and Pragnya Patnaik (Final Year) and Ishita Goel, Pragya Gargee, Varsha Divakar and Sarashika Eakambaram (Pre-Final Year) have commenced their General IP Internship with the firm’s law practice.

We hope their stay in the firm during the 4 week period of their internship will be mutually enriching and that the firm and they will learn exciting things from each other!