Interns – Aakaanksha Akella, Gazal Sancheti and Mannika Gupta (Final Year) and Kritika Shukla, Himani Jaruhar, Fasila Saleem, Radhika Bhatti, Shereen Samant, Hiranmayee Ramesh, and Sivapuram V.L. Thejaswini (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!
A ‘Legal Issues Seminar-General IP’ (LIS-GIP) was conducted by Sannidhi Mahapatra, Associate, on “What is the Threshold for Obscenity under The Trade Marks Act, 1999?”. The seminar delved into the threshold of adjudging obscenity of trademarks in the absence of a clear definition in the statute. The seminar also looked into the tests and parameters applied by courts to determine obscenity in cases of films, publications, etc. The session saw interesting questions and insights from the team, including on whether obscenity as a bar can be extended not just to trademarks but to the goods/services thereunder.
The presentation can be accessed here.
ALG Counsel Sakthiya Dakshi will be delivering a Webinar for the students of Dhanwate National College, Nagpur, Maharashtra on “Intellectual Property 101” organised by The Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Cell, on June 30, 2021
During last week’s Practice Work Shop (PWS) Session, Siddharth Varshney, Associate, lead a discussion on whether the judiciary needs to take a passive role in adjudication of IP disputes in India. During the session, various views were put forward on the issue of passive and proactive roles assumed by the judiciary in adjudication of IP disputes. The session also saw some interesting points raised on how the judiciary needs to be proactive to keep up with technological changes while adjudicating IP disputes.
ALG recently secured a win for its client, leading home appliances manufacturer Westinghouse Electric Corporation (‘Westinghouse’) against the unauthorized domain name registration for <whitewestinghouse-servicecenterinmumbai.com>. In the domain name dispute filed before the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre (‘WIPO’), it was pointed out that the Respondent-Registrant identified itself as a “Whitewestinghouse Service Center” and an “Authorized Service Center in Mumbai” on the website hosted at the disputed domain name.
In the order dated May 10, 2021, the WIPO-appointed Arbitrator observed that “…the website to which the Disputed Domain Name resolves copies the Complainant’s official website in color, design and layout, displays the WHITE-WESTINGHOUSE Mark, and claims to be the authorized service center in Mumbai demonstrating that the Respondent is attempting to pass itself off as the Complainant to deceive the Complainant’s customers into believing that they have arrived at the Complainant’s official website, which is an indication of bad faith.” The disputed domain name was ordered to be transferred to Westinghouse.
