ITC vs. NESTLE, the curious case of the magic masala, Bauer\u2019s new trademark filing for face masks, Gajapati date palm jaggery filed for GI, and more brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsel.<\/p>\n
ITC Limited, an Indian multinational conglomerate, had filed an application at the High Court of Madras, seeking a permanent injunction to stop Nestle India from using the mark MAGICAL MASALA for its instant noodles. ITC contended that it had introduced \u2018Sunfeast Yippee! Noodles\u2019 with Magic Masala flavor in 2010 and Nestle India\u2019s adoption of a deceptively similar expression \u2018MAGICAL MASALA\u2019 in 2013 to market their noodles, amounted to passing off. After elaborating on whether the mark \u2018Magic Masala\u2019 can be given protection as a descriptive mark, the Hon\u2019ble High Court concluded that the term was not a descriptor of the product but rather a laudatory expression, and the same cannot be given monopoly or protection. Further, the Court held that the terms \u2018Magic\u2019 and \u2018Masala\u2019 are commonly used terms by different manufacturers in the packaged food industry and it would be unfair to confer monopoly over the same expression. The Court also held that there was no scope for confusion as the competing brands \u201cSunfeast Yippee!\u201d and \u201cMaggi\u201d are completely different from each other and therefore dismissed ITC\u2019s suit.<\/p>\n
Citation<\/u><\/strong>: ITC Ltd v. Nestle India Limited C.S.No.231 of 2013<\/em><\/p>\n With major companies venturing into the manufacture of protective medical equipment in the last few months, Bauer Hockey is no exception. Bauer, a US based ice hockey equipment manufacturer, has filed new a trademark application for \u2018BAUER\u2019 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The mark has been filed under classes 09 and 10 for sanitary masks, face shields, as well as googles. The company had announced its intention to manufacture medical equipment in the month of March.<\/p>\n French video game company Ubisoft has partnered with US based Funko and Japan based Good Smile, both of whom are manufacturers of licensed merchandise and accessories, for a multi-year partnership. Under the partnership Funko will be developing Pop! Vinyl figures for a range of \u2018Assassin\u2019s Creed\u2019 titles and \u2018Tom Clancy\u2019s Rainbow Six Siege\u2019 for North and Latin America along with apparel and accessories. Good Smile will be creating \u201cAssassin\u2019s Creed\u201d figures for its Nendoroid line. With the present deal, Ubisoft is looking to expand its brands across the collectible\u2019s category.<\/p>\n Kraft Heinz, the fifth largest food and beverage company in the world, has partnered with Youtooz, a Canadian vinyl figures manufacturer for a new collectible line. Under the new licensing program, Youtooz will manufacture PLANTERS Baby Nut and iconic KOOL-AID Man figurines. The Baby Nut figure will be available on its website from 21st June, whereas the Kool-Aid Man figurine will be made available in the upcoming months.<\/p>\n Binance (\u201cComplainant\u201d), a leading cryptocurrency exchange, lost a domain name dispute with Binanc\u00e9, an Australian florist over the domain www.Binance.com.au<\/a>. Binance contended that they had registered the trademark \u2018BINANCE\u2019 in Australia in November 2018, whereas the florist registered its domain in October 2019. The florist\u2019s director, Mr. Nawodycz, in its response to the complaint stated that the word \u2018Binanc\u00e9\u2019 was selected because in French, it means \u201cbalanced\u201d and \u2018Binanc\u00e9 flowers\u2019 in French translates to \u2018paired flowers\u2019. Further he stated that the domain www.Binance.com.au<\/a> opens up to an online flower shop and not anything related to crypto exchange.<\/p>\n WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center denied the complaint because the cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance was not able to demonstrate that the florist does not have rights or a legitimate interest in the disputed domain name.<\/p>\n The Date Palm Jaggery (Khajuri Gur) of Gajapati district of Odisha is a seasonal product produced from October to March. The jaggery is made by using traditional methods, no natural or synthetic colouring agents or artificial sweetening agents. The Date Palm Jaggery also has medicinal value and is used by diabetic patients as it contains less sugar than sugar cane jaggery, crystal sugar or other sweetener agents. The application has been filed by the Odisha Rajya Talgur Samabaya Sangha Ltd (ORTSS) in June, 2020.<\/p>\n In the last public notice issued by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) dated 18-05-2020, it had stated that the deadlines issued by it from 25-03-2020 to 17-05-2020 with respect to the due dates for the completion of various acts\/proceedings has been scraped and the new deadlines shall be applicable from 15-03-2020 to 01-06-2020. The Delhi HC in its order states that \u2018the interim order issued by it saying that no Court, Tribunal or any authority can act contrary to the order of the Supreme Court, which has granted an extension of period of limitation in all legal proceedings from 15-03-2020 uptill further orders\u2019 shall continue to operate and consequential steps need to be taken by CGPDTM by issuing appropriate notification on its website.<\/p>\n Therefore, the public notice issue on 18.05.2020 by the CGPDTM is withdrawn and timelines\/periods for the completion of various acts\/proceedings, filing of any reply\/document, payment of fees, etc. falling due after 15.03.2020, shall be the date as decided\/ordered by the Hon\u2019ble Court and not 01-06-2020, as had been mentioned in the previous notice. Disclaimer:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Kindly note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP\u2019s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to\u00a0<\/em>contact@bananaip.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for corrections and take down.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This bulletin examines trademark and IP developments such as the ITC vs Nestle Magic Masala case, Binance’s domain dispute, and new GI filings in India. Key updates on licensing, brand partnerships, and procedural changes in IP deadlines are also discussed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":69,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,11],"tags":[3298,2582,639,7360,5,11038,5555,4857],"class_list":["post-69108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-trademarks","tag-brand-licensing","tag-domain-disputes","tag-geographical-indications","tag-indian-ip-law","tag-intellectual-property","tag-itc-vs-nestle","tag-trademark-attorneys","tag-trademark-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141089,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69108\/revisions\/141089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK UPDATES<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Bauer\u2019s New Trademark Filing for Face Masks<\/strong><\/h3>\n
BRAND LICENSING UPDATES<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Ubisoft Collaborates with Funko & Good Smile<\/strong><\/h3>\n
New Collectibles from Kraft Heinz<\/strong><\/h3>\n
DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE UPDATES<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Crypto Exchange Loses Domain Dispute to Australian Florist<\/strong><\/h3>\n
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION UPDATES<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Gajapati Date Palm Jaggery Filed for GI<\/strong><\/h3>\n
GENERAL IP UPDATES<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Further Extension for Deadline to be Decided by the Delhi High Court<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nHowever, on 19-06-2020, CGPDTM has issued a fresh notice which states that the Hon\u2019ble High Court of Delhi (Delhi HC) on 17-06-2020, in the matter of W.P.(C) 3059\/2020 (read the order here and here) has stayed the effect and operation of public notice dated 18-05-2020.<\/p>\n
\nAuthored and compiled by Uma T.S & Shreya Chaddha<\/strong>
\nAbout BIP\u2019s Trademark Attorneys<\/strong>
\nThe Trademark News Bulletin is brought to you by the Trademark\/Copyright, IP Transactional Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. Led by\u00a0<\/em>Sanjeeth Hegde<\/em><\/a>, BIP\u2019s trademark attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to\u00a0<\/em>contact@bananaip.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0with the subject: Trademark News.<\/em>
\nThe weekly trademark news initiative is a part of their pro bono work and is aimed at spreading trademark awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.<\/em><\/p>\n