Indian Trademark Statistics for June (Third Week), American Singer Files Trademark for “100% THAT BITCH”, Karnataka Proposes Geographical Indication Policy, Reliance Jio Wins Trademark Infringement and more, brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsels.
TRADEMARK QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Registered Trade Marks over celebrity names are much easier to enforce than Celebrity Rights, and so is the case with catch phrases in songs, which have weak copyright protection.” – Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala, BananaIP Counsels.
INDIAN TRADEMARK STATISTICS
Last week, the Indian Trademark Office has picked up its pace. The total number of applications examined by trademark office has increased by seventeen percent (17%). Similarly, the total number of hearing notices issued has increased by ninety six percent (96%). However, there has been a decrease of twenty four percent (24%) in the total applications published in the trademark journal.
Weekly Indian Trademark Statistics
| Particulars | Last Week | This Week | Change in % |
| Total Trademark Applications Examined by Trademark Office | 7387 | 8643 | An increase of 17% |
| Total Applications Disposed through Show Cause Hearings | 3126 | 3900 | An increase of 25% |
| Total Applications Published in the Trademark Journal | 7871 | 5950 | A decrease of 24% |
| Total Registrations Granted | 6959 | 7032 | An increase of 1% |
| Total Hearing Notices Issued | 6881 | 13504 | An increase of 96% |
| Total Renewals Notices Issued | 1800 | 2310 | An increase of 28% |
Trademark Statistics by Office
Total Number of New Applications Received from June 12th, 2019 to June 19th, 2019
| Sr. No | Jurisdiction | New Applications | Examined | Published | Registered |
| 1 | AHMEDABAD | 959 | 624 | 321 | 694 |
| 2 | CHENNAI | 1284 | 779 | 865 | 1334 |
| 3 | DELHI | 2446 | 1720 | 2140 | 2370 |
| 4 | KOLKATA | 410 | 285 | 290 | 353 |
| 5 | MUMBAI | 1612 | 1029 | 1167 | 1923 |
| Total | 6711 | 4437 | 4783 | 6674 |
Yearly Trademark Statistics
Trademark Statistics from January 1st, 2019 to June 19th, 2019
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Filed – 159812
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Examined – 72020
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Published – 116449
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Registered – 138488
INDIAN TRADEMARK UPDATES
Reliance Jio Dials Down Trademark Infringement
Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate, filed a suit before the Mumbai High Court seeking permanent injunction against Dhananjay Dinkarrao Khairnar for using the trademarks JIOFIT, JOIFER, JIO-4G and JIO-4EVER. Reliance claims these marks are deceptively similar to its registered trademark JIO. The Court issued a permanent injunction and instructed Dhananjay to return all goods bearing impugned trademarks to Reliance. A court receiver has also been appointed to take charge of the disputed goods and remove contents in the packing material and hand it over to Reliance for destruction.
INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK UPDATES
Sachin Sues Australian Bat Maker for Dues
Sachin Tendulkar a.k.a. the God of Cricket, has filed a case against Spartan Sports International, an Australian sports equipment manufacturer, for non-payment of dues up to the tune of $3 Million. Under an exclusive licensing agreement, the batting legend was supposed to receive a sum of $1 Million from 2016, in exchange for providing the rights to use his name, image and promotional services on the company’s products. However, despite terminating the agreement in 2018, the Australian company continued to use Sachin’s name to manufacture and sell the sports products. In addition to the damages, Sachin is also seeking an injunction against the manufacture, marketing and sale of the products under his name.
American Singer Files Trademark for “100% THAT BITCH”
Melissa Viviane Jefferson, professionally known as Lizzo, an American signer, has filed new trademark applications for the phrase “100% THAT BITCH”. The mark has been filed with the USPTO in a number of classes including entertainment services, clothing, as well as sound recording. The phrase is from her hit single Truth Hurts. Lizzo is not the first singer to file for such phrases from her song. Earlier, Taylor Swift has also filed a number of trademarks for phrase from her hit singles such as ‘This Sick Beat’, and ‘Cause We Never Go Out of Style’.
BRAND LICENSING UPDATES
Winners of International Licensing Awards 2019 Declared
The winners of the 2019 LIMA International Licensing Awards were declared during the Licensing Expo held in Las Vegas. The ceremony recognized the lifetime achievements of Pam Lifford, President of Warner Bros. Global Brands & Experiences, and Michael Stone, Chairman and Co-founder of Beanstalk, along with announcing the winners under 23 categories. Hasbro grabbed the award under the Toys/Games category for its all-time favorite game Fortnite Monopoly. Under the Apps/Software/Video Games category, Kano won for its Harry Potter Coding Kit. Warner Bros Consumer Products defeated the rest of its competitors under Character Brand-Live Action with its Harry Potter Brand.
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION UPDATES
Karnataka Proposes Geographical Indication Policy
The Karnataka government has proposed to launch a Geographical indication (GI) policy for the state. Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Centre (VTPC) will be working on the strategy document on GI products of the state and also plans to introduce concepts such as “GI tourism”, “GI exhibitions”, and “GI stores” at airports. Karnataka is said to have around 45 GI products in different sectors including handicraft, horticulture, etc. This proposed GI policy is due to the gradual diminishment of GI products in the State. Karnataka will be the first state to come out with a GI policy in the country.
Authored and compiled by Shreya Chaddha & Uma T.S
About BIP’s Trademark Attorneys
The Trademark News Bulletin is brought to you by the Trademark/Copyright, IP Transactional Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. BIP’s Trademark Attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to [email protected] with the subject: Trademark News.
The 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.
Disclaimer: Kindly note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to [email protected] for corrections and take down
