Indian Trademark Statistics for April (Third Week), Apple Loses Battle for One More Thing, Save the Planet T-shirts, Abby Viral Launches Official Merchanise and more, brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsels.
TRADEMARK QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Mass advertising can help build brands, but authenticity is what makes them last. If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand” –Howard Schultz
INDIAN TRADEMARK STATISTICS
In the last week, the Indian Trademark Office has been slow in its day to day activities. The total number of applications disposed through show cause hearing has decreased by forty three percent (43%). Similarly, the total number of hearing notices granted has decreased by forty one percent (41%).However, the total number of registrations granted has increased by one hundred and seventy nine percent (179%).
Weekly Indian Trademark Statistics
| Particulars | Last Week | This Week | Change in % |
| Total Trademark Applications Examined by Trademark Office | 3991 | 2581 | A decrease of 35% |
| Total Applications Disposed through Show Cause Hearings | 5187 | 2936 | A decrease of 43% |
| Total Applications Published in the Trademark Journal | 5956 | 4930 | A decrease of 17% |
| Total Registrations Granted | 2527 | 7055 | An increase of 179% |
| Total Hearing Notices Issued | 11117 | 6572 | A decrease of 41% |
| Total Renewals Notices Issued | 1841 | 1340 | A decrease of 27% |
Trademark Statistics by Office
Total Number of New Applications Received from April 17th, 2019 to April 24th, 2019
| Sr. No | Jurisdiction | New Applications | Examined | Published | Registered |
| 1 | AHMEDABAD | 733 | 143 | 488 | 773 |
| 2 | CHENNAI | 1055 | 217 | 1018 | 1716 |
| 3 | DELHI | 2143 | 508 | 1487 | 2140 |
| 4 | KOLKATA | 331 | 111 | 196 | 353 |
| 5 | MUMBAI | 1517 | 302 | 1236 | 1606 |
| Total | 5779 | 1281 | 4425 | 6588 |
Yearly Trademark Statistics
Trademark Statistics from January 01st, 2019 to April 24th, 2019
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Filed – 107515
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Examined – 48097
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Published – 105091
- Total Number of Trademark Applications Registered – 86327
INDIAN TRADEMARK UPDATES
PVR Cuts Trademark Cord with Justdial
PVR Cinemas had filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction against the search engine Justdial for infringement of trademark, passing off, and unfair business practices, etc. Both the parties had entered in to a non-exclusive ticketing agreement in which Justdial was allowed access to PVR’s ticketing software through which tickets can be booked for PVR cinema halls. This agreement expired in August, 2018. Later, PVR came to know through BookMyShow and Paytm that Justdial is continuing to provide online ticket bookings of movies shown at PVR. A cease and desist notice was issued to Justdial. Despite the reminders and requests, Justdial did not respond to the notice nor stop its unlawful activities. Justdial is said to have created web pages pertaining to PVR and its cinema halls, and unauthorizedly using PVR’s registered trademark and photographs of PVR cinema halls, to give an impression to the public of an association with PVR. The High Court of New Delhi opined that there is a prima facie case of infringement and passing off. Further, irreparable harm or injury would be caused to PVR if an injunction is not passed. Therefore, till further orders, Justdial is restrained from using the registered trademark PVR or any descriptive variant.
INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK UPDATES
One More Thing: Apple Loses Battle for Catch Phrase
April isn’t turning out to be a good month for Apple, the tech giant, owing to the fact that this is the second time this month that it has lost a legal battle to Swiss watchmakers Swatch. In a recent ruling by the Australian Trademark Office (ATO), Apple’s attempt to oppose the registration of the phrase ‘One more thing’ has been turned down. Even though the phrase has been used by Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder in a number of events, the ATO stated that the mark has not been used by Apple for specific goods or services. Swatch had applied for the phrase with the ATO and has been using the phrase to market its ‘film noir’ watch designs. The phrase originally originates from a television show ‘Columbo’ which made famous the saying ‘just one more thing’.
Lumber Trader Goes After Marijuana Dispensary Logo
Some news which might bring down the high of our pot head friends, Boise Cascade, a lumber trading company based out of Idaho, USA, has filed a trademark infringement suit against New England Treatment Access (NETA), a medical and recreational marijuana dispensary located in Massachusetts USA. The Idaho company has filed a suit in the U.S. District Court in Boston, and has stated in the lawsuit that the mark used by NETA is confusingly similar to their logo and would dilute the goodwill of their company. Boise Cascade has claimed that they have been using their mark ‘Tree-in-a-Circle’ since 1964. Both the company’s logos feature a circle with a tree inside it. NETA is yet to respond to the lawsuit.
BRAND LICENSING UPDATES
Save the Planet T-shirts
Hard Rock International has partnered with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the international non-governmental organization focused on wildlife and endangered species conservation, to produce a limited-edition ‘Save the Plant’ t-shirt collection. This limited edition is inspired by the iconic Hard Rock Classic tee and is created using off-white cotton and recycled polyester yarns to reinforce environmentally conscious shopping habits. The collection is available on the Hard Rock website.
Abby Viral Launches Official Merchandise
Abhinav Prateek better known as Abby Viral, an Indian youth icon and a popular motivational rapper on YouTube, has officially launched his merchandise exclusively on fanstores.com. Abby Viral is a successful Youtuber with more than 7 lakh subscribers and more than 27 million views on his channel. The merchandise includes t-shirts, coffee mugs, posters and wall clocks.
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION UPDATES
Jeeraphool Rice Gets GI
Geographical Indications Registry of the Government of India recently issued the GI tag to the aromatic short grain rice of Surguja Chattisgarh, Jeeraphool Rice. It is famous for its unique appearance, aroma, softness, flakiness and taste. The shape and husk color gives this variety of rice a unique appearance of cumin/jeera, hence it is named as Jeeraphool rice. The application was filed by the Jaivik Krishi Utpadak Sahkari Samiti Maryadit in February 2018.
Author: BIP Trademark Attorneys
Led by Sanjeeth Hegde, BIP’s Trademark Attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. They work on trademark filing, prosecution, management, licensing, franchising, merchandizing, litigation, and strategy for clients such as PEPS, Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Essilor, Samsung and the IITs.
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.
If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Trademark Attorneys at [email protected]
