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IPR weekly Highlights (6)

8 (Demo)
TRADEMARK
ADIDAS LOSES STRIPE TRADEMARK BATTLE TO LUXURY DESIGNER THOM BROWNE

Adidas has lost a court case trying to stop a fashion designer from using a four-stripe design. The sportswear brand argued that Thomas Browne Inc’s four stripes logo was too similar to its three-stripe logo. A Manhattan jury ruled that Adidas had failed to establish that Thom Browne had violated the company’s distinctive three-stripe trademark.
The judges concluded that there was little chance that consumers would mistake the fashion house’s parallel stripe designs for those of Adidas. Thom Browne maintained that, among other things, the number of stripes in each of its designs varied and that stripes are a typical component of garment design. Browne argued that there is no deception between the two marks as their mark had a different number of stripes.

Reference: 

(1) https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/adidas-loses-4-stripe-trademark-battle-to-thom-browne-9864401.html

TRADEMARK
DELHI HIGH COURT REJECTS PLEA FOR INTERIM INJUNCTION FOR INFRINGEMENT CLAIM OF CHING’S “SCHEZWAN CHUTNEY”

Here, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant has been running several infringing websites, which are defrauding individuals by pretending to recruit them for work and taking monetary payment from them after promising them a job. For such nefarious purposes, the defendants have utilized the plaintiff’s registered trademarks of “CROMA”. The plaintiff claims that they shall face irreparable loss if no ex-parte interim injunction is granted for the same. The court held that the defendants were restrained from advertising or selling the products of the plaintiff, and were further restrained from misrepresenting the services of the plaintiff, which have resulted in a loss of reputation, passing off, and the use of the plaintiff’s registered mark. 

Reference: 

(1) https://indiankanoon.org/doc/145613109/

(2) http://Capital Food Private Limited, v/s Radiant Indus Chem Pvt. Ltd on 11 Jan’23, 2023/DHC/000224

COPYRIGHT
YASH RAJ FILMS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CASE: DELHI HIGH COURT ISSUES SUMMONS TO US PLATFORM “TRILLER”

YRF filed an infringement suit against the American video-sharing app, “Triller”, restraining it from infringing its copyright in sound recordings, musical works, and literary works. YRF has alleged that Defendant has illegally uploaded, stored, and reproduced without informing or obtaining any valid license and authorization from Plaintiff. Defendant argued that it has sought relief under the “safe harbor” protection under the DMCA. However, YRF said that Defendant’s platform includes features like audio extraction which are beyond the scope and role of an intermediary specified under sec 79 (2) (a) of the IT Act. The next hearing will be held on 02nd Feb, 2023. 

Reference: 

(1)https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/delhi-high-court-issues-summons-to-american-social-media-company-triller-yashraj-films-suit-copyright-infringement#:~:text=The%20Delhi%20High%20Court%20on,to%20read%20the%20full%20story%3F

COPYRIGHT
UPHAAR FIRE TRAGEDY – DELHI HC DECLINES TO STAY WEB SERIES ‘TRIAL BY FIRE’

Delhi HC gave relief to the producers of the Netflix web series ‘Trial By Fire’ after it refused to grant an interim stay on the film’s release. Trial By Fire is based on the 1997 Uphaar cinema tragedy, wherein 59 people lost their lives and hundreds of people were injured, when the fire broke out during the screening of the Hindi film “Border”. Sushil Ansal had filed a plea against the producers of the web series and the bench of Justice Yashwant Varma rejected the plea. Sushil was one of the convicts in the Uphaar tragedy case and therefore sought a permanent and mandatory injunction against the release of the web series. However, senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, the lawyer for Netflix told the court that the plaintiff was “not entitled to any relief” and the book, on which this web series is based, has been in the public domain since 2016. Nayar added that the trailer for Trial By Fire releases online on January 4 but Sushil didn’t approach the court before January 10, just three days prior to the show’s release date (January 13).

Reference: 

(1) https://indiankanoon.org/doc/132116235/

(2) http://Sushil Ansal v/s Endemol India Pvt Ltd & Ors. on 12th Jan’23- 2023/DHC/000205

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
‘WORLD’S FIRST ROBOT LAWYER’ POWERED BY AI TO DEFEND A HUMAN IN COURT IN A SPEEDING TICKET CASE

A court case next month will be taken by the ‘world’s first-ever robot lawyer’. The artificial intelligence (AI) enabled legal assistant will help a defendant fight a traffic ticket. The AI robot was created by a start-up called ‘DoNotPay’. It will run on a smartphone and listen to all the court arguments in real time. DoNotPay, a legal services chatbot, was founded by Joshua Browder in 2015. The company claims it is now ‘home’ to the ‘world’s first robot lawyer. The hearing is slated to take place in February. As of now, the makers of the robot are not disclosing the exact date, location of the court, and the name of the defendant.

Reference: 

(1) https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/ai-powered-robot-lawyer-to-defend-a-human-in-court-for-the-first-time-ever-9825741.html

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