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IP LitigationAll Industries

Copyrights – Use of publicly available content of a news agency for training an AI model prima facie falls under ‘fair dealing’

In an intersection of copyright law and artificial intelligence, the Delhi High Court has declined to grant interim relief sought by a news agency in a copyright infringement suit against an AI developer and service provider. The Court was of the prima facie view that the use of publication house’s publicly available content for training the AI model fell within the ‘fair dealing’ protection under Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

01 Sept 2026
GST
GST & Indirect Tax LitigationAll Industries

Search and seizure – Premises cannot be kept sealed under Section 67(4) after search; Prohibition Order on office equipment is not sustainable

The Gauhati High Court has held that the power to seal premises under Section 67(4) of the CGST Act is available only to facilitate search and seizure where access to the premises is denied. According to the Court, the provisions cannot be used to keep an assessee's premises under lock and seal after completion of the search.

25 Aug 2026
GST
GST & Indirect Tax LitigationAll Industries

Arrest – Order under Section 69 needs to be communicated to the person before arrest

The Supreme Court has held that order under Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017, needs to be communicated to the person who is sought to be arrested, before his arrest. According to the Court, since order under Section 69 is a sine qua non to seek anticipatory bail, the order needs to be communicated before arrest. The Apex Court in this regard noted the following:

24 Aug 2026

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  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    Patents – Order must be passed by same officer who heard the matter

    Setting aside the Order passed by another Deputy Controller of Patents, Designs and Trademarks who never heard the matter, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (‘IPAB’) has held that the Order should be passed by the same officer who had initially heard the matter.

    03 Nov 2020
  • InsolvencyAll Industries

    Trademarks – Distinctiveness of inventive and arbitrary marks

    The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (‘IPAB’) recently allowed registration of a mark observing that the Registrar had failed to take into account the arbitrary nature of the subject mark, failed to account for the extensive and continuous use of the subject mark and of its reputation and goodwill, etc.

    29 Oct 2020
  • CustomsAll Industries

    Manufacture and other operations in warehouse – Job work clarified

    The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (‘CBIC’) has clarified on various issues relating to job work for the unit working under the scheme of Manufacturing and Other Operations in Warehouse (‘MOOW Scheme’) under Section 65 of the Customs Act, 1962. The latest CBIC Circular No. 48/2020-Cus., dated October 27, 2020 also clarifies various issues in case where the job work activity is done by a unit working under the MOOW Scheme, for other units.

    28 Oct 2020
  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    ALIBABA.COM to be registered as a trademark

    Observing that the trademark, ‘ALIBABA.COM’ had already acquired distinctiveness as on its filing date, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (‘IPAB’) has held that the mark was thus entitled to statutory protection under the Trademarks Act, 1999 (‘the Act’). The IPAB thus ordered that the application for the mark, ‘ALIBABA.COM,’ be accepted. It directed the Registrar to proceed further for advertisement in the Trademark Journal.

    28 Oct 2020
  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    Patents – Procedural fairness is integral to judicial process

    In a recent order passed by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (‘IPAB’), the IPAB recapitulated the significance of the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice in judicial, quasi-judicial, and administrative decisions. Rhe IPAB concluded that (i) the value of procedural fairness – as a statutory instrument and for social good – cannot be undermined; (ii) judicial and quasi-judicial authorities are subject to the principles of procedural fairness…

    27 Oct 2020
  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    Trademarks – Registration of composite marks with unique combination of common words

    The IPAB recently concluded that the Appellant’s marks, ‘GLOW & LOVELY’ and ‘GLOW & HANDSOME’ were inherently distinctive in nature. The IPAB emphasized that the marks were a unique combination of two common English words which when merged together resulted in composite marks yielding different and distinctive commercial impressions, as the words combined had distinct meanings by itself and one did not serve as an adjective to the other and were thus completely unconnected to each other.

    26 Oct 2020
  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    ‘Nokia’ to be a registered as a well-known trademark in India

    Setting aside the Registrar’s Order, the IPAB has recently allowed permitting the mark, ‘NOKIA’, to be declared as a well-known mark in India. The Appellate Board was of the view that the Order rejecting the application was passed without application of the mind and was against the law. The primary observation by the IPAB was that the Respondent-Registrar ought to have taken due care and consideration to the evidence submitted by the Appellant which could have prevented an appeal to the IPAB.

    22 Oct 2020
  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    Patents – Anticipation by prior claiming and patentability under Section 3(d)

    In a recent update in the pharmaceutical sector, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board allowed the appeal filed by Pfizer Products Inc., an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation, under Section 117A of the Patents Act, 1970 against the impugned order passed by the Controller of Patents & Designs on September 3, 2015, in respect of Patent Application No. 00991/MUMNP/2003 (‘IN’991’), and directed that the said application be granted by the Indian Patent Office (IPO).

    19 Oct 2020
  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    Fraudulent websites – AMUL obtains temporary injunction

    The Delhi High Court has passed a partly ex-parte ad-interim order on August 28, 2020 which was further modified on September 08, 2020 against certain defendants running deceptive websites, restraining them from the unauthorised use of the well-known trademark ‘AMUL’, as a prefix or suffix in their domain names.

    16 Oct 2020
  • Real EstateAll Industries

    Stamp duty on property lease – No difference between property owned by Government and private person

    The Bombay High Court has rejected the contention of the stamp duty authorities that as the leased property was owned by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the market value of the said property cannot be decided and hence stamp duty needs to be paid on 100% of the amount paid for the lease instead of 90% of the market value as contemplated under Article 36(iv) of Schedule I to the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958.

    15 Oct 2020
  • Intellectual PropertyAll Industries+4

    Trademark infringement – Interlocutory injunction cannot be granted merely on basis of public interest

    In a case where by an ad interim Order injunction was granted against manufacture and sale of APIXABID product, and where the appeal against that ad interim order was pending in the Court, the Appellate Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has dismissed the interlocutory application by the defendant to permit them to sell 58,000 strips of the said medicine, manufactured by the applicant/defendant prior to the passing of the interim order.

    12 Oct 2020
  • All PracticesAll Industries

    Goods and Services Tax (GST) – Relaxations effective October 2020

    Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (‘CBIC’) has on September 30 issued number of notifications to relax or defer certain GST provisions. Some of the important changes worth noticing are, deferment of annual returns for FY 2018-19, relaxation in e-invoicing provisions for a month, deferment of dynamic QR Code for B2C transactions, and extension of exemption to service of transportation of export goods by aircraft/vessel.

    01 Oct 2020