By Bhanu Dhingra and Prabhjot Kaur
Pursuant to the Public Notices dated February 06, 20231, and March 27, 20232 as published by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) in Trade Marks Journal 2090 and 2097 respectively, over 1,00,000 pending trademark applications were Abandoned owing to non-filing of reply to examination reports/ counter-statements. The CGPDTM vide public notice dated March 27, 2023, also granted an opportunity to the Applicants who had filed the reply to the examination report/ counter-statements to submit and notify the NCR (Non-Cash Receipt) or any other documents physically to the Grievance Cell of the Registrar of Trade Marks, Mumbai within a period of 45 days from date of the notice, i.e., till May 11, 2023.
Nevertheless, the Intellectual Property Attorneys Association (IPAA), Delhi being aggrieved by a multitude of abandonments, had filed a writ petition with the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi challenging the said public notices issued by the CGPDTM.
On April 13, 2023, the High Court of Delhi heard the matter and the Controller of Patents undertook to withdraw the two Public Notices dated February 06, 2023, and two public notices dated 27th March 2023, concerning the abandonment of applications published in Trade Marks Journal No. 2090 and 2097 in which replies to Examination Reports and counter-statements have not been filed, and to restore all applications in respect of whom the notices have been issued to their original status, within a period of ten days, i.e. till April 23, 2023.3 “Needless to say, this shall not preclude the Controller from proceeding in accordance with law”, the order clarified.
Hence, the Trade Marks Registry is to deal with applications in compliance with laws.
[1] https://ssrana.in/articles/abandonment-of-marks-under-ipindia/
[2] https://ssrana.in/articles/abandoned-trademark-applications-cgpdtm-india/
[3] W.P.(C)-IPD 21/2023