Author: ADVOCATE AJAY AMITABH SUMAN

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Professional and Literary Profile Mr. Ajay Amitabh Suman, Advocate, is an alumnus of the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, with over 20 years of experience in IP litigation before the Delhi High Court. He currently serves as a Patent and Trademark Attorney at United & United, a leading intellectual property law firm. Deeply committed to legal scholarship, he has authored more than 900 articles on intellectual property law, published on major platforms including Legal Service India, Bar & Bench, Live Law, SCC Online Blog, Legal Desire, SpicyIP, among others. Beyond his legal practice, he is also an accomplished writer and poet, with over 1,500 literary works and more than 20 books published in Hindi and English. His journey reflects a unique blend of legal advocacy and creative expression, inspired by a passion for justice, knowledge, and reform.

In this consolidated judgment, the Delhi High Court dismissed writ petitions seeking mandamus and certiorari against trademark acceptance orders, holding that Section 19 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, grants the Registrar discretionary suo moto power to withdraw erroneous acceptances without provision for third-party applications, directing aggrieved parties to opposition under Section 21; allowed appeal against refusal order due to Registry inconsistencies, mandating unified adjudication of related proceedings.

Madras High Court set aside the dismissal of opposition to registration of the mark ‘Nandini’ in Class 3 for agarbattis, holding that identical phonetic identity and stylisation create deceptive similarity and likelihood of confusion with the appellant’s well-known ‘Nandini’ mark for dairy products, distinguishing it from the Supreme Court’s Nandhini Deluxe judgment due to absence of differentiating elements like suffix or different get-up.

Delhi High Court dismisses Canva’s appeal against interim injunction for infringing RxPrism’s patent on interactive content system; upholds single judge’s prima facie findings on layered architecture, configurability, and doctrine of equivalents; emphasizes claim-centric analysis for infringement and validity, rejecting product-to-product comparisons and unsubstantiated prior art challenges;

This judgment clarifies that under Order XI Rule 1(10) CPC, as applicable to commercial suits, “reasonable cause” for non-disclosure of documents with the written statement demands a genuine, specific explanation, with a lower proof threshold than “good cause” but mandating demonstration that documents were not in the defendant’s power, possession, custody, or control at filing; mere delay or post-appeal discovery without prior diligence does not suffice, reinforcing the Commercial Courts Act’s intent for vigilant, time-bound litigation over procedural leniency in ordinary suits.

High Court of Delhi holds that writ petitions challenging pre-abolition orders of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) on trademark matters are to be heard by a Single Judge of the Intellectual Property Division (IPD), as per IPD Rules, 2021, unless falling under specific Division Bench exceptions in Delhi High Court Rules; rejects mandatory Division Bench listing, treating such petitions as original IPD proceedings for efficient adjudication post-IPAB dissolution.