January 2022 - Blog | Trademarkmaldives

FIR Filed Against Sundar Pichai & 5 Others Over Copyright Infringement

An FIR has recently been filed against the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, and five other employees of the tech giant at the MIDC police station following a court order. The FIR has been registered based on a complaint put forward by a Bollywood filmmaker, director, and producer, Suneel Darshan, alleging Copyright Infringement. In his complaint filed against Pichai and other Google employees, Darshan said that he didn’t sell the rights of his 2017 film ‘Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha’ to anyone; however, the film is still running on YouTube (owned by Google) without his permission and with millions of views. He further claimed that many people made a lot of money by uploading his film (which falls under his Intellectual Property (IP)) on YouTube. He even mentioned that he made multiple complaints to YouTube for many years concerning the illegal uploading of his film, but didn’t receive any response, following which he had to approach the court.

According to the police officer involved, the case has been filed at the MIDC Police Station in suburban Andheri on the orders given by a magistrate’s court.

When reached out to Google for comments on the said matter, the search engine giant said that it has a well-defined set mechanism using which the copyright holders can safeguard their unique and creative content on video-sharing platforms like YouTube. The Google spokesperson said that YouTube has the right management tools, such as its Content ID System, that enables the copyright holders to identify, promote, block, and even make money in an automated way from the uploads of their content on the platform. He also mentioned that when a copyright holder notifies YouTube about a video that infringes upon his content, the platform removes the content quickly as per the law and terminates the accounts of the users with several copyright strikes (a policing practice used by YouTube to manage copyright infringement and comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

The alleged infringers covered in the complaint filed include YouTube LLC, Google India Ltd., Google LLC, Sundar Pichai, and many others. The offense has been filed under sections 51, 63, and 69 relating to Copyright Violation of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957.

The film ‘Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha’ was written, produced, and directed by Suneel Darshan and starred Natasha Fernandez, Shiv Darshan, and Upen Patel.

Meanwhile, the Indian Government has selected Sundar Pichai (the CEO of Google), Satya Nadella (the CEO of Microsoft), and Natarajan Chandrasekaran (the Chairperson of Tata Group) for Padma Bhushan, which is the third-highest civilian award in the nation. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Delhi High Court Restrains 8 Rogue Websites from Misusing the ‘Shine’ TM of HT Media

What comes as a major relief to HT Media (a Delhi-based Indian mass media company) is that the Delhi High Court (HC) has recently restrained eight rogue websites from infringing upon the trademark and copyright of the company’s job platform brand name, called ‘Shine’ as well as its website, Shine.com. Shine is an online job and recruitment portal owned by HT Media.

The company took the matter to Delhi HC, seeking damages for alleged infringement and permanent injunction against the eight rogue websites that used the brand name ‘Shine’ in an unauthorized manner. The websites deceived the general public at large by mentioning that they were in some way associated with the brand Shine and its website.

HT Media’s petition stated that the eight rogue websites in question advertised themselves as the company’s Shine job portal, especially by mirroring the website (www.shine.com) and providing paid job offers and job interviews to unsuspecting members of the public; thereby inducing them to part with their hard-earned money.

The petition further read that the online job portal Shine began receiving various complaints from the general public after they parted with such monies to the rogue websites that portrayed themselves as representatives of HT Media’s Shine and accepted monies for arranging fake jobs and job interviews on behalf of HT Media.

In a recent interim order passed, Justice Yogesh Khanna restrained the eight rogue websites in question from infringing upon HT Media’s Registered Trademarks, copyright, and other Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in any manner.

The Delhi HC even directed the internet and telecom service providers to block access to the eight rogue websites while also ordering the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to issue notifications and guidelines to the internet and telecom service providers to this effect.

The court further asked the Economic Offences Wing and Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police to investigate well into the illicit activities of the eight rogue websites and submit a report showing the information about their true identities.

In this matter, HT Media was represented before the Delhi HC by a Delhi-based law firm and its in-house legal team. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Snoop Dogg Files Trademark Application for a Hot Dog Brand ‘Snoop Doggs’

The American songwriter, rapper, actor, entrepreneur, and social media personality Snoop Dogg has recently filed a Trademark Application for a hot dog brand known as ‘Snoop Doggs.’ Snoop Dogg’s lawyers have filed an intent-to-use trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the term ‘Snoop Doggs.’ The application states that the rapper is looking forward to using the term in question for selling hot dogs and some other types of sausages.

In 2011, Snoop Dogg had filed a similar trademark application for an ice cream venture known as ‘Snoop Scoops,’ but no products were ever released or sold under that company.

However, in 2020, the rapper launched his brand of gin known as ‘INDOGGO.’ He collaborated with the founder of Trusted Spirits (a company specializing in developing and marketing beverage alcohol brands), Keenan Towns. They came up with a ‘laid-back California style’ drink inspired by the rapper’s 1994 song known as ‘Gin and Juice.’

In 2018, Snoop Dogg broke the Guinness World Record for coming up with the largest gin and juice beverage across the globe. The drink measured more than 132 gallons and was prepared using 180 gin bottles, 154 apricot brandy bottles, and 38 orange juice jugs.

Last year in November, the rapper released ‘The Algorithm’ that marked his 19^th studio album. The album also served as Snoop Dogg’s first project for Def Jam Recordings (an American multinational record label) after becoming the label’s executive creative consultant back in the same year in June.

NME’s (New Musical Express – a British film, music, and culture brand and website) Kyann-Sian Williams said in a three-star review of Snoop Dogg’s ‘The Algorithm’ album that it brings together hip-hop lovers of all ages. He further added that the album would probably appeal more to the older hip hop cynics. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Amazon Files Opposition against the Trademark Registration of ‘AWS Music’

As per a filing submitted recently with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the multinational technology company Amazon Technologies Inc. is initiating opposition proceedings against the Trademark Registration of ‘AWS Music.’ The filing states that with the registration of ‘AWS Music,’ the consumers are most likely to be deceived, confused, or mistaken into thinking that the goods or services provided under the AWS Music mark by the trademark applicant Aidan W. Schmall emerge from Amazon or are in some way endorsed by Amazon.

The 103 pages long opposition filed asserts that Amazon is an American multinational tech giant focusing on providing different services, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, digital streaming, and e-commerce. For nearly two decades now, the tech giant has been providing cloud computing services from its global data centers under Amazon Web Services (also widely referred to as AWS) brand name. The opposition filed mentions that the term AWS is used alone as well as in conjunction with other trademarks. It further states that Amazon owns 50 domestic trademark registrations and has many pending Trademark Applications for its AWS mark covering a wide range of goods and services.

The filing also sheds light on the opposer’s ‘Amazon Music’ mark and the offerings associated with it, which include entertainment services, such as video recordings, music albums, music, songs, artists, albums, photographs, film clips, amongst other multimedia material in the field of music in International Class 41.

In the opposition filed, Amazon argues by saying that the applicant’s proposed AWS Music mark would interfere with Amazon’s extant AWS marks as it is proposed to sell a similar set of services to overlapping classes of consumers and purchasers. Additionally, Amazon believes that both the marks in question are way too similar in commercial impression and appearance – due to which they are very much likely to cause consumer confusion, mistake, or deception.

Finally, Amazon’s opposition highlights the concerns that the registration of the proposed AWS Music mark would diminish the unique value of its marks and enable the trademark applicant to freeride on its hard-won goodwill. Therefore, Amazon is now requesting the court to reject the said trademark application and sustain its objection. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com