Gaurav Bhalla of Ahlawat & Associates

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Gaurav is a member of the Intellectual Property team at the firm and is specialized in handling matters relating to trademarks, copyright, designs, geographical indications, etc. He regularly advises clients on conducting clearance searches, prosecution of IP filings, handling oppositions, rectifications, enforcement actions, etc.

Gaurav coordinates and liaisons with the in-house counsels of several Fortune 500 companies in the management of their IP portfolios in India (as well as neighboring southeast Asian countries). He also regularly works with start-ups, individuals, SMEs, large multinationals, etc. towards strategizing and designing appropriate and efficient schemes for the management of their intellectual properties.

He is also responsible for handling various contentious matters before the Trademarks Office, the Design Office, the IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Board), and the NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India).

He also has vast experience in filing and prosecuting domain name dispute resolution complaints under the UDRP and the INDRP before various fora including the NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India) and the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center.

Gaurav is also the recipient of the Tomorrow’s Leader Award from the INTA in 2019 which recognized his achievements in the trademark fraternity at such a young age. He is also a member of the INTA (International Trademark Association) and currently serves on the International Amicus Committee. As part of the committee, he assisted in the drafting and filing of the amicus brief in the prominent case of TATA SIA Airlines Limited vs. Union of India, WP (C) 11642 of 2019.

Gaurav also has vast experience in assisting various clients with drafting and reviewing of privacy policies, terms of use, non-disclosure agreements, software licensing agreements, SaaS (Software as a Service) agreements, etc.

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Usage of ad words by a competitor does not amount to trademark infringement

Google AdWords have long been used by businesses to ensure that their business listings feature on top of the Google search results when the users search for particular terms (which have been bought by a business from Google). While this process may sound perfectly fine when the ad words pertain to one’s trademarks or generic … Continue Reading

India publishes draft amendments to Patent Rules for public comment

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has recently published a set of draft amendments (“Draft Rules”) to the Indian Patent Rules, 2003. The amendments are currently open for comments from the public. The draft amendment rules can be accessed at – https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/248296.pdf.… Continue Reading

Delhi High Court holds that personality rights of deceased persons are not heritable

There has been immense activity surrounding the jurisprudence of celebrity rights in India with numerous judicial pronouncements in recent years. As regards legislation, there is no statute in India that expressly recognises the publicity or personality rights of individuals; therefore, the aspect of inheritance of publicity rights of a deceased person is still not entirely … Continue Reading

Conundrum behind registrability of GUIs as industrial designs in India

Graphical User Interface (GUI) refers to icons, windows, and/or menus to offer a mechanism to interact with electronic devices visually. There has been quite a bit of debate around the registrability of GUIs under industrial design law in India. While the Designs Act, 2002, recognised protection for GUIs, the Indian Patents Office has been reluctant … Continue Reading

Swiss federal agency successfully obtains relief in trademark issue before an Indian High Court

The High Court of Delhi recently adjudicated upon a case that involved an appeal from Armasuisse (a Federal Agency of the Swiss Federation) against orders of the Indian Trade Marks registry granting trademark registrations to a private Indian company for the marks SWISS MILITARY and in respect of class 25 goods. As a background, Respondent … Continue Reading

High Court of Delhi holds that acquired distinctiveness is necessary for obtaining registration of a shape mark

In today’s age, the importance of brands (and in turn trademarks) cannot be undermined. It is through brands that businesses (be it domestic or international) are able to thrive and flourish in various highly competitive sectors. While the brand promotion, protection, and enforcement strategy has been focused for many decades on conventional marks (such as … Continue Reading

High Court of Delhi extends statutory deadline for filing response to FER in European Union’s patent applications

In the recent case of The European Union vs. Union of India and Ors., W.P.(C)-IPD 5/2022 and W.P.(C)-IPD 6/2022, the Petitioner (European Union) filed two writ petitions against two orders passed by the Controller General of Patents for deemed abandonment of its patent applications. By way of background, the Petitioner had initially engaged a European … Continue Reading
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