From Pashm to Pashmina - The GI way

‘Kashmir Pashmina’ has been designated a Geographical indication pursuant to an application by the Craft Development Institute, established by the Office of Development Commissioner - Handicraft, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, and the Department of I&C (Directorate of Handicrafts), Government of Jammu & Kashmir.

The application filed for ‘Kashmir Pashmina’ was heard in May 2006 at the Intellectual Property Office, Delhi by a committee of experts from diverse sectors of industries, including the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks. The following aspects have been identified in according protection to‘Kashmir Pashmina’ as a geographical indication:


1. It is a fabric;
2. It is made from fine woolen fibers of the mountain goat Capra Hiracus, of 12-16 microns, but not below 18 microns;
3. The wool is obtained from the undergrowth of goat;
4. Such fibers are cleaned using rice flour paste;
5. It is cleaned, spun and woven by craftsmen located in the State of Jammu & Kashmir;


The eight- step process of production, which transforms the Pashm into Pashmina includes a unique practice by which the design instruction is in the form of a poem which is recited by the head of the family of the craftsperson in a language unique to the family and the executors of the pattern sit behind the loom and follow the verbal instructions to create a pattern that is unknown to them until its conclusion.

Zippo shape mark protected by Indian court

Zippo Manufacturing Company, the world-famous manufacturer of windproof lighters that shot to popularity in World War II and have been iconised in Hollywood ever since, was awarded a shape mark registration in India for the unique shape of their lighters. This registration, under No. 714368 in Class 34 comes close on the heels of an earlier USPTO registration for the same shape granted in 2002, which is yet to test the waters in a court of law.

Within about seven months since the grant of the aforesaid shape mark registration in India, Zippo’s attention was drawn to large scale piracy of its lighters in India by a prominent chain of gifts and greetings stores which was selling poor quality counterfeit lighters apparently imported from China, some of which even bore the Zippo word mark, while others merely pirated the shape. A suit was filed seeking an immediate relief of an ex parte ad interim injunction, which was granted vide a detailed order of Hon’ble Mr. Justice H R Malhotra of the Delhi High Court on the 13th of July 2006.

The order which is the first of its kind in India, at the outset acknowledges Zippo to be a renowned trademark, and goes on to extend the scope of judicial protection to the shape mark as well. Citing Philips Electronics NV v. Remington Consumer Products Ltd., (2003) RPC 2 ECJ at page 411, the Single Judge observed, “Like other trademarks it would be sufficient for a shape mark to enable the public concerned to distinguish the product from others which have another commercial origin, and to conclude that all the goods bearing it have originated under the control of the proprietor of the shape mark to whom responsibility for their quality can be attributed.”

Acknowledging Zippo’s proprietorship over both the word and the shape mark, the Learned Single Judge went on further to state that Zippo had made out a strong prima facie case in its favour warranting the grant of an ex parte ad interim injunction to prevent the Defendants from “tarnishing the reputation of the plaintiff in their trade in terms of their goodwill which they seem to have built over number of years by maintaining the high standards of their quality products”.

A 'WIKI' APPROACH FOR PATENT EXAMINATION

A "wiki" kind of approach is being borrowed for other spheres, including patent examinations. A simple idea, yet a brilliant one (as most inventions in patent law are). The August 21, 2006 issue of fortune reports:


The problem: an epidemic of shoddy patents.The solution: Wikipedia?That's the basic concept behind a pilot program sponsored by IBM(Charts) and other companies, which the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice appears poised to green-light. The project would apply anadvisory version of the wiki approach to the patent-approval process.The issue is that patent applications have tripled in the past twodecades, leaving examiners only 20 hours on average to comb through acomplex application, research past inventions, and decide whether apatent should be granted.As a result, critics contend, quality has declined and lucrativepatents have been granted for ideas that weren't actually new.One solution is to let astute outsiders weigh in during thepatent-review process, as online encyclopedia Wikipedia does, vastlyincreasing the information available to the patent examiner.New York Law School professor Beth Noveck floated the idea on her bloglast July, inspiring an article in Wired News. That, in turn,attracted the attention of IBM, which got behind the idea.Says Dave Kappos, vice president for intellectual-property law at IBM:"It's a very powerful concept because it leverages the enormouscapabilities of the entire world of technical talent."Working with IBM and the Patent Office, Noveck developed a system thatwill not only permit, for example, an inventor to show that anallegedly new idea is already in practice but also lets reviewers rateone another's submissions, much as they do on eBay (Charts) and Amazon(Charts).Patent examiners will be given only the ten highest-rated pieces ofinput, and attempts to sabotage a competitor's application bysubmitting phony material should theoretically be avoided.Test runCorporate sponsors including IBM, Microsoft (Charts), andHewlett-Packard (Charts) will make a total of 250 to 400 softwarepatents available for the pilot.Says the commissioner for patents, John Doll: "We're just trying toput the finishing touches on the details before we roll it out to the[head of the Patent and Trademark Office] and get the final approvalto move ahead."Noveck thinks the test could launch early in 2007. If successful, theapproach could then be implemented throughout the patent office. "Itseems fairly obvious," says Noveck, "to try to tie together some ofthe systems of peer production of information that we've seen in theprivate sector." And those who've complained about the patent processcould take part in fixing it.

Given the recent spate of frivolous applications at the USPTO (method of swinging on a swing AND cordless jump rope), we need more such ideas to ensure that a 20 year monopoly is only granted to those inventions that are truly meritorious.