Abandonment of over 1,93,908 Trade Mark applications in a arbitrary decision

In an unprecedented and arbitrary decision the Registrar of Trademarks in an obvious effort to clear out the backlog pending with the Indian Trademarks Registry ordered abandonment of over 1,93,908 Trade Mark applications.

These applications were ordered to be abandoned between 28th March 2016 to 5th April 2016 and thereafter a notification was issued on the Trademark Registry website listing out the applications that had been abandoned. The reasons given for abandoning these applications were mainly on the grounds of "non-filing" of response to the Examination Report. The order had been passed without any application of mind in as much as even the applications where the responses had been filed and uploaded on the Trademark Registry website were ordered to be abandoned.

An initiative was taken up by the Intellectual Property Attorneys Association (IPAA) which is an organization of over 200 IP Attorneys with its President as Mr. Chander M. Lall. A writ petition to challenge the order of the Registry was drafted overnight and the same was mentioned before the Hon'ble Delhi High Court on 05.04.2016. The matter was, therefore, listed before Hon'ble Mr. Justice Manmohan. The matter was argued by Mrs. Prathiba M. Singh, Senior Advocate and Mr. Chander M. Lall along with Mr. Amarjit Singh Monga and Mr. M. K. Miglani and other stalwarts of the IP fraternity. After hearing the matter at length, the Hon'ble Judge was pleased to stay the order passed by the Ld. Registrar of Trade Marks whereby the abandonment of the Trade Marks applications after 20th March, 2016 stands stayed.

The Hon'ble Court has further directed the Registrar of Trade Marks to not to pass any further orders of abandonment without giving due notice to the affected parties by Registered Post as prescribed under the procedure. This is a big victory on behalf of the IP fraternity.