Its IP Time

Indian Courts Tuesday, July 21 ADS Spirits Pvt. Ltd. v. The Registrar of Trade Marks Delhi HC | Justice Jyoti Singh | Trademark | Registrability What happened: ADS Spirits appealed under Section 91 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 against the Registrar's order rejecting its application for the mark OFFER in Class 33 for alcoholic beverages. The Examination Report had objected under Section 9(1)(a), describing the mark, without specifying which category applied, as a common surname, personal name, geographical name, or non-distinctive geometrical figure. The final refusal rested on the ground that OFFER is commonly used to ask for a discount and is devoid of "uniqueness." Issue: Whether Section 9(1)(a) requires a mark to be "unique" to qualify for registration, and whether the Registrar had properly assessed distinctiveness of OFFER in relation to the specific goods, alcoholic beverages, given that the Appellant's reply, its list of 31 registered OFFE...