GENERAL IPR

LUXOTTICA SUCCEEDS IN ACQUIRING JOHN DOE ORDERS
Luxottica, an Italian group who are the owners of Ray-ban sunglasses have succeeded in obtaining John Doe orders from the Delhi High Court against sellers of fake Ray-ban sunglasses. The court has directed action by seizure of fake products in such shops.

John Doe orders are passed to enable seizure of infringing goods and operate against any potential defendant, who is identified subsequently.

UK'S IPO WINS BPI AWARD
The United Kingdom's Intellectual Property Office Intelligence Hub has bagged the BPI Award for their continued efforts to combat music piracy.

BPI is the British Recorded Music Industry.

This award acknowledges the Hub's professionalism and commitment in the investigation of organised criminal groups who are involved in the manufacture, sale and distribution of counterfeit music.

The Hub has assisted in over 130 investigations this year alone, often identifying the main offender, which permitted the BPI and Enforcement agencies to achieve successful investigations.

PATENT

PATENT GRANTED FOR ISOLATION OF STEM CELLS FROM LIVE MEDIA
Stem Cell Therapy International, Inc. has announced that Histostem Ltd. of South Korea has been awarded European patent entitled "Method of Isolating and Culturing Mesenchymal Stem Cell Derived from Umbilical Cord Blood." This patented method is used to isolate stem cells directly from a freshly donated cord blood sample. This is the first patent awarded for this unique method in the world, and complements Histostem's recently awarded U.S. Patent for isolating stem cells from cryopreserved cord blood.

The patentee Dr. Hoon Han, who is also the President and Founder of Histostem Ltd., has said that this method would increase the volume of their repository which is the world's largest with over 85,000 units of cord blood.

The patent will be valid in all 27 EU countries for 20 years. The Korean FDA has approved Dr. Han to treat patients in his country, using his patented stem cell methods. Stem cells have been used in Korea to treat over 300 patients with intractable diseases.

APPLE'S IPHONE IN PATENT-INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT
Nokia has filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Apple in the Federal District Court of Delaware, alleging that Apple has violated as many as ten of its patents, including those relating to its GSM, UMTS, and Wi-Fi standards.
Nokia claims that its patented speech coding, security, wireless data transmission, and other technologies are used in every Apple iPhone; these technologies are licensed to 40 other tech companies.

Nokia's Legal VP, Ilkka Rahnasto, said that by refusing to agree to the terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride of Nokia's innovation. The patent-infringement by Apple dates back to mid-2007 when iPhone was launched, equipped with the technologies on the R&D of which Nokia has spent almost $90 billion over the past two decades.

CHINESE GOVERNMENT TO FUND FOREIGN PATENT FILINGS FOR SMES
The Chinese Ministry of Finance has made available approximately 100 million Yuan ($14.65 million) to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) applying for patents abroad. Chinese SMEs, 95 percent of which are privately-owned, have been instrumental in stabilising China's economy. According to official statistics, SMEs contribute to 60 percent of China's GDP, 50 percent of tax revenues, 68 percent of exports and 75 percent of new jobs every year.

TRADEMARK

DELHI HIGH COURT RESTRAINS CIRCULATION OF REVON MAGAZINE DUE TO INFRINGEMENT OF REVLON TRADE MARK
The Delhi High Court has encumbered the printing and circulation of 'Revon', a beauty magazine published by Media Magic World (MMW) as it infringed the trademark of the US-based cosmetic manufacturing company, Revlon.

Revlon Manufacturing Ltd. had approached the court seeking a stay against the use of the trade mark Revon in any manner by the defendants.
Magic Media World (MMW), on their website, had shown that they were manufacturing cosmetic products under the name of Nature's Essence.
The trade name Revon resembled Revlon, a worldwide well-known brand of cosmetic products, and gave the impression that both were products of the same company.

Revlon had contested that the printers and publishers of the magazine Magic Media World had infringed their Trade Mark by using the name to launch the magazine.

The publishers of the magazine had used the tagline 'The Beautiful Revolution', which was causing deception and confusion in the minds of general public that the magazine was related to Revlon.

Revlon alleged that the defendants had chosen the brand name Revon to take unfair advantage of the reputation and goodwill of Revlon’s well-known trade mark.

Revlon is registered under the laws of Bermuda and is a subsidiary of the US-based company, Revlon Consumer Products Corporation and has its trademark registered all over the world including India.

HANSEN SETTLES TRADEMARK DISPUTE WITH VERMONT BREWER
Corona-based Hansen Natural Corp. has settled a trademark dispute with a small Vermont brewing company after a number of stores in New England pulled Hansen's products off its shelves.

Hansen, which makes the Monster line of energy drinks, had sent a cease-and-desist letter last month to Rock Art Brewery, a small brewer in Vermont, which was in search of a federal trademark for a beer they call "The Vermonster."

Hansen wished to block Rock Art's use of Vermonster as Hansen had registered trademark for two beer products earlier, which were later abandoned. Hansen also asked the Vermont Company to pay its legal fees.

An amicable agreement was made between Rock Art Brewery owner Matt Nadeau and Rodney Sacks, Hansen's chairman and chief executive which allows Rock Art to sell Vermonster, a barley wine.

COPYRIGHT

'ALL THE BEST' RELEASED IN SPITE OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
The release of actor-director Ajay Devgan starrer movie 'All the Best' has been allowed by the Bombay High Court after rejection of a case of copyright infringement filed by film producer Karan Ramsay claiming a copyright over the script and seeking stay on the film's release.

The petitioner, Mr Ramsay, had claimed that the script of 'All the Best' was very similar to that of 'Uncle Samjha Karo' which is being produced by his company Om Film and that the copyright of the same was purchased from scriptwriter Paritosh Painter in the year 2006, who eventually sold the same script to Devgan Films which led to violation of his copyright.