The Delhi High Court has stayed a staggering 1.93 lakh orders issued by the Controller General of Patents, Design and Trademarks classifying the trademark applications as abandoned. These applications were “abandoned” in a short period without issuing notices to the affected parties.
The Intellectual Property Attorneys Association had approached the court challenging the abandonment orders as having been passed arbitrarily and in haste. Tata Steel Limited had also separately moved the court.
The court also directed the Controller General of Patents, Design and Trademarks not to treat any trademark application as abandoned without proper notice to an affected party as provided under the Trademarks Act, 1999. The petition pointed out that in a single day, on March 31, about 52,000 abandonment orders had been passed.
Applications were “abandoned” in a short period without notices
to affected parties
