https://lawjournals.celnet.in/index.php/jiprl <p class="Textbody" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="StrongEmphasis"><span lang="EN-IN">Journal of Intellectual Property Rights Law</span></span><span lang="EN-IN"> is a peer reviewed research journal dealing with inventions, creations and other intellectual and intangible types of property. The term "intellectual property” is used in its general sense to describe: "A product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works and ideational property, such as patents, appellations of origin, business methods and industrial processes".</span></p> en-US [email protected] (Mr. Gagan Kumar (Associate Editor)) [email protected] (Ms. Ankita Srivastava (Journal Manager)) Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:04:31 +0000 OJS 3.3.0.5 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 https://lawjournals.celnet.in/index.php/jiprl/article/view/1945 <p>This paper critically investigates how Indian courts evaluate visual and phonetic similarities in trademark disputes, specifically under the Trade Marks Act of 1999. Trademarks serve as more than just business identifiers; they also preserve brand goodwill. However, the possibility of consumer confusion caused by identical marks, whether visually or phonetically, offers considerable obstacles to maintaining fair competition and preserving proprietary rights. The Indian judiciary plays an important role in resolving these disputes, using tests of deceptive similarity, consumer perception, and overall image or impression. This paper examines landmark and current judgments using doctrinal and jurisprudential analysis to determine the consistency, evolution, and legal reasoning employed by courts. The paper also identifies difficulties in interpretation and suggests better doctrinal clarity in judicial judgment of similarity. The paper’s ultimate goal is to contribute to a more cohesive framework for trademark adjudication in India, which balances rights protection with market fairness.</p> Twinkle Kataria, Bhupinder Singh Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Intellectual Property Rights Law https://lawjournals.celnet.in/index.php/jiprl/article/view/1945 Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://lawjournals.celnet.in/index.php/jiprl/article/view/1968 <p>The Draft Trade Marks (First Amendment) Rules, 2024 constitute a significant step forward in the modernization of India's Trade Marks Registry. This paper investigates the impact of proposed regulations—specifically, real-time notifications, automated similarity-search tools, electronic document service, and agent authentication—on the adjudication of phonetic and visual similarity objections, which are critical to refusal and infringement assessments under the Trademarks Act of 1999. The paper contends, based on a doctrinal analysis of the Draft Rules and a comparative review of pre-amendment case law, including Amritdhara Pharmacy v. Satya Deo Gupta, Parle Products v. J.P. &amp; Co., and Cadila Health Care v. Cadila Pharmaceuticals, that while the Draft Rules are poised to improve procedural efficiency and transparency, they may inadvertently over-mechanize similarity<br>assessments in the absence of explicit guidance and examiner training. The article concludes with recommendations for a human-machine hybrid evaluation model, a rewritten Examination Manual, and strategies for reducing linguistic and algorithmic bias.</p> Twinkle Kataria , Bhupinder Singh , Avinash Krishna Goswami Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Intellectual Property Rights Law https://lawjournals.celnet.in/index.php/jiprl/article/view/1968 Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000