Patent loss ruins Oracle's New Year party

Database giant Oracle faced a major setback in the patent litigation against Google, with USPTO rejecting some claims of patent (US6192476) which is one among the several patents that Oracle asserts against Google.

Oracle sued Google last year, claiming that the Google Android operating system uses Java Virtual machine technology and it violates a number of Java patents it acquired along with Sun Microsystems.

Google on the other hand requested the USPTO to re-examine the Oracle patent (US6192476) titled as "Controlling access to a resource”. Last week, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejects 17 claims out of 21 claims in patent (US6192476) and it basically means that the patent is invalid since many of the claims have been rejected. Oracle now has six months to appeal for the USPTO's decision. If it fails, then Oracle will probably be stripped of the patent.

"Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it” opined Google's chief legal officer David Drummond.

 

Author: Raghu

 

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COPYRIGHT LAW: Sec. 2(m) dropped from the Copyright Amendment Bill.

The Government has decided to leave out Section 2(m) from the latest version of the Copyright Amendment Bill which legalizes the parallel imports of books and other copyrighted material into India. Sec. 2(m) reads as follows: ‘Provided that a copy of a work published in any country outside India with the permission of the author of the work and imported from that country into India shall not be deemed to be an infringing copy.” It has been speculated that the government gave away to the pressure from the publisher lobbies and deleted it from the newest version of the Bill. The Parliamentary Standing Committee had earlier supported the Bill and had stated as follows: “that availability of low priced books under the present regime is invariably confined to old editions. Nobody can deny the fact that the interests of students will be best produced if they have access to the latest editions of the books.” This deletion is likely to impact the libraries and educational institutions that could import foreign copies of books without seeking permission of the copyright owner. The disabled are also not likely to be spared by the recent development, as many converted copyright material as well as books that require conversion to formats that are accessible to the disabled will not be freely available. Section 51 which allows only one copy of a book for personal use and Section 52(1)(zb) which provides for a number of activities for enabling access to the disabled do not include the right to ‘import’ any copyrighted works. Thus, it will still continue to remain difficult to buy cheapest editions anywhere in the world, without necessarily going through the publisher in India.

One More ‘John Doe Order’ by Delhi High Court

As an addition to the recent series of John Doe Orders for protection of films, the Delhi High Court has issued another such order to protect the movie ‘Speedy Singhs’ in 2011. The producers of Speedy Singhs had filed the suit against a few cable operators and against unknown Defendants for a temporary and permanent injunction in order to pre-empt any copyright infringement. The Hon’ble Court has issued the order against all the prospective Defendants, including unidentified persons, restraining them from indulging in piracy and activities such as displaying, releasing, showing, uploading, downloading, exhibiting, playing the movie, etc. The order was to remain in force till December 19, 2011.

‘John Doe’ Orders are mostly seen in the American and Canadian Legal practice. The term ‘John Doe’ indicates a placeholder in legal action and is generally used as a synonym to refer to an individual whose identity is not known to the world at large. The name ‘John Doe’ is used to identify anonymous Defendants, who have allegedly committed some wrong, but whose identity cannot be ascertained by the Plaintiff. These orders can be traced back to the reign of England’s King Edward III (1312–1377), when they were used to refer to unidentifiable Defendants in law. These are representative orders against an unidentifiable class of Defendants, rather than named persons, which allow the goods to be seized. In such orders, once the Defendant(s) are identified, ‘John Doe’ is replaced with the name of the concerned Defendant.

Indian Courts visited the scope of John Doe Orders for the first time in the TEN SPORTS CASE (Taj Television vs. Rajan Mandal 2003) whereby the Commissioner was empowered by the Delhi High Court to enter the premises of any cable operator illegally airing the football World Cup 2002. The Indian version of the order is known as ‘Ashok Kumar’ orders. The High Court of Delhi had also restricted the scope of such orders in the case. The judgment in the case of Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. Vs. Mr. Badal Dhar Chowdhry and Ors (2010) stated that vague/ indefinite injunctions may not be issued and that it can be an abuse of the process of the court and hence, can never be granted. It has also stated that the courts should be extremely cautious in granting such ‘John Doe’ orders and specify the extent of applicability of such orders, the product or article concerned to which it relates to and the steps that can be taken by the aggrieved party to enforce such orders.

John Doe Orders have become quite common in the Indian film industry as an effective way to curb piracy. It is evident from the recent orders of the Delhi High Court in cases such as the movie Singham in July 2011 and the movie Bodyguard in August 2011. However, this trend awaits a Supreme Court Decision to make it a Law of the Land.

Delhi HC Says No Exclusive Right to Use of ‘Krishna’ as a Trademark to Market Dairy Products

In a recent case decided by the division bench of the Delhi High Court upholding the decision of a single judge it was held that:

“Just as the word 'LOW ABSORB', an expression relating to the character of the product, i.e. edible oil was held not entitling the person to an exclusive use who first used the said words, in the decision reported as MANU/DE/3131/2010 : 174 (2010) DLT 279 Marico Ltd. vs. Agro Tech Ltd., the adoption of the name of a deity who is associated with a particular trait relating to goods, in the instant case Lord Krishna having a trait which has an association with milk and butter, would stand on the same low footing for protection as would be purely descriptive expressions pertaining to the subject product. ”

The Appellants, Bhole Baba Milk Food Industries Ltd. are manufacturers of milk and milk products and also registered owners of the label mark “KRISHNA” which falls in Class-29 of the Trade Mark Act. The Respondent, Parul Food Specialties (P) Ltd. are also manufacturers of milk products who started selling ghee under the brand “PARUL’S LORD KRISHNA”, “Parul’s” and “Lord” having a font so small that only the word “KRISHNA” catches the eye due to its prominence. In the suit brought on by Bhole Baba Milk Food Industries Ltd., the Single Judge, Justice Rajiv Shakhdar, ruled in favour of the Defendants- Parul Food Specialties (P) Ltd and stated that prima facie in order for a mark to achieve secondary distinctiveness, the consumer should immediately be reminded of the product of the owner of the mark by looking at it. He also held that “Krishna” being a household name could not achieve secondary distinctiveness and as a result the Bhole Baba Milk Food were not entitled to claim monopoly over the name of the deity.

Aggrieved by the decision of the Single Judge, Bhole Baba Milk Food appealed before a Division Bench of the same Court.

The Hon’ble Division Bench upheld the decision of the Hon’ble Single Judge and reiterated that the name of the deity cannot be monopolized as it was in the public domain and if done so, it would ‘certainly dilute a proprietary claim projected by any person, in relation to Krishna with dairy products.” They also ordered Parul Food Specialties (P) Ltd. to print the words “PARUL’S LORD” with the same prominence as the word ‘KRISHNA’. They also concluded that registration by Bhole Baba Milk Food was not per se for the word KRISHNA but it is for the word KRISHNA written in a distinctive form. It stated that registration cannot possibly give an exclusive statutory right to the appellant qua a particular word of common origin.

The aforementioned decision begs the question- would this decision apply to other registrations having the names of Deities such as “MARUTI” who is the god of wind? Would Maruti Suzuki India Limited not be allowed to enforce their trade mark since the product that they apply it to, happens to be related to transportation? Let’s take the case of the Trade mark NIKE. Nike is the Greek goddess of strength, speed, and victory- in this case would they not be able to enforce their trade mark because they apply it to products related to sport? Would it be considered as descriptive?

No injunction granted in Indian Express Ltd. vs. Express Publications Madurai Ltd.

The Plaintiff- Indian Express Ltd. and the Defendant – Express Publications Madurai through settlements in 1997 and 2005 agreed that the Plaintiff would own the trademark “Indian Express” and the Defendant would own the trademark “New Indian Express”. The Defendant would publish an English Daily titled “New Indian Express” only in the five southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Union Territories of Pondicherry, Enam, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep. The Defendant was also allowed to use the trademark on the internet for dissemination of news.

The case commenced after the Defendant started publishing the newspaper titled ‘Sunday Standard’ from New Delhi. Beneath the logo, it carried a plea to follow them on Facebook and Twitter at www.newindianexpress.com. It also carried information that the Chairman, Executive Editors and Advertisement also belonged to the ‘New Indian Express Group.’

The Plaintiff then filed an interim application before the Delhi High Court seeking an injunction against the Defendants to restrain them from using the trademarks “New Indian Express”, “Indian”, “Express” and “New Indian Express Group” and other such combinations.

The two main issues before the learned judge were:

1. Whether the Defendant had infringed the Plaintiff’s trademark?

2. Whether the Defendant was passing off its goods as Plaintiff’s?

1. The Hon’ble Court dismissed the argument of the Plaintiff, on the basis of Section 28(3) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and said that since Indian Express and New Indian Express are similar, so merely having registration of these marks does not give them the exclusive right against each other but only against others who have similar but unregistered marks.

2. On the issue of passing off the Court looked at whether Sunday Standard was cashing in on the reputation by using the mark ‘newindianexpress’ under the Sunday Standard logo. The Court felt that this advertisement was permissible by the agreement between the parties and it was small in comparison with the masthead and it wouldn’t mislead customers.

The Hon’ble Court providing its views on the Agreements between the parties stated “Under the supplementary agreement dated 12th August, 2005, defendant No. 1 was permitted to use the title "New Indian Express" or any of its derivatives/abbreviations on the Internet and this use does not have and cannot have any geographical limitations. By inviting the readers to join to the website www.expressbuzz.com / www.mexpressbuzz.com or to join them on Facebook or Twitter, the defendants are only promoting their Internet business in exercise of the Internet rights given to them under the supplementary agreement. To my mind, no exception can be taken to such promotion of the Internet business of the defendant under the name "New Indian Express" by the plaintiff. I fail to appreciate the contention of the learned Counsel for the plaintiff that the agreements between the parties prohibits the defendants from promoting/advertising their business outside the five southern States/Union Territories specified in the agreement, if it involves use of the express "New Indian Express". Admittedly, the defendants are entitled to publish an English daily under the name "New Indian Express" in the southern States and Union Territories specified in the agreements. There was no prohibition, in the agreements between the parties, against promotion/advertisements even of the newspaper "New Indian Express" outside the southern States and Union Territories specified therein. Hence, if the defendants want to advertise those newspapers outside the specified southern States/Union Territories specified in the agreement, by giving advertisements in other newspapers or on television or radio, that, to my mind, would not constitute a violation of the agreements dated 05th February, 1995 and supplementary agreement dated 12th August, 2005 and in any case would not amount to passing off the newspaper of the defendant as that of the plaintiff.” The Court further stated “In my view, if the defendants advertise the newspaper published by them from any of the five southern State/Union Territories specified in the agreements in any newspaper whether it is Times of India or Hindustan Times or The Sunday Standards that would neither amount to passing off nor would that be in violation of the agreements between the parties. Same would be the position if the advertisements of other newspapers are published in "The Sunday Standard" irrespective of whether it is advertisement of "Hindustan Times" or "Times of India" or "New Indian Express". If tomorrow, the plaintiff advertises its newspaper "Indian Express" in any of the five southern States/Union Territories specified in the agreements, in a newspaper published from these southern States/Union Territories, can it be said that by doing so the plaintiff was trying to pass off its newspaper as that of "New Indian Express Group". The answer again would be in negative. Therefore, to my mind, such advertisements or use of the expression "New Indian Express" or "New Indian Express Group", the way they have been used so far do not amount to passing off and also do not constitute the violation of the agreements between the parties.”

On the aspect of the authors of the editorials/articles referring to themselves by name and as Executive Directors of the New Indian Express, the Court ruled that they were not passing off their paper as Plaintiff’s.

The Hon’ble High Court also looked into the aspect of the Defendants using these marks to mislead the public into believing that the Plaintiff and Defendant were one group. Defendant informed the Court with evidence that the Plaintiff had acquiesced to the use of the ‘New Indian Express Group’ which was visible in the Publications and the Joint Letters sent by them.

The Hon’ble High Court thus, refused to grant an injunction to the Defendant but asked them to mention ‘Madurai’ with the ‘New Indian Express Group’.

Radico Khaitan Ltd v. Carlsberg India Pvt Ltd.-Delhi HC Interim Judgment

The Plaintiff, Radico Khaitan Ltd- manufacturer of alcoholic beverages, had registered its trade mark “8PM” in Class 32 (mineral water) and Class 33 (wines, liquors, whisky and alcoholic drinks) and sold whiskey under such trade mark. Carlsberg India Pvt Ltd, the Defendant, used the trade mark “PALONE 8” for marketing its beer. In a suit and application for interim injunction instituted by Radico against Carlsberg before the Delhi High Court, it was alleged that the use of numeral “8” by Carlsberg as a primary mark in its brand amounted to mala fide use of Radico’s mark. Radico, therefore, prayed that Carlsberg should be restrained from using the numeral “8” in relation to their products.

While deciding the Interim application for grant of injunction, the Hon’ble High Court was called upon to determine:

1) Whether a single numeral “8” in the facts and circumstances of the present case could be protected while comparing the two marks of the parties – “8 PM” and “PALONE 8”. and

2) Whether the two sets of goods – whisky and beer could be considered as dissimilar goods?

With regard to first point the Hon’ble Court opined that S.2(l)(m) of Trade Marks Act, 1999 defines “mark” which includes numeral. The prima facie registration of numerals depends upon its distinctive character.

Considering the facts, Court arrived at the following conclusions:

a) The number "8" enjoys nexus with the concerned beverages. It was a bona fide description of character of goods that represents the Alcohol by Volume (ABV) in beer.

b) The Plaintiff held trademark registration for “8PM” and not 8 per se. In light of the above, the Court accepted the prima facie non-distinctive character of numeral mark “8”.

2) The Court also examined Section 29(4) which protects the marks of dissimilar goods. The Court held that the numeral “8” could not be treated as reputed mark as it was used extensively for describing the character of goods, therefore, S.29(4) was held to be inapplicable.

The Court also drew attention on S.30 which acts as an exception to S.29. According to this, use of a registered trade mark by any person was allowed if the use is:

(a) in accordance with honest practices in industrial or commercial matters, and

(b) not such as to take unfair advantage of or be detrimental to the distinctive character or repute of the trade mark.

It was held that “8” enjoyed nexus with the industry. Therefore, the use of the numeral by any other person including defendant was not “dishonest” and was protected under S. 30 of the Act.

It was also noted that the Defendant would incur irreparable loss if it was directed against using “8” especially when the Plaintiff did not carry a similar business. Further, the Plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case in its favour. However, the Court allowed the Defendant to use the marks “PALONE” and numeral “8” together in the same line to avoid any confusion. Further, the numeral should be used in a different style.

COPYRIGHT LAW : Music Composers and Lyricists no longer hold song rights on their creations: Bombay HC

In a landmark judgment given out by the Bombay HC on July 25, 2011, Justice S J Vazifdar upheld the rights of the music companies over the song recording as against its composers and lyricists. This order has come as a boon to the FM Radio stations, hotels and discotheques that used to dole out huge royalty money to the composers and lyricists every time they played their songs.
 
Counsel for the Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS), Senior Advocate Navroz Seervai and Advocate Sandeep Marne argued that once a song is recorded, the composers and lyricists do not lose their copyright over the work.
 
They claimed that the owners of the song are only paid to make a sound recording, TOI reports. "The owner of the sound recording must again approach the owner of the underlying works for a licence and pay the royalty if he wants to communicate it to the public by broadcast," the advocates are reported to have said.
 
Senior Counsel Virendra Tulzapurkar represented Music Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. on instructions from Advocates Amit Jamsandekar, Sanjay Kadam and Apeksha Sharma of Kadam & Co.
 
Senior Advocate Virendra Tulzapurkar countered the argument of IPRS saying, as the works of the lyricists and music composers are incorporated in a sound recording made by music companies, it is these companies who exclusively own the copyright over such recordings. The IPRS can claim royalty only when the song is performed live or another song is recorded, or the original song is remixed.  
 
The Court agreed with this view, however clarifying that the owners of the copyright-composers and lyricists-do not lose all their rights when they allow it to be recorded. "It does not prevent the owners of the copyright in the underlying musical and literary works from making any other sound recording embodying the same underlying work," Justice Vazifdar is reported to have said.
 
The High Court also rejected the argument that the music companies are only given the right to make CDs and cassettes and they would have to pay copyright fees if they broadcast songs.
 
The High Court has stayed the appeal till October 31, 2011. Advocate Marne has reportedly said that they would appeal against the verdict, TOI reports.
 
Speaking to Bar & Bench, Prof. Shamnad Basheer, Ministry of HRD Chair Professor in Intellectual Property Law, NUJS Kolkata, expressed his views on the judgment as follows:
 
“While the judgment is quite lucid and rehearses the various arguments and counter arguments in a very articulate manner, the judge unfortunately got the law wrong (in my personal view). The making of a sound recording does not extinguish any of the underlying rights in the music and lyrics (these underlying rights continue to vest with music composer and lyricist). When a song is broadcast on an FM channel, both the rights in the sound recording as also the right in the underlying works are implicated. And the FM radio station has to pay two separate license fees. 

It is pertinent to note that the Indian government has taken note of the historical exploitation of Bollywood lyricists and music composers (underlying authors) and attempted to redress the injustice through proposed amendments to the copyright act that provide for compulsory sharing of royalties. Contrast this attitude with the present judgment which effectively perpetrates grave injustice against underlying authors by denying them their rightful license fees."

LINK

COPYRIGHT LAW: Court declines to stay release of 'Chalo Dilli'

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined the plea of prominent music composer Anandji Virji Shah for staying the release of tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi's debut Bollywood movie 'Chalo Dilli', starring his wife Lara Dutta, for violating copyright by remixing his popular song 'Laila o Laila'.

"Let the film be released on April 29," Justice Manmohan Singh said, issuing notice to the director and producer of the movie and seeking their response by May 12.

Anandji, who with his brother Kalyanji, had composed music for many films, had approached the court alleging that the filmmaker has violated the copyright by making a remix of 'Laila o Laila' from the 1980s film 'Qurbani', directed by Feroz Khan.

Filing a civil suit, Anandji sought an order restraining the filmmakers from issuing any audio CD or DVD with the remix of the song.

He also claimed............................................ READ MORE...Click Here

DEFFERANCE BETWEEN "PATENT" AND "UTILITY PATENT"

PATENT: is given to an invention which has the following three elements:

1. NOVEL,

2. INVENTIVE STEP and

3. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION

So all new inventions and substantial improvement invention can be protected through PATENT

The term of protection for a PATENT is 20years. (From priority date i.e. date of filing of application).

The cost of registering a Patent varies (but as compared with the Utility patent is very expensive)

Patent office performs a substantive examination of Patent application to validate Patentability

Finally, conversion of patent in to Utility Model is always possible.


WHEREAS

UTILITY PATENT: is an invention which lacks inventive step, in other words, the invention which has mainly novelty, but less or absent in inventive step.

Only marginal improvement invention can be protected through UTILITY PATENT

UTILITY PATENT are given a protection period of 7 to 10 Years (From the Priority date).

As stated above, the cost of obtaining a Utility Patent is less.

No such substantive examination procedure as compared to PATENT, as it does not require inventive step.

Conversion of utility Patent to Patent is possible in under certain circumstances

International Servicemark classes (With Explanatory Note)

CLASS 35

(Advertising and business)

Advertising; business management; business administration; office functions.

Explanatory Note

Class 35 includes mainly services rendered by persons or organizations principally with the object of:

(1) help in the working or management of a commercial undertaking, or

(2) help in the management of the business affairs or commercial functions of an industrial or commercial enterprise,

as well as services rendered by advertising establishments primarily undertaking communications to the public, declarations or announcements by all means of diffusion and concerning all kinds of goods or services.

This Class includes, in particular:

· the bringing together, for the benefit of others, of a variety of goods (excluding the transport thereof), enabling customers to conveniently view and purchase those goods; such services may be provided by retail stores, wholesale outlets, through mail order catalogues or by means of electronic media, for example, through web sites or television shopping programmes.

· services consisting of the registration, transcription, composition, compilation, or systematization of written communications and registrations, and also the compilation of mathematical or statistical data;

· services of advertising agencies and services such as the distribution of prospectuses, directly or through the post, or the distribution of samples. This Class may refer to advertising in connection with other services, such as those concerning bank loans or advertising by radio.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· services such as evaluations and reports of engineers which do not directly refer to the working or management of affairs in a commercial or industrial enterprise (consult the Alphabetical List of Services).

CLASS 36

(Insurance and financial)

Insurance; financial affairs; monetary affairs; real estate affairs.

Explanatory Note

Class 36 includes mainly services rendered in financial and monetary affairs and services rendered in relation to insurance contracts of all kinds.

This Class includes, in particular:

· services relating to financial or monetary affairs comprise the following:

(a) services of all the banking establishments, or institutions connected with them such as exchange brokers or clearing services;

(b) services of credit institutions other than banks such as co-operative credit associations, individual financial companies, lenders, etc.;

(c) services of “investment trusts,” of holding companies;

(d) services of brokers dealing in shares and property;

(e) services connected with monetary affairs vouched for by trustees;

(f) services rendered in connection with the issue of travellers’ cheques and letters of credit;

· services of realty administrators of buildings, i.e., services of letting or valuation, or financing;

· services dealing with insurance such as services rendered by agents or brokers engaged in insurance, services rendered to insured, and insurance underwriting services.

CLASS 37

(Building construction and repair)

Building construction; repair; installation services.

Explanatory Note

Class 37 includes mainly services rendered by contractors or subcontractors in the construction or making of permanent buildings, as well as services rendered by persons or organizations engaged in the restoration of objects to their original condition or in their preservation without altering their physical or chemical properties.

This Class includes, in particular:

· services relating to the construction of buildings, roads, bridges, dams or transmission lines and services of undertakings specializing in the field of construction such as those of painters, plumbers, heating installers or roofers;

· services auxiliary to construction services like inspections of construction plans;

· services of shipbuilding;

· services consisting of hiring of tools or building materials;

· repair services, i.e., services which undertake to put any object into good condition after wear, damage, deterioration or partial destruction (restoration of an existing building or another object that has become imperfect and is to be restored to its original condition);

· various repair services such as those in the fields of electricity, furniture, instruments, tools, etc.;

· services of maintenance for preserving an object in its original condition without changing any of its properties (for the difference between this Class and Class 40 see the Explanatory Note of Class 40).

This Class does not include, in particular:

· services consisting of storage of goods such as clothes or vehicles (Cl. 39);

· services connected with dyeing of cloth or clothes (Cl. 40).

CLASS 38

(Telecommunications)

Telecommunications.

Explanatory Note

Class 38 includes mainly services allowing at least one person to communicate with another by a sensory means. Such services include those which:

(1) allow one person to talk to another,

(2) transmit messages from one person to another, and

(3) place a person in oral or visual communication with another (radio and television).

This Class includes, in particular:

· services which consist essentially of the diffusion of radio or television programmes.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· radio advertising services (Cl. 35).

CLASS 39

(Transportation and storage)

Transport; packaging and storage of goods; travel arrangement.

Explanatory Note

Class 39 includes mainly services rendered in transporting people or goods from one place to another (by rail, road, water, air or pipeline) and services necessarily connected with such transport, as well as services relating to the storing of goods in a warehouse or other building for their preservation or guarding.

This Class includes, in particular:

· services rendered by companies exploiting stations, bridges, rail-road ferries, etc., used by the transporter;

· services connected with the hiring of transport vehicles;

· services connected with maritime tugs, unloading, the functioning of ports and docks and the salvaging of wrecked ships and their cargoes;

· services connected with the functioning of airports;

· services connected with the packaging and parcelling of goods before dispatch;

· services consisting of information about journeys or the transport of goods by brokers and tourist agencies, information relating to tariffs, timetables and methods of transport;

· services relating to the inspection of vehicles or goods before transport.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· services relating to advertising transport undertakings such as the distribution of prospectuses or advertising on the radio (Cl. 35);

· services relating to the issuing of travellers’ cheques or letters of credit by brokers or travel agents (Cl. 36);

· services relating to insurances (commercial, fire or life) during the transport of persons or goods (Cl. 36);

· services rendered by the maintenance and repair of vehicles, nor the maintenance or repair of objects connected with the transport of persons or goods (Cl. 37);

· services relating to reservation of rooms in a hotel by travel agents or brokers (Cl. 43).

CLASS 40

(Treatment of materials)

Treatment of materials.

Explanatory Note

Class 40 includes mainly services not included in other classes, rendered by the mechanical or chemical processing or transformation of objects or inorganic or organic substances.

For the purposes of classification, the mark is considered a service mark only in cases where processing or transformation is effected for the account of another person. A mark is considered a trade mark in all cases where the substance or object is marketed by the person who processed or transformed it.

This Class includes, in particular:

· services relating to transformation of an object or substance and any process involving a change in its essential properties (for example, dyeing a garment); consequently, a maintenance service, although usually in Class 37, is included in Class 40 if it entails such a change (for example, the chroming of motor vehicle bumpers);

· services of material treatment which may be present during the production of any substance or object other than a building; for example, services which involve cutting, shaping, polishing by abrasion or metal coating.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· repair services (Cl. 37).

CLASS 41

(Education and entertainment)

Education; providing of training; entertainment; sporting and cultural activities.

Explanatory Note

Class 41 covers mainly services rendered by persons or institutions in the development of the mental faculties of persons or animals, as well as services intended to entertain or to engage the attention.

This Class includes, in particular:

· services consisting of all forms of education of persons or training of animals;

· services having the basic aim of the entertainment, amusement or recreation of people;

· presentation of works of visual art or literature to the public for cultural or educational purposes.

CLASS 42

(Computer and scientific)

Scientific and technological services and research and design relating thereto; industrial analysis and research services; design and development of computer hardware and software.

Explanatory Note

Class 42 includes mainly services provided by persons, individually or collectively, in relation to the theoretical and practical aspects of complex fields of activities; such services are provided by members of professions such as chemists, physicists, engineers, computer programmers, etc.

This Class includes, in particular:

· the services of engineers who undertake evaluations, estimates, research and reports in the scientific and technological fields;

· scientific research services for medical purposes.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· business research and evaluations (Cl. 35);

· word processing and computer file management services (Cl. 35);

· financial and fiscal evaluations (Cl. 36);

· mining and oil extraction (Cl. 37);

· computer (hardware) installation and repair services (Cl. 37);

· services provided by the members of professions such as medical doctors, veterinary surgeons, psychoanalysts (Cl. 44);

· medical treatment services (Cl. 44);

· garden design (Cl. 44);

· legal services (Cl. 45).

CLASS 43

(Hotels and restaurants)

Services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodation.

Explanatory Note

Class 43 includes mainly services provided by persons or establishments whose aim is to prepare food and drink for consumption and services provided to obtain bed and board in hotels, boarding houses or other establishments providing temporary accommodation.

This Class includes, in particular:

· reservation services for travellers’ accommodation, particularly through travel agencies or brokers;

· boarding for animals.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· rental services for real estate such as houses, flats, etc., for permanent use (Cl. 36);

· arranging travel by tourist agencies (Cl. 39);

· preservation services for food and drink (Cl. 40);

· discotheque services (Cl. 41);

· boarding schools (Cl. 41);

· rest and convalescent homes (Cl. 44).

CLASS 44

(Medical, beauty & agricultural)

Medical services; veterinary services; hygienic and beauty care for human beings or animals; agriculture, horticulture and forestry services.

Explanatory Note

Class 44 includes mainly medical care, hygienic and beauty care given by persons or establishments to human beings and animals; it also includes services relating to the fields of agriculture, horticulture and forestry.

This Class includes, in particular:

· medical analysis services relating to the treatment of persons (such as x-ray examinations and taking of blood samples);

· artificial insemination services;

· pharmacy advice;

· animal breeding;

· services relating to the growing of plants such as gardening;

· services relating to floral art such as floral compositions as well as garden design.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· vermin exterminating (other than for agriculture, horticulture and forestry) (Cl. 37);

· installation and repair services for irrigation systems (Cl. 37);

· ambulance transport (Cl. 39);

· animal slaughtering services and taxidermy (Cl. 40);

· timber felling and processing (Cl. 40);

· animal training services (Cl. 41);

· health clubs for physical exercise (Cl. 41);

· scientific research services for medical purposes (Cl. 42);

· boarding for animals (Cl. 43);

· retirement homes (Cl. 43).

CLASS 45

(Personal)

Legal services; security services for the protection of property and individuals; personal and social services rendered by others to meet the needs of individuals.

Explanatory Note

This Class includes, in particular:

· services rendered by lawyers to individuals, groups of individuals, organizations and enterprises;

· investigation and surveillance services relating to the safety of persons and entities;

· services provided to individuals in relation with social events, such as social escort services, matrimonial agencies, funeral services.

This Class does not include, in particular:

· professional services giving direct aid in the operations or functions of a commercial undertaking (Cl. 35);

· services relating to financial or monetary affairs and services dealing with insurance (Cl. 36);

· escorting of travellers (Cl. 39);

· security transport (Cl. 39);

· services consisting of all forms of education of persons (Cl. 41);

· performances of singers and dancers (Cl. 41);

· computer services for the protection of software (Cl. 42);

· services provided by others to give medical, hygienic or beauty care for human beings or animals (Cl. 44);

· certain rental services (consult the Alphabetical List of Services and General Remark (b) relating to the classification of services).