Infosys to lose trademark
Chennai: On an application moved by the Kolkata-based Jupiter Infosys Ltd praying for cancellation of the registration of the trademark 'Infosys' held by the Bangalore company, the Chennai Bench of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board has directed the Registrar of Trade Marks, Chennai, to remove the registration of trademark 'Infosys'.
The petitioner, Jupiter Infosys Ltd, sells computers, computer parts, accessories and other items of hardware.

According to the petitioner, the first respondent (Infosys Technologies Ltd) filed an application with the Registrar of Companies, West Bengal, seeking issue of a direction to the petitioner to change its name by deleting the word `Infosys'. The Registrar of Companies declined to issue such a direction.

Thereafter, the first respondent filed a civil suit before the High Court of Calcutta alleging infringement of its trademark and for passing-off against the petitioner. There were also other company applications by the first respondent, including one in the Madras High Court in which it sought an interim injunction against the petitioner, and ex parte interim injunction was granted by the Court on February 1, 2001 restraining the petitioner company from using the name Jupiter Infosys (Pvt) Ltd.

By a common order dated May 22, 2001, the Madras High Court dismissed the various petitions moved by the respondent.

On the contention of the first respondent regarding the goods covered under the various registration numbers, the Board held that there was nothing in the various documents filed by the first respondent to indicate linkage with the manufacturing or the marketing of the goods for which the company was holding registration of the trade marks.

The Board held that in the trade mark law as developed in India, the dichotomy between treatment of goods and services was well recognised since the introduction of common law system in the country. Statutory legislations had been providing for registration of goods only. It was only with the enactment of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 that the registration of service trademarks had been provided for. In view of the specific provisions of the Trade & Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, and more particularly in the context of description of various classifications of goods mentioned in the Fourth Schedule, there could not be any scope for interpreting activities, which were known to be ascribable to services to be included as goods.

The petitioner also relied on a circular by the Department of Company Affairs, which said that companies dealing in computers were permitted to use names such as 'Infosys' as part of their corporate name.
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Maruti board meeting to decide on new plant
New Delhi: The board of Maruti Udyog Ltd will meet on September 23 to decide on setting up a new plant for automobile assembly in a joint venture with its parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) of Japan.

SMC had announced that a new company, tentatively called 'Suzuki Maruti India Ltd.', would be set up as a joint venture between Suzuki Motor Corp and MUL. The company would set up a new automobile assembly plant in Manesar, Haryana with a capacity of 2,50,000 units per annum. The new plant is scheduled to begin operations in the beginning of 2007.
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Parry Confectionery to become Lotte India Corporation
Chennai: The Registrar of Companies, Tamil Nadu, has approved the name change of Parry Confectionery Ltd. to Lotte India Corporation Ltd. following the acquisition of Parry Confectionery Ltd. by Lotte Confectionery of Korea.

The Registrar of Companies has issued a fresh letter of incorporation on September 6, according to information provided by the company to the National Stock Exchange.

Lotte India has said that the first confectionery that would come into the Indian market under the Lotte brand would be bubble and chewing gum. The company is in the process of finalising the flavour and other details.
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Hikal gets US nod for its API facility
Mumbai: Hikal Ltd has announced that it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health & Human Services (USFDA) for its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility at Jigani, Bangalore.

The company said that the USFDA approval, along with the recent acquisition of European pharma distribution company Marsing, will extensively help Hikal to implement its plans to export APIs to the US and other regulated markets.

According to a press release, the USFDA approval along with TGA (Australia) and WHO (European) approvals already obtained, will open up a worldwide market for Hike's APIs in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan that are now opening up to generic drugs, the release said.
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HCL Tech net income doubles
New Delhi: HCL Technologies has registered a decline in net profit for quarter ended June 2004 at Rs.57.7 crore as compared to Rs.101 crore during the year-ago period, as per Indian GAAP.
However, according to the consolidated income statement as per the US GAAP, the company has recorded a 194 per cent rise in its net income at Rs.791.4 crore in 2003-04 from Rs.269.4 crore in the previous year.

Its gross revenues also rose 35 per cent to Rs.2613.5 crore during 2003-04 from Rs.1930.7 crore in the previous year.
For the fourth quarter ended June 2004, the consolidated net income stood at about Rs.208.8 crore from Rs.125.8 crore in the preceding quarter (Q3).

The Indian GAAP figures relate to the Indian standalone listed entity, while the US GAAP numbers captures the performance of HCL Technologies along with its subsidiaries and three businesses - business process outsourcing (BPO), infrastructure and software.
The board has recommended a final dividend of 200 per cent at Rs.4 per share for the year ended June 30, 2004, even as the company hinted that it could be `liberal' with the dividend pay out ratio going forward. During each of the previous three quarters of the current financial year, the company declared interim dividends of Rs.2 per quarter.

The company currently has Rs.2,100-crore by way of cash reserve. However, it said that as of now it does not have any acquisition opportunity on table.
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Bharti unifies all telecom services under Airtel brand
New Delhi: Bharti Tele-Ventures has said that it was unifying all its telecom services under the flagship brand Airtel. The move is aimed at projecting the company as an integrated telecom services player and offering Bharti customers a single window interface for all communication needs.

Until now, Bharti offered fixed line services under the brand Touchtel, long distance services under India One brand, cellular services under Airtel and broadband services under Bharti Broadband. All of these services will now be under the Airtel umbrella. The combined brand will have 9.04 million customers.
For Airtel customers, the move would result in single billing for all telecom services. This would also increase the distribution network for Bharti's non-mobile services as it would now be a ride on Airtel cellular's 600 outlets across the country. They would also get the convenience on query redressal, access to drop boxes and bill payment facilities.

For the company, the new strategy would result in cost efficiencies and economies of scale. It would also enable Bharti to offer bundled packages for Airtel mobile and fixed line subscribers. The company has already extended the Airtel tariffs available so far only for mobile users, to its fixed line subscribers as well. This means calls from an Airtel fixed line phone to an Airtel mobile and vice versa would also now cost 60 paise a minute. The company has also waived off the initial security deposit for Airtel fixed line users who want an Airtel mobile connection. This is the first time an integrated telecom operators in the country is unifying all its services under a single brand.
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Sonata launches new range of gold plated watches
Mumbai: Sonata has announced the launch of a new range of gold-plated watches.

The watches in the new collection start at Rs.395 in a leather strap (gold plated case) and Rs.550 with a gold plated metal strap (gold plated case). There are 40 models in this collection.

Sonata, with sales volume of over 30 lakhs in a year (2003-2004), is sold through a retail network of over 9,000 dealers across the country. Through this launch, Sonata plans to touch the heart of rural India, which has huge base of consumers, the release added.
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