NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has granted adjournment of the appeal proceedings pending before the Karnataka High Court in connection with the ongoing trademark battle with Times Publishing House, a unit of Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL), and Financial Times Ltd.

The directive by a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir was on a special leave petition filed by the Financial Times Ltd last week seeking the adjournment of the appeal proceedings in the High Court

A spokesperson for the Pearson group said the Supreme Court?s order is related to a ruling by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), India?s top IP court, in April 2012. That ruling cancelled the trademarks of both Times Publishing House and Financial Times. Both parties had appealed the IPAB order in a court in Delhi, which will be heard in April.

The special leave petition filed by the Financial Times was to ensure that until the appeal is heard and the validity of each party?s trademark determined, a related trademark appeal before the high court in Bangalore is stayed.

In Pearson?s view, this decision is significant because it recognises the necessity of the trademark rights to the title Financial Times being determined prior to other proceedings in this long-running legal battle, ?and in that regard is viewed as a positive development for the Financial Times before India?s foremost court,? a company spokesperson said.

The UK-based Pearson-owned daily Financial Times (FT) and BCCL?s (Bennett, Coleman & Co) Times Publishing House (TPH) over the right of the title ?Financial Times? in India has been going on since 1993. In 2001, FT said that BCCL had infringed its trademark by publishing a supplement called Financial Times with The Economic Times and filed a trademark suit against BCCL seeking protection of its trademark ?FT? in India.

The Times Group had registered the ?Financial Times? title in 1991 in Delhi, according to data available with RNI.

In April 2012, the tribunal body Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) decided that that there was no evidence to suggest ?use? in India from 1948, as claimed by Financial Times Limited (FTL), and ordered removal of the FTL mark from the register, following TPH?s application. However it allowed FTL?s rectification application against the mark, ?Financial Times? registered by TPH, saying, ?There is clear evidence to show that the use of the words ?Financial Times? would indicate FTL and no one else. The mark is associated in the minds of the Indian readers with the UK paper, i.e. FTL, and not the Financial Times of any other country.?

The Tribunal also said that FTL was not violating the provisions of the Press and Registration of Books Act (PRB Act) as it was only circulating and not printing and/or publishing the newspaper in India, and the PRB Act would not apply to it.

FTL then filed a writ before the Delhi High Court challenging the IPAB order on the limited point of its trademark being cancelled.

In July 2012, FT CEO John Ridding had made it clear through an ad that FT was not in any way associated with the Indian title of the same name published by TPH.

MUMBAI: Bhaskar Das, the president of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), has retired from the print media behemoth that owns some of India‘s most successful print publications.

Das, who had joined BCCL as a management trainee in 1980, has spent 32 years with the company. His prime responsibility was maximisation of volume and market share.

The BCCL president quickly rose to the top echelon of the company starting with his appointment as the head of the advertising and sales department in Gujarat just a year after he joined. Two years later he took over as sales head of the Eastern Region in Kolkata and in 1986 he became the profit centre head for East.

In 1990, he was appointed as the profit centre head of Gujarat and he took over as director of the Western Zone of Response (ad sales) in 1995. In 2005 he was elevated to executive president of BCCL and then president in 2011.

MUMBAI: Bennett Coleman & Company (BCCL) has appointed former BloombergUTV business head Deepak Lamba as president .

Lamba had left the English business news channel this April.

Lamba will be reporting to BCCL MD Vineet Jain.

 
He will be working on the new business plans of BCCL. It will be in the space of financial education and B2B business.

Prior to BloombergUTV, Lamba was with MTV Networks India as director of Viacom Brand Solutions.

Also read: BloombergUTV biz head Deepak Lamba quits