PRACTICE AREA/INDUSTRY FOCUS

Intellectual Property

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Gowri Tirumurti is currently Partner and Head (Trademark Exports) at Anand and Anand and overseas Trademark related matters including filings, prosecution, searches, opinions, oppositions, cancellations in India and in jurisdictions outside India. She was enrolled in the Delhi Bar Council in 1991 and her experience includes:

TRADEMARKS

• Portfolio management, prosecution before Trademarks Registry, including filing and defending Oppositions, filing responses to Examination reports & compliances and filing renewals;
• Litigation pertaining to Trademark infringement proceedings;
• Drafting pleadings in Trademark Rectification proceedings before Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

PATENTS

• Drafting pleadings related to infringement of Patents;
• Conducting file inspection.

COPYRIGHT

• Filing application for copyright in respect of Literary, Artistic work and prosecution thereof;
• Litigation related to infringement of copyright;
• Proceedings related to groundless threat before Madras High Court;
• Advisory work.

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS

Worked closely to obtain at least 5 GI Registrations:

• Worked closely with CRT (Consejo Regulador del Tequila A.C.) the proprietors of the Designation of Origin, TEQUILA from Mexico and was instrumental in obtaining Geographical Indications Registration for TEQUILA in India after sustained prosecution of the application;
• Was involved in conducting field study, filing application, prosecution and appearance before Geographical Indications panel for obtaining GI for various Indian products like Textiles-Mangalagiri, Narayanpet and Dharmavaram textiles, Agricultural products like Byadgi Chillies of Dharwad region, and Guntur Sannam Chilly from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, etc;
• Also successfully prosecuted GIs pertaining to well-known products like from Jammu and Kashmir.

TRANSACTIONAL WORK

• Drafting Franchise Agreement;
• Advising clients on branding strategies and conducting searches for availability of trademarks.

During the period 2014 to 2018, Gowri was based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during which time, she worked for Shearn Delamore, a leading Malaysian Law Firm.

• Responsible for large portfolio of foreign trademarks of well-known corporations in Malaysia and overseas, taking care of their trademark interests world over.
• Handled filings, prosecution, renewals, assignments, oppositions, cancellation proceedings in different countries particularly Indonesia, China, Thailand, USA, UK, EU, Japan, Taiwan, etc.
• Counselled clients regarding International filings and prosecutions of Trademarks;

OTHERS

• In February 2014, obtained an order in Madras High Court rendering absolute, an exparte interim injunction earlier granted against Defendants for infringement of Registered GI (Tirupati Laddu);
• Was panelist at GI Conference conducted by Confederation of Indian Industries in Hyderabad;
• Was participant at IP symposium conducted by Confederation of Indian Industries, Chennai;
• Was panelist at IP symposium organized by CTS (Cognisant Technology Service);
• Gave presentation on GI before National Bio Diversity Board, in support of a proposal to synergize the Geographical Indications Act with the Bio Diversity Act;
• Was co-author of an article which was published in World Trademark Review along with Mr. M.S.Bharath, Partner and Lead Practitioner, Anand & Anand, Chennai.