The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) has published a notification on 14th February 2012 providing that no International Non- Proprietary Names (INN) or any word which is similar or deceptively similar to such name, as published in the list of INNs published by the CGPDTM (declared by World Health Organization), shall be registrable as a trademark under the Section 13 of the Trade Marks Act 1999.

Earlier on 8th February 2012, the CGPDTM had published a list of International Non- Proprietary Names as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) which cannot be registered as Trademarks.

Section 13(b) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 prohibits the registration of any word as a trademark which is or is similar or is deceptively similar to INNs declared by WHO and notified by the Registrar of Trade Marks.

INNS are pharmaceutical trademarks that identify pharmaceutical substances or active pharmaceutical ingredients. A nonproprietary name is also known as a generic name.

This first ever notification of the list of INNs by the Registrar of Trademarks (India) is a welcome and much awaited move considering the amount of litigations pending in the field of pharmaceutical trademarks. Care will have to be taken that the marks applied for registration do not contain the marks listed in this list notified by the Registrar.

The list of International Non- Proprietary Names (INNs) as declared by the World Health Organization and the Notification published on 14th February 2012 is enclosed.