“Munna Bhai” and “Circuit,” to get trademarked

The Livemint has reported that the two main characters namely Munnabhai (played by Sanjay Dutt) and Circuit (played by Arshad Warsi) of the Bollywood blockbuster movie Munna Bhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munna Bhai are now headed to trademark these two popular names.

The movies main claim to fame was its preaching of “Gandhigiri,” portrayed by the two goons in the movies. Vinod Chopra Films Pvt. Ltd, the Producer of the two Munna Bhai films, has filed a raft of applications to trademark the two names under various product categories - tobacco, rugs, carpets, automobiles, retailing, leather goods and baby foods. Vinod Chopra Films have filed trademark applications for firearms, ammunition and explosives, medical instruments, promotional materials, cards, carrybags, furniture, kitchen utensils, clothing, and dozens of other products.

Trademark lawyer Neil Mason said, “the applications suggest the company might be looking at licensing both the names for businesses. Maybe eventually they are looking at merchandising. These names are generally associated well with couple of characters and they probably want to utilize them.”

Anil Davda, Executive Producer at Vinod Chopra Films said, “the company has applied to the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks to stop potential misuse of their popular characters. Munna Bhai and Circuit are extremely important brands for us, with very strong and positive values that have been established through the two films. We have put in trademark applications in relevant categories as a routine process to safeguard these brands.”

Meanwhile, the trademark office has already raised some objections, as a few similar trademarks such as Circuit House and Circuit World already exist. Also, the film-maker has applied for Munna and the trademark office has pointed out that Murphy India Ltd (which was amalgamated with Ceat Ltd) holds the trademark registration for that name under radio receiving sets, record players, amplifiers and television gadgets among others.

Let’s look forward to Munnabhai baby food, Munnabhai cars and Munnabhai clothing etc.

Veerappa Moily launches Rajiv Gandhi Adhivakta Prashikshan Yojana (Rajiv Gandhi Advocate’s Training Scheme)

Veerappa Moily, Minister of Law and Justice has launched Rajiv Gandhi Adhivakta Prashikshan Yojana (Rajiv Gandhi Advocate’s Training Scheme) on August 20 according to a PIB release. The main object of the scheme is to give motivation and encouragement to young lawyers who are practicing in Magistrate and Munsif Courts, by providing proper professional training for a period of two months so that they may serve the need of law professional at grass root level. The scheme envisages selection of 10 young practicing Advocates from each State every year for being imparted professional training. While selecting the candidates, preference shall be given to those candidates who belongs to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes, women and physically handicapped. The Government would spend Rs.70 lakh every year on this training.