Parties wait six years for a trademark decision in India? Not so fast…

The headline in last Sunday’s Times of India certainly caught our attention: “Verdict in trademark row delivered 6 years after the order is reserved”. The story had a hapless American company waiting a whopping six years for a ruling (unfavourable, as it turned out) from India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board, then, incensed by the delay, appealing to the High Court in Madras, alleging anti-foreign bias. But all is not as reported.