Lall Lahiri & Salhotra retains its places in the rankings this year. The firm is strongly supported by clients, with one noting: "It is very prompt with responses and gives a fair and studied estimate to our queries. We have found it efficient and this accelerated our decision to consolidate all our IP there." Partner Rahul Chaudhry is cited by many clients as an integral practitioner for the firm. A client notes: "Our point of contact is Mr Rahul Chaudhry. He has a good understanding of our company's business and the way our trade mark work is organised." Another praises the team in general: "Rahul Chaudhry and his team are a tenacious lot. They are knowledgeable in their area of operations and provide prompt assistance when required."
A competitor notes that it counts the firm "among the main players in IP litigation in the country". The IP team led by managing partner Anuradha Salhotra advised Exxon Mobil in filing a complaint against Pluto Domain Services for its use of the domain name exxonmobilecard.com. The High Court of Delhi granted an ex parte ad interim relief to the plaintiff, and in October 2010, the order was made absolute.
A high-profile matter this year was the firm's representation of Philip Morris Products in its case against ITC relating to trade mark dilution. In this complex matter, the suit was filed by ITC for infringement of its registered logo, which it uses for its hospitality business. The client, acting as defendant, had used a similar logo on its Marlboro cigarettes. This case dealt with the issue of dilution under Section 29(4) of the Trademarks Act. In January 2010, the Delhi High Court held that the test of dilution is different from the test of passing off and further held that identity or similarity standard to establish dilution is higher than under traditional infringement or passing off cases.