We’re pleased to bring to you a post by Aditya Gupta on the Delhi High Court’s recent decision on the interplay between trade secrets and patents. Aditya is an attorney at Ira Law. He graduated from National Law University, Jodhpur and then pursued a master’s in law from Harvard Law School. Before co-founding Ira Law, he was part of another law firm for 7 years and then an associate at the chambers of Mr. Amit Sibal. Can Patents and Trade…

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A Weak Case against America’s Suspension of GSP Benefits for India?

by Prashant Reddy April 2, 2020

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I read with interest, and some puzzlement, Srividya’s speedy rebuttal to my post yesterday where she examines America’s case for suspending GSP benefits. It is in keeping with a tradition that we have where I write a piece and she responds to a couple of lines from my piece. Please click here for the previous edition. I am not quite sure how we went from discussing Bayer’s licensing woes to COVID-19 and food shortages but since the door has been…

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Examining the Suspension of India’s GSP Trading Privileges

by SpicyIP April 1, 2020

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A post earlier today by Prashant looked at the axing of royalties paid by around 45 seed companies to Bayer (which acquired Monstanto) for its Bt technology, through an order under the Essential Commodities Act. In the post, among other things, he also points out that India’s use of price control under the Essential Commodities Act for medical devices led to the suspension of its GSP trading privileges. We’re very pleased to share a quick follow-up guest post by Prof….

Trademark

Generic Domain Names as Trademarks: Registrability and Enforcement

by SpicyIP April 1, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you an insightful post by Raunaq Kamath on the discrepancy in registration and the subsequent enforcement of generic words as domain names and trademarks. Raunaq is an attorney at Ira Law. Generic Domain Names as Trademarks: Registrability and Enforcement Raunaq Kamath Domain names are a commodity, and a valuable one at that. For instance, cars.com is said to have been valued at a whopping USD 872 million. According to GoDaddy, the 5 most expensive domain…

Trademark

Corona and Trademarks: Opportunistic Marketing or Unhealthy Opportunism?

by SpicyIP April 1, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you an interesting and pertinent post by our intern, Bhavik Shukla, analysing the trademark related issues thrown up by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bhavik is a 5th year student at NLIU, Bhopal. Corona and Trademarks: Opportunistic Marketing or Unhealthy Opportunism? Bhavik Shukla The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the world, with countries constantly battling to prevent new infections and cure the existing ones. Even in such economically and socially constipated times, some people try to…

Patent

End of the Road for Bt Licensing Royalties in India

by Prashant Reddy April 1, 2020

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Reuters recently reported that the Government of India has “axed” the royalties that over 45 Indian seed companies had to pay Bayer (which acquired Monsanto) under IP licensing agreements which have been the centre of a massive legal dispute between Monsanto (before its acquisition by Bayer) and Nuziveedu (one of India’s biggest seed companies) for the last five years. For years, the Bt licensing agreements have earned Monsanto a fortune. While I don’t have the figures readily at hand, a…

Data Exclusivity Patent

CoViD-19 Pandemic Spurs Calls for ‘Openness’ in IP

by Divij Joshi March 31, 2020

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The CoViD-19 pandemic may well be humanity’s biggest collective challenge in a post-globalisation era. In the midst of this global emergency, the artificial scarcity produced by international and domestic intellectual property laws and norms is revealing itself to be a scourge to public health systems around the world – from restraining drug research and development to denying access to medical devices. The responses of various stakeholders will certainly have an immediate impact on CoViD-19 related public health responses, but its…

Is Sub-licensing Contemplated under the Indian Copyright Act?

by Latha Nair March 31, 2020

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This post analyses whether the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 (“the Act”) permits sub-licensing by a licencee. The inspiration for this post is my frequent involvement with advice on the IP components in corporate deals, where there is a usual clause about the licencee’s ‘right to sub-license’ copyright granted to the licencee. It is not rare for the licencee to insist that the ‘right to sub-license’ exists under the Act and that it is a ‘matter of interpretation’ of the provisions…

Bombay HC Denies Interim Injunction to Zee Against ‘De Dhakka’ Film Sequel

by Namratha Murugeshan March 30, 2020

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A Single Judge of the Bombay High Court recently passed an order in the case of Zee Entertainment Enterprises v. Ameya Vinod Khopkar & Ors. The case concerned an allegation of copyright infringement and passing off in respect of the film ‘De Dhakka’. The Plaintiff had sought a permanent as well as an ad-interim injunction restraining the Defendants from producing a sequel of the film under the title ‘De Dhakka 2’. The Court refused to grant an ad-interim injunction, holding…

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 23 – 29)

by SpicyIP March 30, 2020

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(This post has been authored by Bhavik Shukla, a 5th year student at NLIU, Bhopal) Topical Highlight Namratha covered the first (reported) coronavirus related IP dispute in India, where Hindustan Unilever (‘HUL’) took Reckitt Benckiser (‘RB’) to the Bombay HC over its allegedly disparaging handwash advertisement. She states that HUL claimed first that RB’s advertisement disparaged its soaps, second that RB had copied its earlier published advertisement, and third that RB was creating a false propaganda that washing hands with…