June 2010

Eroding IP Exhaustion Through Conditional Sales?

/ By / Copyright, Patent

Prashant’s persuasive critique of a recent Delhi High Court judgment dealing with principles of exhaustion was a delight to read. I want to focus on one issue that this case throws up: Can an IP owner whittle away the normal principle of exhaustion through notices and “conditional” sales i.e. imposing conditions to accompany the sale of a product embodying that IP? In the case at hand, could one argue that the sale was “conditional”, since the buyer of the book […]

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Breaking News: Madras HC dismisses Tirupati laddu PIL

/ By / Uncategorized

SpicyIP has breaking news that the Madras High Court today dismissed a Public Interest Litigation challenging the registration of Tirupati Laddu as a geographical indication. The Court dismissed the petition observing that alternate remedy of rectification had not been exhausted, that being the most appropriate route in this case. (Image of boondi laddu from here) The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), represented by Anand and Anand, and the GI Registry had argued that the petition could not be maintained since the

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R.I.P. the Doctrine of First Sale & Privity in Contract – The Tale of the Publishing Industry & the Delhi High Court

/ By / Copyright

 In 2 peculiar judgments, in the cases of John Wiley & Sons & Ors. v. Prabhat Chander Kumar Jain & Ors. CS (OS) No.1960/2008 and John Wiley & Sons v. International Book Stores & Ors. CS(OS) No. 2488/2008, the Delhi High Court has restrained the Defendants, from exporting low-priced Indian editions, which were bought from the Plaintiffs, to foreign markets such as the U.S.A. While the first case was contested and decided by Justice Manmohan Singh, the second case proceeded

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SpicyIP Tidbits: ACTA Mistrust Intensifies – India and China Come Together

/ By / Copyright

When it comes to a discussion on the ACTA, the variables remain the same, and not much seems to have changed. The negotiations run their own course, in intermittent phases of secrecy and sudden displays of transparency, while civil society groups and other bodies continue their opposition, unabated. But more recently, we have seen the coming together of those countries that have been excluded from the entire process, making concerted efforts towards voicing their concerns at international fora. Recently, we

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Yoga Asanas soon to be protected by the TKDL

/ By / Uncategorized

Our regular readers (from back in the day!) will remember Shamnad and Shwetasree blogging a series of posts on the “patenting” of Yoga asanas controversy. While this report from HT suggested that the Government may be stirring up the hornet’s nest once again- we can breathe a sigh of relief– it’s all just a case of “do not judge a new article by the title”. The article seems to suggest that over 900 Yoga Asanas will be included in the

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Indian "Bayh Dole" Amendments: A Historic Moment in Indian IP Policy Making

/ By / Patent, Plant Variety Protection

Ch Unni of the Mint reports on a rather historic moment for IP policy making in this country. Pursuant to the public outcry against the Indian Bayh Dole bill, a Parliamentary standing committee headed by Mr Subbarami Reddy requested the government to undertake wider consultations on the bill, take into account the various objections of stakeholders and come back with a revised version of the bill. After consultations with a variety of stakeholders including civil society activists, R&D Institutions and

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Formula One, Chess and IP

/ By / Uncategorized

This probably comes a tad bit too late because the mainstream media has already reported it. Force India, the Formula One racing team owned by the chairman of United Breweries Group, Mr. Vijay Mallya, has initiated legal proceedings in the UK against a rival F1 team, Lotus Racing (also known as 1Malaysia F1 Team) for infringement of its intellectual property rights in the VJM03 wind tunnel model (A wind tunnel facility is used to determine, among other things, the distribution

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Guest Post: U.K. implements ECJ’s decision in favour of L’Oreal

/ By / Trademark

Avni Chari, a student of NALSAR, brings us another very interesting guest post on a recent U.K. judgment. A must read for all those of you interested in the use of trademarks during the course of comparative advertising. UK IMPLEMENTS ECJ’S DECISION IN FAVOUR OF L’ORÉALAvni S. Chari L’Oréal compels European Courts to revisit the issue of balancing free trade and Intellectual Property Rights. Judgment available here. The UK Court of Appeal reluctantly applied the ECJ’s guidance and ruled in

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Spicy IP Tid-bit: WIPO launches Global On-line Resource

/ By / Uncategorized

(Image taken from here)In yet another move bound to please IP enthusiasts the world over, the very first day of June, 2010 saw WIPO come up with WIPO GOLD, a free, on-line global IP reference resource aimed to provide quick and easy access to a broad collection of searchable IP data and tools. Such data would range from technology, brands, designs, statistics, WIPO standards and IP classification systems to the features of different IP law regimes across the world and

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The "Fishy" Trademark Handover

/ By / Patent, Trademark

In a wonderful piece of investigative journalism, CH Unni reports on the rather “fishy” move to divest the current Controller General, PH Kurian of his “trademark” portfolio. Some see this as an attempt to reinstate a corrupt regime of the past…a regime that the efficient and energetic Kurian helped clean up to a large extent. Kurian’s reformist zeal in terms of ushering in major transparency measures helped lend significant accountability and credibility to a much maligned and opaque office. But

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