October 2012

Mapping out the future of Indian copyright societies

/ By / Copyright

Image from here The latest copyright amendments enacted by Parliament requires “that the business of isuing or granting license in respect of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works incorporated in a cinematograph films or sound recordings shall be carried out only through a copyright society duly registered under this Act”. The provision therefore aims at ensuring that all music companies, including T-Series which used to previously operate independently of copyright societies, are also forced to operate within a copyright society.  […]

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Add a disclaimer says Supreme Court: Bata has happy feet

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Every time a lawyer (or in this case, a blogging spectator) predicts how a case will proceed, you usually cross your fingers and hope you’re right. In the case of Bata v. Prakash Jha Productions, I had said I would be surprised if Bata went to the Supreme Court or if the SLP would be admitted. I was wrong on the former count, and right on the latter.  But the SLP did not need to be admitted because in this

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Spicy IP Weekly Review (October Week 3)

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This week (October 15-21) has seen its due number of happenings within the country and beyond insofar as the IP scenario is concerned, with 8 posts having been put up in the blog, covering a varied range of events. Guest Post on Xerox Victory   (Image from here) It started with a guest post by Adarsh Ramanujam, an IP lawyer, analyzing the impact in the Indian trademark law scenario of the judgment Ilango v. Rank Xerox Ltd. & Ors., wherein

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Delhi University Restrained for Alleged Admission of Infringement: True Lies?

/ By / Copyright

This afternoon, in response to my post announcing a petition relating to the OUP-Delhi University copyright dispute, we were informed that an order had already been passed against Delhi University a few days ago. WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR THE INJUNCTION AGAINST DELHI UNIVERSITY & RAMESHWARI PHOTOCOPY SHOP? I have checked the Delhi HC website but the order is still not available. I managed to obtain a copy of the D.U.written statement, and having read it in its entirety, am convinced there is no

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Appeal to Publishers to Withdraw Suit Filed against Delhi University

/ By / Copyright

We have previously covered the recent copyright dispute between Oxford University Press and other publishers against Delhi University in great detail. In this post, I explained why Delhi University must defend in court, its practice of photocopying course packs (consisting of only essential reading material required for a  particular course) for the benefit of  students who cannot afford to purchase a personal copy of the entire book. It appears that Delhi University is now slowly distancing itself from the photocopier and

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September 2012: Controller’s decisions at the IPO

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In the month of September, 2012 the Controller’s offices issued 94 decisions.  Out of these 94, 46 decisions were granted, 33 refused (including abandoned and withdrawn) and no file uploaded for the remainder (15). There is one instance of a typographical error: perhaps unintentional – where the Controller allowed the application but numbered it incorrectly.  The case is for application 762/MUMNP/2008, and the  Controller allowed the application for 787/MUM/2008.Some interesting decisions: The decisions for section 3(k) / 3(d) / 3(e)

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The ‘Register of Owners’ for future copyright societies – will the Registrar of Copyrights get it right 16 years later?

/ By / Copyright

Image from here Sometime in the next few months, once the Copyright Rules, 2012 is finalized by the Copyright Office, the Registrar of Copyrights will begin the process of registering new copyright societies. Sixteen years ago, when Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) was being registered as a copyright society, the Copyright Office committed several blunders during the registration process which inevitably led to the fiasco that followed in the later years. I’ve written about some of these blunders earlier over

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Bata sho(o)ed out of Court – No defamation says Delhi HC

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Warning, several intended shoe puns have been weaved into this post. Recently, Justice Gambhir of the Delhi High Court in an extensive decision (of about 70 pages) held that the use of the word Bata in the song Mehangai in Prakash Jha’s new movie Chakravyuh was impermissible. In record time, this judgment has been overruled by the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court and Bata has been booted out of court. The Bench through presiding judge, Justice Nandrajog has made some rather

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Sugen’s desperate attempt to save its Sunitinib patent

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Seven years after the enactment of the Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005, India continues to struggle with the absolute basics of its post-grant opposition mechanism. As our readers may already be aware, the Patent Office recently revoked the patent for Sunitinib.  Although the patent has been identified in the media as a Pfizer patent, Pfizer is only the licensee. The patent is actually owned by Sugen Inc & Pharmacia & Upjohn. In its Form 27 filing with the patent office in

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Internet Fraud: Bogus Open Access Journals

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Another ingenious internet fraud is on the rise – fraud committed in the name of Open Access (“OA”) journals. Unlike subscription-based journals, OA journals are those which are freely accessible online.  The business model revolves around the author-pay mode — where researchers pay for publishing their work. [The Hindu report is available here.]   Broadly speaking, the modus operandi is to send mails to researchers and scientists soliciting manuscripts. They try to entice researchers by keeping the processing fee low.

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