November 2015

[SpicyIP Tidbit] Travelkhana lands in pickle ; sued for copyright and trademark infringement by IRCTC

/ By / Trademark

It appears that the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) has served a legal notice on Travelkhana – a popular train e-caterer – alleging copyright and trademark infringement by Travelkhana’s mobile app IR Catering . It claims that IR Catering is deceptively similar in the name, colour scheme and design to the IRCTC’s own mobile application – IRCTC Connect. In a notice sent to Travelkhana last week, the IRCTC demanded that Travelkhana take its app off Google Play and […]

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Indian scientist appointed to high-level UN panel on health techology

/ By / Drug Regulation, Innovation

News came in last week that Indian scientist Dr. Yusuf Khwaja Hamied has been appointed to a high-level UN panel on health technology innovation and access. This 16 member panel has been described as an effort to escalate investments in research and development for diseases where financial returns are not guaranteed. The UN Secretary General stated that such a panel was of utmost necessity as there is an urgent need to ensure accessible medicines and treatment as well as promote innovations

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Fair Standards Alliance launches, aims to promote FRAND licensing

/ By / Patent

Earlier this month, a group of small and large players on the telecoms market came together to launch the Fair Standards Alliance. The association looks promising, with industry heavyweights such as Cisco, Dell, HP, and Intel counting themselves as members. The FSA seeks to promote transparency in SEP licensing, and seeks to minimise royalty-stacking and the other problems that plague the telecoms industry is faced with today. The coalition’s self-stated goals are four-fold: to ensure that licenses are available at

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Writ petition filed against transfer of IP cases

/ By / Others

We recently carried a post on the Draft Trademark Rules (Amendment) 2015 here. While the rules are still in a draft stage and open to comments, we are given to believe that a writ petition has been filed against these draft rules before the Delhi High Court in WP 11043/2015. No interim orders have been passed as yet. We would appreciate if our readers could share a copy of the petition with us. [Clarification: This is to clarify that the writ

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (23-29 November, 2015)

/ By / Others

Highlight of the Week This week’s highlight was Rupali’s post on the newly released draft trademark rules. She notes that provisions for free searches have been deleted, and that fees for most other filings have seen a substantial bump. While there are other new provisions, such as for sound marks, she concludes that nothing in the draft is aimed primarily at backlog elimination (unless the increased revenue is re-invested into TM office infrastructure) Thomas started off this week with some

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Exclusive rights to cultural heritage? That’s a stretch!

/ By / Others, Overlaps in IP

Last week, the internet was abuzz with news that students of the University of Ottawa had managed to shut down a free on-campus yoga class for fear of “cultural appropriation”. There have been several well-written responses to the whole thing, but this one from Eugene Volokh stands out from the rest. In three pithy paragraphs, Volokh identifies the root cause of the problem: the mindset that culture can somehow be treated as property, defined by the same “right to exclude” mentality

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Call for Papers: NLSIU’s Indian Journal of Law and Technology

/ By / Publication

We are happy to bring to the attention of our readers the Call for Papers of NLSIU’s Indian Journal of Law and Technology. Please find the same below. Call for Papers: NLSIU’s Indian Journal of Law & Technology: Submit by January 31st, 2016 About the Journal: The Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT) is a student-edited, peer-reviewed, completely open access law journal published annually by the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. The IJLT is the first and only law

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New trademark rules up for comment, fees doubled

/ By / Trademark

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has released the a draft of the proposed new Trademark Rules. The new rules provide for applications for sound marks, eliminates the provision for search by the Registrar for any prior, registered mark that resembles the mark for which trademark registration is sought and has provisions relating to international applications for marks originating in India. The rules do seem to create any new procedure or mechanisms to either tackle the immense backlog for

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SpicyIP Tidbit: US and Switzerland back out of NVC norm

/ By / Patent

Earlier this year, Swaraj had written a detailed post about the US and Switzerland were threatening India’s pharmaceutical policy, including Section 3(d)  with a controversial norm known as NVC. NVC stands for Non-Violation Complaint  and the provision would allow a WTO member to bring complaints to the WTO even if the TRIPS agreement was not violated. As Swaraj had stated, “A “non-violation” complaint is one wherein a WTO member alleges that despite no actual violation of an Agreement, there has been

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INTA to launch a new searchable guide on GIs, Collective and Certification Marks

/ By / Geographical Indication, Trademark

Come December 2015 and INTA members will have access to a searchable guide to Geographical Indications, Collective and Certification Marks. Titled “Geographical Indications, Certification Marks, and Collective Marks: An International Guide” it was designed to offer members assistance in the above mentioned fields, particularly considering the inconsistencies and lack of uniformity in the law across jurisdictions with regards to GIs. One of the Principal Editors of the guide was Ms. Latha R. Nair (partner at K&S Partners) who in this

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