In a guest post, Karan Dhalla argues that Tips Industries v Wynk Music, which held that the statutory licensing scheme under Section 31D of the Copyright Act 1957, was wrongly decided for three reasons. First, he suggests that Section 31D does not discriminate between different mediums of broadcast because both Section 31D(1) and Section 2(dd) are clear and unambiguous, and sweeping in their scope. Second, he posits that Section 31D(1) is the operative portion of the provision, and the remaining sub-sections are only meant to be instructive in specific contexts. Thus, using Section 31D(3), which prescribes conditions of determining royalty for radio and TV broadcasts only cannot be used to read down the entire provision. Lastly, he notes that the omission of ‘internet broadcasting’ from the operative portion of the provision is just as important as its omission from the remaining portion. Thus, neither can be taken to conclusively determine the meaning of the provision.
In a guest post, Jupi Gogoi wrote about the ongoing battle between West Bengal and Odisha over obtaining GI tags for their Rasagolas. She described that battle before the GI Registry so far, and noted that the exclusion of registration of marks that are ‘generic’ under Section 9 may be relevant to disallowed registration for the Banglar Rasogolla and Odisha Rasogola. She then leaves us with a question: whether the GI registrations will actually have a positive effect through premiums on prices and socio-economic improvement.
To mark the 40th day of the passing of our Founder, Prof. Basheer, Divij shared with us some thoughts of a number of his close associates and students, including Balu Nair, Shan Kohli, Rahul Bajaj and Divij himself.
Other Developments
Indian
News
- Delhi HC grants injunction in favour of Bennett Coleman Group against use of ‘Miss India’ & ‘Mr India’.
- The government has released a press note proposing a reduction in IP filing fees for MSMEs.
- The Draft GI Amendment Rules 2019 have been notified.
- The Patent (Amendment) Rules, 2019 have been published by Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- Gang involved in the manufacture, sale of duplicate premium watches busted in Mumbai.
- GrabOn wins trademark infringement case over GrabOnRent in a Delhi High Court decree.
Opinion
A piece in Mondaq discusses the IP and Competition challenges and remedies in India’s Automotive Spare Parts Industry in light of recent developments.
International
- 100,000 deepfake photos are up for royalty-free use in California
