2020

‘Jhund’ Injunction Order: Copyright and Personality Rights in Real Life Stories

/ By / Copyright, Privacy

We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Shivam Kaushik, analysing the Telangana High Court’s order granting an interim injunction restraining the release of the film ‘Jhund’ in October this year. Shivam is a 5th year law student at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He’s previously also written guest posts for us, titled ‘Copyright and Webinars: Ownership, Licensing and Fair Use’ , ‘Govt’s Draft Model Guidelines on Implementation of IPR Policy for Academic Institutions – A Critique‘, ‘Reengineering of the Requirement […]

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text of preamble of indian constitution

Copyright and the Sci-Hub/Libgen Case: A Constitutional Query

/ By / Copyright

By now, most readers are likely to be aware of the case against the shadow libraries Sci-Hub and LibGen, by three publishing houses. We had a post questioning why ‘poorer’ countries were still allowing copyright law to act as a hindrance to development here, and a three-part post looking into the case against Sci-Hub and LibGen, the fair dealing exception and the education use exception here, here and here. We’re pleased to now bring you an incisive post by Saral

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Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part III

/ By / Copyright

This post is in continuation of my previous posts dealing with the background on the copyright infringement suit against Sci-Hub and Libgen (here) and the applicability of the fair dealing exception to the impugned use of copyrighted works (here). In this post, I discuss the exception in the Copyright Act for use of works for the purposes of education and the interim injunction plea sought by the plaintiffs. Education Exception Section 52(1)(i) of the Act allows for “the reproduction of

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Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part II

/ By / Copyright

This post is in continuation to my previous post (here) discussing the copyright infringement suit filed by academic publishers against Sci-Hub and Libgen, particularly the dynamic injunction sought by the plaintiffs. Here, I discuss the applicability of the fair dealing exception to the use of copyrighted works on the defendant websites in the instant dispute. Fair Dealing Even if the court rules that the defendant websites were indulging in activities amounting to copyright infringement, it is necessary for the court

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Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part I

/ By / Copyright

Recently, three major academic publishers Elsevier, Wiley, and American Chemical Society filed a copyright infringement suit in the Delhi High Court against two groups of websites going by the names ‘Sci-Hub’ and ‘Libgen’ which provide free access to millions of research papers/books. The plaintiffs have sought a permanent injunction against these websites and a dynamic injunction order so that the mirror links of these websites can be blocked as and when the plaintiffs notify. Additionally, the plaintiffs have sought an

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The Legality of the Appointment of the 5 Technical Members to the IPAB

/ By / Copyright, Geographical Indication, Others, Patent, Plant Variety Protection, Trademark

Prashant Reddy, one of our most prolific bloggers, is back with a guest post, questioning the legality of the appointment of the 5 Technical Members made to the IPAB earlier this year. The Legality of the Appointment of the 5 Technical Members to the IPAB Prashant Reddy Continuing from Praharsh’s earlier post on the Supreme Court’s judgment on the legality of the Tribunal Rules, 2020, I would like to briefly comment on the legality of the appointments of the 5

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (December 21 – 27)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

Topical Highlight Time to More Seriously Question the Spectre of Copyright in the Realm of Education Swaraj reported that SciHub and LibGen were taken to court by Elsevier UK, Wiley India, Wiley Periodicals USA, and American Chemical Society for copyright infringement, seeking a dynamic injunction. He highlights several issues that are likely to gain attention regarding this dispute – the contrast between the heavy profit-making, increasingly online model of the publishers and Sci-Hub and LibGen’s complete non-profit, no charge, no

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Supreme Court Revisits Tribunal Culture (Yet Again): Upholds Validity of 2020 Rules with Conditions

/ By / Copyright, Geographical Indication, Others, Patent, Plant Variety Protection, Trademark

Adding to an existing trail of decisions on administration of the tribunals, the Supreme Court passed a detailed judgement in Madras High Court Bar Association v. Union of India last month, wherein it upheld the constitutional validity of the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2020 (or Tribunal Rules 2020). Among other things, the decision is crucial for its observation on appointment of the Chairpersons, Vice-Chairperson and Technical Members to

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IPAB’s Order Staying ‘N95’ Trademark Registration Highlights Systemic Failures

/ By / Trademark

Introduction In an order earlier this month, the IPAB issued an interim stay of the operation of the trademark registration for the word ‘N95’ (registration number 4487559 in class 10). The IPAB prima facie held that ‘N95’ is a generic word and could not have been registered under section 9 of the Trade Marks Act. I have no comment on the outcome of the order, and frankly, it is doubtful whether the registration would survive a final hearing. There have

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"The case against IP" on SSRN being charged 8$ for access

Time to More Seriously Question the Spectre of Copyright in the Realm of Education

/ By / Copyright

Several students and researchers may have noted that social media was recently abuzz with the news that SciHub and LibGen were being taken to court for copyright infringement, by Elsevier Ltd. (UK), Wiley India, Wiley Periodicals (USA), and American Chemical Society (USA). The giant publishers seem to be asking the court to grant a dynamic injunction against these ‘rogue websites’, so as to block them en masse. The case is up for hearing before the Delhi High Court tomorrow (24th

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