July 2020

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Solutionism, Social Innovation and IP

/ By / Innovation

Back in 1970, Justice Stephen Breyer, (now of the US Supreme Court, then a professor at Harvard Law School), in contemplating the proposals to extend copyright terms, wrote an interesting article where he pointed out that the Copyright regime seemed to be based more on fear, than on fact (paywalled link). His conclusion regarding the copyright system, ended up echoing what the economist Fritz Machlup had famously said even earlier, in 1958, about the patent system – that if we […]

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Onerous Copyright Licensing, Fair Dealing and Alternatives to TikTok

/ By / Copyright, Innovation

Content sharing platform TikTok is the first among the list of apps in the Indian government’s recent Press Release, announcing a ban on 59 Chinese applications due to concerns such as threat to “sovereignty and integrity of India.” As mentioned in an insightful piece by Ameet Datta, there are many copyright obstacles before the call to find a comparable Indian substitute for TikTok can be materialised. Datta refers to three types of licenses that any service modelled on TikTok’s format

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IDMA Sues the Central Government over ‘Missing’ Technical Member for Patent Cases at the IPAB

/ By / Patent

Almost a year after the Delhi High Court’s bizarre order in the Mylan case, the Indian Drug Manufacturer’s Association (IDMA), represented by Advocate Guruswamy Natraj has sued the Central Government over the missing technical member for patent matters on the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). The case number is W.P. 4430 of 2020. This lawsuit appears to be part of a ritual undertaken before the Delhi High Court every few years where the government is dragged to court due to

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JGLS’ Panel Discussion on ‘Can We Reimagine International Institutions? A Third World Perspective’ [July 25]

/ By / Opportunities

We’re glad to inform our readers that Centre for International Legal Studies at Jindal Global Law School is organising an online panel discussion on ‘Can We Reimagine International Institutions? A Third World Perspective’ on July 25, 2020, as part of a series of events title ‘International Law, Political Economy and COVID-19’. For further details, please read the announcement below: Panel Discussion on ‘Can We Reimagine International Institutions? A Third World Perspective’ | July 25, 2020 We are pleased to invite

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Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Trademark Law: How Freely Can Imagination Run?

/ By / Trademark

We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Bhavya Solanki and Medha Bhatt, discussing the applicability of the fair use provisions of trademark law to unauthorised use of trademarks in the virtual world. Bhavya and Medha are 2nd year students at Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Mumbai.     Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Trademark Law: How Freely Can Imagination Run? Bhavya Solanki & Medha Bhatt Technologies like Virtual Reality (‘VR’) and Augmented reality (‘AR’) are witnessing a

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Does JioMeet’s GUI Infringe Copyright in Zoom’s Software?

/ By / Copyright

Recently, Reliance Jio launched its video-conferencing application called ‘JioMeet’. The launch, however, has been muddled with controversy as the graphical user interface (‘GUI’) of the application is considerably similar to its competitor ‘Zoom’. In a recent statement, Zoom has mentioned that it is discussing with its legal team and is contemplating a possible suit for such copying of its interface. If the dispute does end up reaching the courts, it would be India’s first major litigation addressing the issue of

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (July 13 – 19)

/ By / Copyright, Geographical Indication, Innovation, Others, Patent, Trademark

Topical Highlight Bombay HC Clarifies Nature of Reliefs Applicable in Cybersquatting Disputes Divij wrote a post about a refreshing order and judgment delivered by the Bombay High Court recently in the case of Hindustan Unilever v. Endurance Domain and Ors. The Court held that the finding of cybersquatting and fraudulent behaviour was uncontroversial but HUL’s prayer to direct domain name registrars “to suspend and ensure the continued suspension of and block access to (…) Fraudulent Domain Name(s)” could not be granted. This conclusion

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Bombay HC Clarifies Nature of Reliefs Applicable in Cybersquatting Disputes

/ By / Trademark

In an interesting and important order and judgement delivered by Justice Gautam Patel, the Bombay High Court has shed some clarity on the nature of reliefs applicable in domain name cybersquatting disputes – disputes relating to the wrongful or fraudulent use of trademarks as domain names. The order dated June 12, in Hindustan Unilever v. Endurance Domain and Ors. is available here. In brief, the court held that domain name registrars can not be expected to ‘block access’ to a

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Cornrows and Cultural Appropriation: What is the Best Way to Protect Black Hairstyles?

/ By / Others, Traditional Knowledge

We’re pleased to bring to you another guest post by our fellowship applicant Adyasha Samal, discussing the problems with the approach of protecting traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) under existing IP regimes, using hairstyles as an example of a widely appropriated TCE. Adyasha is a 4th year student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur. This is her second submission for the Fellowship. Her previous guest post can be viewed here.   Cornrows and Cultural Appropriation: What is the Best Way to

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"Amendment"

The Challenging Pursuit of Patent Claim Amendments in India

/ By / Patent

We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Durgesh Mukharya and Meenakshi Chotia, examining the Patent Office’s practice of allowing amendments in claims of a patent application. Durgesh is a Partner and Meenakshi is a Senior Associate at the Bangalore office of the IP law firm, K&S Partners. They have backgrounds in biotechnology and biochemistry, and are part of the Life Sciences – Patents team of the firm. They both are registered Patent Agents and their work primarily

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