Author name: Balu Nair

Balu completed his B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from WB National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata and LL.M. from Melbourne Law School as an Alex Chernov Scholar. He is currently a Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School and is also Assistant Editor at Indian Law Review. He can be reached at [email protected].

Plain Apathy or Sheer Incompetence? Govt. Sets New Lows by Running Out of Child Anti-HIV Drugs

/ By / Drug Regulation, Others

Roughly two years back, Kartik had brought up the role of non-IP factors, specifically government apathy, in impeding “access to medicines”. The discussion came up in the context of National AIDS Control Programme (NACO) facing reverses due to the dwindling of stocks of anti-retroviral medication. Two years hence, the government and its bureaucracy, in a shocking display of indifference towards the children living with HIV, have turned a blind eye towards the running out of stocks of syrup containing the …

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Interim Injunction Against Thomson Reuters Confirmed on Same Terms as SC’s Reed Elseiver Order

/ By / Copyright

The Allahabad High Court has, on appeal, confirmed the interim injunction granted against Thomson Reuters in a suit by Eastern Book Company (EBC) for copyright infringement, on the same terms as the one granted to EBC against Reed Elseiver. As we had reported here, Supreme Court had confirmed the interim injunction granted to EBC for alleged infringement of its copyright by Reed Elseiver over the copyedited and modified judgments, and had also remitted the matter back to the trial court …

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 12-18)

/ By / Others

The topical highlight for the week, which also happens to be our first post of the week, is Prashant’s incisive analysis of the way in which Indian media has covered Global Intellectual Property Centre’s (“GIPC”) latest international IP index.  Prashant notes how the mainstream media has reproduced the findings of GIPC IP index, including the poor ranking accorded to India in the global IP environment, without critically assessing the methodology or motive behind the same. Prashant concludes by saying that …

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Kerala Police at it Again: Embarks on a Massive Anti-Piracy Drive

/ By / Copyright

The Anti-Piracy Cell (‘APC’) of the Kerala police, often in the news in the past for its strong anti-piracy enforcement drives, is again in the limelight for the arrest of two of mobile phone traders and seizure of pirated copies of copyrighted Malayalam movies. The incident does not seem to be a one-off event and the police have reportedly decided to carry similar drives all across the state. The APC seems to have been on their toes throughout the end …

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Making Copyright Lose Again: Donald Trump and Plagiarism Allegations

/ By / Copyright

Given the serious nature of the many wrong doings that Donald Trump has been accused of, copyright infringement is certainly going to be on the bottom of the list of his misdemeanours and something his lawyers should be least bothered about. Nevertheless, with every passing day, charges of plagiarism against Trump and his coterie seem to be piling up. While most of these charges may have an element of truth to them, whether any of them would actually stand the …

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No Country for Clever Streaming Companies: VidAngel’s Services Shut Down

/ By / Copyright

A U.S. District Court has granted a preliminary injunction (thereafter confirmed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal) against VidAngel, a movie filtering and streaming service. The Judge, while granting the injunction in favour of a slew of Hollywood movie studios, found that the services of VidAngel infringe the copyright held by these studios over the movies streamed by VidAngel to the viewers. This decision not only strengthens the monopoly enjoyed by Hollywood’s studios over the digital content in movies …

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (January 8-14)

/ By / Others

The topical highlight for the week was undoubtedly the raging issue of discrepancy in the viva scores in the Patent Agent Exam 2016. Through this timely post, Pankhuri brought our attention to the gross disparity in the viva scores of candidates who had tallied almost the same scores in the written examination. In the course of this post, she also pointed out the gulf in the average viva scores observed across different examination centres. Pankhuri notes that while the need …

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Bom & Del HCs Get Strict with Collecting Societies: Demand Proof of Authorisation

/ By / Copyright

In a series of orders, the Delhi and Bombay High Courts have highlighted the need for greater transparency in collection of licence fee and directed the collecting societies (IPRS, PPL etc.) to publish proof of their right to collect license fee. In two separate orders of the Bombay High Court (see, here and here) and one by the Delhi High Court (see here), the Courts have provided for interim mechanisms by way of which the collecting societies can take licence …

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Delhi HC Brings More Christmas Cheer: Restrains IPRS et al. from Issuing Licences in Violation of S.33

/ By / Copyright

In the latest development involving “copyright societies” under the Copyright Act (“Act”), a Single Judge of the Delhi HC has restrained three entities- Indian Performing Rights Society (“IPRS”), Phonographic Performance Limited (“PPL”) and Novex Communications from issuing or granting licenses in breach of S.33 of Act. The interim order passed by Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, came in a Writ Petition (“Petition”) filed by M/s Event and Entertainment Management Association (“Petitioner”) and has directed IPRS, PPL and Novex to refrain from any …

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Breaking News: Delhi HC Division Bench Rules in Favour of Safe Harbour for Intermediaries in MySpace-T Series Copyright Dispute

/ By / Copyright

In a path breaking judgment (“Judgment”), a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has reversed the findings arrived at earlier by a Single Judge (Justice Manmohan Singh), on the question of intermediary liability and held that that intermediaries are immune from liability against copyright infringement for third party content unless “actual knowledge” on their part can be proved. The Bench, while arriving at the decision, has ruled that S.79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) provides a …

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