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].

SpicyIP Weekly Review (September 4-10)

/ By / Others

The thematic highlight for the week is our former blogger Dr. Mrinalini Kochupillai’s two part post (found here and here) on Bt Cotton licensing fee dispute and Prashant’s related post on the same issue. In the first of the two, Dr. Mrinalini speculates the possible reasons behind the Indian government’s decision to first issue and then withdraw the guidelines related to GM (including Bt) technology. She infers that the primary reason behind government’s move to introduce these guidelines is to …

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Dealing with Pirates the Smart Way- The Joker Model

/ By / Copyright

We are all too familiar with the spectrum of arguments in relation to piracy. While some push for a position of copyright maximalism, there are others who shrug off the very idea/ utility of copyright. Irrespective of the ideology one might want to follow, it would serve one well if the reality of piracy is accepted and ways to tackle it smartly are sought for. It is in this context that the recent attempt by SR Prabhu, producer of the …

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The Narrow Gets Narrower: The Tale of Artistic Works and Exceptions

/ By / Copyright, Design

The conundrum posed by the varying protection accorded by the Designs Act, 2000 and Copyright Act, 1957 for artistic expressions, especially industrial machinery, and the attempts by litigants to strategically make use of this confusing relationship have been well documented on this blog (see for instance, here and here). A recent order passed by the Calcutta High Court brings into limelight yet another relevant player in this plot- S.52 (w) of the Copyright Act. It provides for a fair use …

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Woman fills up museum crossword art work and claims copyright!

/ By / Copyright

What started off as an innocuous day out at the museum turned out to be a not-so-happy rendezvous with avant garde art for a 90 year old woman in Germany. While modern art can be confusing and leave much to imagination, the piece in question did nothing of that sort and was clear in what it stood for. It was an art work resembling a crossword puzzle with an instruction to its side, which read “insert words”. Perhaps heaving a …

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Pokemon GO and Freedom of Panorama in India

/ By / Copyright

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players […]” One does not know if this was what the creators of Pokemon Go had in mind when they created the gaming app. Nevertheless, just a month into its launch, the app has taken the world by storm and its players are everywhere looking for their elusive catch. For the un- initiated, Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game developed by Niantic, which uses the GPS of …

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (July 25-30)

/ By / Others

The topical highlights of the week were Professor Basheer’s follow up piece on the John Doe order for ‘Dishoom’ and Rahul’s analysis of this order. As Professor Basheer had noted in his previous post, Eros was earlier denied a blanket John Doe order and was told that a better researched, duly verified and authenticated affidavit could be taken up for consideration. As a result of this censure, Eros came back with an affidavit, in line with the order and was …

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The Big Mc-Mac Wars- II: India not Lovin’ McDonald’s as much

/ By / Trademark

(This post has been co-authored by Pankhuri Agarwal. She has recently completed her LL.M. in IP law from the National University of Singapore) In Part I of this post, we had discussed the EU General Court’s recent judgment in Future Enterprises Pte Ltd v. EUIPO & McDonald’s International Property Co. Ltd, which upheld the  cancellation of the mark ‘MACCOFFEE’ registered by a Singapore company, Future Enterprises, for its food stuffs and beverages. It was found that use of ‘MACCOFEE’ was without due cause …

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Update on Microsoft’s run in with Bombay HC: Microsoft to enter into consent terms

/ By / Copyright

Earlier this week, Prashant had reported about Microsoft getting pulled up by Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court for misleading him into granting in an Anton Piller order. Readers may recall that Microsoft was chastised for its “false suggestions” and “gross suppression” in its pleadings to the Court in the case, which involved an allegation of illegal use of Microsoft’s software by the Defendant, Girnar Software Pvt Ltd in its computer systems. The Court had then given Microsoft …

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The Big Mc-Mac Wars- I: EU General Court Brews the Perfect Coffee for McDonald’s

/ By / Trademark

(This post has been co-authored by Pankhuri Agarwal. She has recently completed her LL.M. in IP law from the National University of Singapore)   Background In a ruling that potentially provides McDonald’s, the U.S. fast food giant, with the exclusive right in Europe Union (EU) over the use of trademarks ‘Mc’ and ‘Mac’ for food  and beverages, the EU General Court, in Future Enterprises Pte Ltd v. EUIPO & McDonald’s International Property Co. Ltd, has earlier this month held that …

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Apple granted patent for system that can block recording

/ By / Patent

In a development that could have wide ramifications for free speech, Apple was granted a patent at the end of last month for a system that enables blocking of both still and video recording.  According to the details given on the USPTO website, the patent is titled as “systems and methods for receiving infrared data with a camera designed to detect images based on visible light”. The system is described as relating to infrared data transmission and is envisaged to …

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