Author name: Divij Joshi

Divij Joshi is a lawyer and tinkers in technology and policy. He tweets @divijualsuspect.

The Legality of Digital Libraries in a Lockdown

/ By / Copyright, COVID-19

Quarantine and lockdown in the midst of the CoViD-19 pandemic has left entire populations without physical access to schools, colleges and public libraries. Even more than before, this has shone a spotlight on the digital access to cultural and educational resources. Taking a cue from Namratha’s insightful post on the responses of copyright law in such a situation, in this post I explore the many legal contentions around the ‘digital’ access to libraries, particularly in the present moment. This is …

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A Response To the IMI’s Claims about ShareChat and Intermediary Safe Harbour Law in India

/ By / Copyright

ShareChat, an Indian local language social media service, is once again in the middle of a copyright storm. Readers may remember ShareChat’s tussle with TikTok from last year, regarding its status as an intermediary and protections against copyright infringement claims. This time, it’s ShareChat facing the proverbial music, with T-Series and a related entity Lahiri Recording taking civil and criminal action against ShareChat for allegedly violating their copyright through its services. The dispute has once again revealed the copyright fault …

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Corona covid 19

CoViD-19 Pandemic Spurs Calls for ‘Openness’ in IP

/ By / COVID-19, Data Exclusivity, Patent

The CoViD-19 pandemic may well be humanity’s biggest collective challenge in a post-globalisation era. In the midst of this global emergency, the artificial scarcity produced by international and domestic intellectual property laws and norms is revealing itself to be a scourge to public health systems around the world – from restraining drug research and development to denying access to medical devices. The responses of various stakeholders will certainly have an immediate impact on CoViD-19 related public health responses, but its …

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Piracy, Privacy and Procurement: What Internet and Software Associations Had to Say About India to the USTR

/ By / Copyright, Overlaps in IP

Following up on Prashant’s detailed coverage of certain commercial associations making representations to the US Trade Representative on its Special 301 Report, I looked into the representations made by prominent software and internet industry associations. Below, I summarise the India-specific recommendations of the following bodies – the Business Software Alliance (BSA), Internet Association and the International Intellectual Property Association (IIPA). India Continues to be a ‘Piracy Priority’ for the Special 301 Lobbies The business associations had little love for India …

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Madras HC: No Right to Demand Mandatory Sharing of Sports Broadcasts Over the Internet

/ By / Copyright

The Madras High Court, in its judgement in Adithya Modi v Union of India and Ors., has refused to mandate Prasar Bharati to stream sports broadcasts shared under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing With Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007 (“Sports Broadcasts Act”) over the internet. Instead, the Court has ‘directed’ the respondents (Ministry of Information, Ministry of Sports and Prasar Bharati) to consider the matter and make appropriate policy recommendations. Background and the Saga of Sports Broadcasting in India The …

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Avnish Bajaj Redux? Supreme Court of India Denies Relief to Google in Criminal Defamation Proceedings

/ By / Others

In its judgement in Google India Pvt. Ltd. vs M/s Visakha Industries, delivered on December 10, 2019, the Supreme Court denied to quash defamation proceedings against Google for its failure to expeditiously remove allegedly defamatory material from its ‘Google Group’ service. The case is significant for online intermediaries operating in India, as it holds that online intermediaries may be liable as a ‘publisher’ in criminal defamation proceedings under the Indian Penal Code in certain circumstances. Background Google, the appellant company, …

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WIPO Public Consultation on AI and Intellectual Property

/ By / Overlaps in IP

The World Intellectual Property Organisation has called for public comments as part of its process to develop a policy on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Rights. The call is available here. The call is concurrent with the release of WIPO’s issues paper where it has outlined the following core issues concerning the relationships between AI and IP: (a) Patents (b) Copyright (c) Data (d) Designs (e) Technology Gap and Capacity Building and; (f) Accountability for IP Administrative Decisions. Submissions are …

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Sale of the ‘.org’ Domain Registry Sparks Concerns About Privatisation of the Internet Commons

/ By / Trademark

The administration of the World Wide Web’s ‘.org’ domain registry has been handed over from a non-profit organisation to a private equity organisation, sparking concerns and backlash about the privatization of internet commons and possibly increased censorship owing to the change in the non-profit status of the domain name registrar. Domain name registrars are responsible for the allocation of domain names (the naming system of the world wide web) and also set the policies for acceptable uses of Top Level …

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Bombay High Court Orders ‘Urgent’ Ex-Parte Ad-Interim Applications in IP Matters to be Held in Chambers (Now Revoked)

/ By / Others

As per a notice dated November 6, 2019, the Bombay High Court had directed that all urgent mentioning for ex-parte ad-interim applications in IP matters will be held in the chambers of the judge, from November 7, 2019. As per the notice, the matters allowed to be circulated after the in chamber hearing, will be placed on the ‘production list’, which will be heart at 11:00 am on the assigned date. This procedure had been adopted on the directions of …

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CJEU Endorses ‘Notice and Stay Down’ For Illegal Online Content

/ By / Copyright, Privacy

In a major ruling on October 3, 2019, the CJEU in Case C-18/18 – Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland Limited, held that national courts may direct injunctions against online content-hosting intermediaries like Facebook, which require the intermediary to block the specific content globally, as well as blocking identical or equivalent content or information. This marks a crucial turn in online content regulation in the EU, as it explicitly endorses a ‘notice-and-stay down’ standard for content removal, and endorses upload filters …

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