Author name: Divij Joshi

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

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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Just (Let) Google (Do) It: Updates on the Right to Be Forgotten from the European Union

/ By / Overlaps in IP, Privacy

In two significant judgements made on September 24, 2019, the top court of the European Union, the CJEU, has deliberated upon the scope of the delisting and de-indexing requirements (otherwise known as the Right to Be Forgotten (‘RTBF’)) to be followed by search engine operators under the EU’s data protection laws, including the Data Protection Directive as well as the more recent General Data Protection Regulation. In Google v CNIL, the Court has held that EU law does not require

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40 Days: Remembering and Celebrating Prof. Shamnad Basheer

/ By / Others

In several traditions, including those followed by Prof. Shamnad Basheer’s family, the 40th day after passing is a day of remembrance and marks the end of a mourning period. As posts, tributes and celebrations of Prof. Basheer’s life and work have poured in, some of the current and past team members of SpicyIP have written fond remembrances and eulogies, which we are publishing here today. Balu Nair “The last 40 days have made me realize that some wounds are too

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Is the Clock Ticking for TikTok’s Intermediary Liability Exemptions?

/ By / Copyright

A recent stand-off between TikTok and ShareChat, two major online social media platforms in India has brought to fore several issues and inconsistencies in India’s intermediary liability regime. On August 23, it was reported that ShareChat, the ostensibly ‘homegrown’ social media app, complied with certain takedown notices sent by TikTok over content which had previously been shared on TikTok, claiming it had ‘exclusive rights’ over such content, and it was being uploaded and shared without authorisation on ShareChat. On August

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Should Indian Copyright Law Prevent Text and Data Mining?

/ By / Copyright, Innovation

We are incredibly excited to bring to our readers a guest post by the fantastic Dr. Arul George Scaria, on one of the most cutting-edge developments in technological developments which implicate copyright law – text and data mining and their status under Indian copyright law. Dr. Scaria is an Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC). He is also an Affiliate Faculty of the CopyrightX program, which is a course offered

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Delhi HC Issues Dozens of Blocking Injunctions under the New ‘Dynamic Injunction’ Process, Asks Government to ‘Suspend Domain Name Registrations’

/ By / Copyright

The Delhi High Court, over the course of a dozen interim orders between July 27 and August 12, 2019, has issued website blocking injunctions for ISPs to block dozens of websites and their mirror/redirect versions, including popular pirate websites Tamilrockers and eztv. The orders are available here. The ex-parte orders, passed in suits instituted by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., compel nine ISPs to block the entire website URL’s for specific websites, and further grant the plaintiff’s ‘dynamic injunctions’, which allows

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World Intellectual Property Organisation Wants to Create an Opaque, Private and Global ‘Piracy Blacklist’

/ By / Copyright

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) was created in 1967 as an international, multi-stakeholder body to ‘encourage creativity and protect intellectual property throughout the world.’ It’s a matter of concern, therefore, when a body ostensibly meant to represent diverse interests in matters of intellectual property development chooses to develop a private, arbitrary and non-transparent ‘blacklist’ meant to target advertisement funding of websites. WIPO’s latest proposal, known as the “Building Respect For Intellectual Property Database Project”, is described as – “a

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Delhi High Court Rules that Moral Rights Offer No Remedy for Destruction of a Work

/ By / Copyright

Does an architect, as the creator and legal ‘author’ of a building having artistic significance, have the right to object to the modification or destruction of their work by the owner of the building? A recent judgement of the Delhi High Court answers this firmly in the negative. In Raj Rewal v Union of India and Ors., Mr. Justice Endlaw has comprehensively rejected the claim that an author’s moral rights over a building take precedence over the rights of the

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Breaking: Bombay High Court Rules against Statutory Licensing for Online Streaming Services

/ By / Copyright, Innovation

A recent judgement of the Bombay High Court may have finally put to rest the convoluted saga of the applicability of the statutory licensing scheme under the Copyright Act to online streaming services. In a blow to online music services in India (looking at you, Spotify), in Tips Industries v Wynk Music, Mr. Justice Kathawalla has comprehensively rejected the claim that online streaming services are eligible for being granted statutory licenses for broadcasting under Section 31D of the Copyright Act.

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US Trade Representative Special 301 Report 2019: “Phir Ek Baar, Priority Watch List Ki Vaar”

/ By / Innovation, Others, Patent

aka the Priority Watch List Strikes Again. For the 27th year in a row, India has made it to the infamous Priority Watch List in the Special 301 Report – an annual classification exercise by the office of the US Trade Representative, meant to put pressure on nations allegedly not complying with United States’ domestic standards for intellectual property protection. The list classifies certain countries as belonging to a ‘watch list’, or a ‘priority watch list’, and is meant to

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