Author name: Kartik Sharma

Kartik is an analyst at SpicyIP. He is a final year law student at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru and secured the second prize in Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition (2025 edition). (mail: ubaykartik[at]gmail.com)

Deciphering the ‘Bona Fide’ Notes of s. 52(1)(za): Bombay HC’s Recent Order in PPL v Yashraj Satwara

/ By / Copyright

The Indian copyright arena has continued to witness controversy over royalties for songs played during wedding ceremonies and related social events. The root of the tussle between copyright collective management organizations such as PPL and Novex and end users lies in Section 52(1)(za) that exempts works performed or communicated to the public during bona fide religious ceremonies or official ceremonies held by government. The provision, along with the curious explanation (which forms the crux of contentions) is reproduced below: (za) […]

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[Tidbit] Will Azure Hospitality Saga Impact the PPL-Passcode Litigation?

/ By / Copyright

Image from here. The story of Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) and its tryst with the Copyright Society framework continues. Readers will recall that in April 2025, a division bench (DB) of the Delhi HC in Azure v PPL had held that PPL cannot issue or grant licences for sound recordings without registering itself as a copyright society or becoming a member of any registered copyright society (Interested folks can refer to my detailed post for the ruling’s analysis). In its directions,

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[SpicyIP Tidbit] TellyTorrents Movie Piracy Case—A Tale of Evidence Missing in Action

/ By / Copyright

Last month, the TorrentFreak team (by the way, a great source for copyright and piracy news reporting!) reached out to us regarding a criminal copyright decision in State of M.P. v. Priyank & Ors. from Judicial Magistrate of First Class(JMFC), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh). A big thanks to them for bringing this acquittal decision to our attention which seems to have missed all radars in India. The case had been going on for a decade and involved the popular torrent site

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‘Peace’ on the Nuclear Front? Analysing the Upheaval in the Nuclear Energy Patents Regime Through SHANTI Act

/ By / Patent

Base Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash India’s nuclear energy legal framework is undergoing a complete makeover with the recent passing of the SHANTI (Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India) Bill  in the Parliament, and the subsequent assent by the President on 20th December. The SHANTI Act (SA)  has replaced the Atomic Energy Act 1962 (AEA) and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010 and is the product of a policy shift in nuclear energy

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Final Countdown for the SpicyIP-Jhana Blogpost Writing Competition 2025! Submissions close on December 30

/ By / Event, Opportunities, Others

Dear IP enthusiasts, we have received some really great and engaging entries for the SpicyIP-Jhana Blogpost Writing Competition. If you still haven’t sent your submission yet, this is the chance to do so! The deadline is 11:59 PM IST on 30th December. To remind again, the participants are welcome to write on any topic relevant to the Indian IP landscape that helps foster a more transparent, collaborative, and productive IP/innovation ecosystem for India. All entries must utilise jhana.ai in at

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Gone Goodwill?: Analysing Trademark Abandonment and Goodwill Destruction in the Yezdi Order of Karnataka HC Division Bench

/ By / Trademark

IP nerds and bike enthusiasts (brownie points if you are both!) will recall the controversy around Yezdi motorbikes between Boman R Irani and the Official Liquidator (OL) of Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd. over the mark ‘Yezdi’. Amidst the continuing hype around the revival of the famous Jawa and Yezdi bikes, people were wondering: Who actually holds the right over the bike name Yezdi? Irani’s father had established Ideal Jawa which sold the famous motorbike. However, the company later went into

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Reflections from an IP Weekend: The First Rajiv K. Luthra Memorial Lecture 2025 Delivered by Prof. Dev Gangjee

/ By / Copyright

The IP enthusiast in me had a great weekend after attending the First Rajiv K. Luthra Memorial Lecture on 29th November 2025, jointly organized by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, and the Rajiv K. Luthra Foundation (RKLF). Prof Dev Gangjee from University of Oxford delivered the lecture on the topic ‘Tools or Partners? Hybrid Human-AI Creativity and the Boundaries of Copyright’. Prof Gangjee was later joined by Eashan Ghosh, In-Charge IPR Chair at National Law University

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Dissecting the Delhi HC’s Assessment of Diagnostic Processes Under Section 3(i) of the Patents Act

/ By / Patent

The Delhi HC has articulated a detailed interpretative understanding of the exclusion of diagnostic methods from patentability under Section 3(i) of the Patents Act. In three judgments passed in three different appeals (Natera, Sequenom, and Emd Millipore), the Court has laid down the manner in which the provision is to be understood and applied. The Court clarified that the manner in which the diagnosis is to be performed cannot be patented, whereas diagnostic tools, products, and devices can still be

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FRANDship with Comparable Licenses: Confidentiality Club Constituted in Nokia v Asustek & Ors.

/ By / Patent

Image from here. In a recent order, the Delhi HC decided on the terms of the constitution of the Confidentiality Club in certain connected SEP suits. Confidentiality clubs, as agreed-upon mechanisms to restrict the dissemination of confidential documents and materials in certain suits to only the necessary personnel, do have their criticisms. For example, by restricting access to valuable information around standard “essential” patents, even though they are contained in different license agreements. In this way, confidentiality clubs can lead

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DHC allows AR Rahman’s Appeal- Authorship is Composed not Performed!

/ By / Copyright

Image from here. The Division Bench (DB) of Delhi HC has given us a well-reasoned and hard hitting order on the interplay of copyright law and Indian classical music. In the highly publicized copyright battle between Ustaad Faiyas Wasifuddin Dagar and AR Rahman, the DB has reversed the single bench’s (SB)  ruling that had held AR Rahman’s song ‘Veera Raja Veera’ from Ponniyin Selvan 2 to be prima facie infringing Ustaad Dagar’s (who was the plaintiff) copyright in the classical

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