Author name: L. Gopika Murthy

Gopika is a fourth year student at National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She was formerly the Chief Editor of the Indian Journal of Law and Technology. Her first exposure to Intellectual property law and SpicyIP was through the University Moot Rounds at NLSIU, Bangalore in her first year. She has been regularly following the developments in the field of IPR since then and she hopes to contribute to the reporting of such developments. Her areas of interest in IP include copyrights, open access, fair dealing and trademarks.

SpicyIP Tidbit: ‘Grand Masti’ restrained

/ By / Trademark

It has come to our attention, courtesy Ms. Abhilasha Niroola, that the makers of the newly released Bollywood film ‘Grand Masti’ have been restrained by the Delhi High Court from using the name and banner of ‘ICICI Bank’ in its movie, vide an ex parte order. The order was sought by ICICI banks on the ground that ‘ICICI Bank’ was a registered trademark, the trailer of the movie showed the name and banner of the bank in the context of […]

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Eucador Trademark Registry decision on Gandhi Trademark opposition

/ By / Trademark

Two years ago, we had blogged about the opposition filed by Shri. Lalit Bhasin in his personal capacity before the Eucador Trademark Registry about the registration of the name and image of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi as the “ARROZ GANDHI” (Gandhi Rice) trademark. The registration was sought as an international Class 30 mark with respect to “‘aged or old rice, also medium and long grain rice’ that may or may not come from India“.  The grounds of Shri.

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Justice KN Basha to be new IPAB chairman

/ By / Uncategorized

Justice KN Basha, a recently retired judge from the Madras High Court has been appointed as the new IPAB Chairman, according to the order issued on August 23 by Chandni Raina, the director of the department of industrial policy and promotion (IPR section) under the Union ministry of commerce and industry. Justice Basha replaces Jusice Prabha Sridevan, who retired a few weeks back. In the interim period, Ms. S Usha had been the acting Chairman. The appointment order issued on

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Satyajit Ray’s sketches and copyright controversies

/ By / Copyright

A copyright row appears to have started between the Satyajit Ray Society and the Delhi Art Gallery, that is organising a countrywide exhibition, which is currently at Kolkata. A catalogue of the exhibition, named Satyajit Ray and Beyond which contains more than 200 images of Satyajit Ray’s life and work is at the heart of this controversy. Most of the photographs are those that have been taken by the prominent photographer, Nemai Ghosh who is believed to have the largest

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Rihanna’s victory in the Topshop T-shirt case

/ By / Uncategorized

On the 31st of July, 2013, the Chancery Division of the England and Wales High Court decided the dispute between Rihanna and Topshop’s parent company Arcadia, regarding the use of the singer’s image on their T-shirts. Rihanna’s claim was based on the tort of passing off. Rihanna’s claim of passing off, to be successful, requires satisfaction of three conditions- firstly, Rihanna must have goodwill and reputation among the relevant members of the public, secondly, there must have been a misrepresentation

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Singers from the South in support of the singers’ copyright society ISRA.

/ By / Copyright

A couple of months back, I blogged about how artists were unionizing and registering copyright societies to avail of benefits guaranteed to them under the amended Copyright Act. I also wrote about the singers having sent the papers for registration of their own copyright society, namely, Indian Singers’ Rights Association (ISRA). and how the industry appears to be geared up to ensure that they get the benefits they are entitled to. The post also shared an interview of Sonu Nigam

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Special Services announced by WIPO for users of Madrid System

/ By / Trademark

India’s accession to the Madrid system and the consequent amendments to the Trademarks Act and Rules had been covered previously on the blog, available here and here. On July 30, 2013, the WIPO has announced new special services for the users of the Madrid System. The services which will come into effect from August 1, 2013, includes the issuance of a certified copy of a certificate of an international registration and of a certificate of its renewal which can be obtained

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The Sholay litigation saga

/ By / Copyright

In recent years, ‘Sholay’ has come to be known not just for its value as a commercial movie but also for the litigation saga involving it. (For more details regarding the same, see our posts on the Vodafone dispute here and here, the dispute with Universal, the suit against Greenpeace, the controversy surrounding Ram Gopal Varma’s sequel and against the production of Sholay in 3D)   The latest additions to this are two orders passed by the Delhi High Court in the

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The makers of Malayalam reality show ‘Malayalee House’ sued for copyright infringement

/ By / Copyright

The Endemol group, makers of the popular Hindi reality show ‘Big Boss‘ have sued Sun TV, Vedartha Entertainment Pvt Ltd and other makers of ‘Malayalee House’ for copyright infringement. The suit has been filed by the Endemol group in the Bombay High Court on the grounds that their copyright on the production format of ‘Big Boss’ had been infringed upon by the makers of ‘Malayalee House‘.  Endemol is seeking an injunction against the makers of ‘Malayalee House’ in order to

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Negotiating licenses between patent holders and generic producers: the Medicines Patent Pool

/ By / Patent

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), backed by the United Nations, is a mechanism that has been formed with the intention of increasing access to HIV medicines in the developing world by increasing their affordability. The MPP negotiates licenses between patent holders and generic producers to make and sell HIV medicines at affordable prices to those who need it. An analysis of the concept of patent pools can be found here and here.   The latest is the license negotiated by the

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