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: Shruti Hassan contemplating legal action for dubbing her film D-Day into Tamil without her consent

/ By / Copyright, Others

Shruti Hassan, who played the role of a Karachi call girl in the controversial film D-day directed by Nikhil Advani has stated that she is contemplating legal action. This decision of Ms. Hassan came into the public domain through an official press release by her in which she stated that the dubbing of D-day into Tamil as Dawood constitutes a clear breach of contract as it was done without her consent or approval. She has also disassociated herself from the […]

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SpicyIP Events: Managing IP’s “India IP and Innovation Forum 2014”

/ By / Patent, Sponsored

We are very pleased to bring to you information regarding regarding Managing IP’s India IP and Innovation Forum 2014 scheduled to be held on February 26 at the Le Meridian Hotel in New Delhi. The details as provided by the organizers are below. Is  compulsory licensing destroying India’s IP infractructure from within? As India’s sophistication in IP protection grows stronger year-on-year, so too do the concerns about the governments distorted balance between IP protection and public interest. Following amendments to

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SpicyIP Tidbit: ‘Mad Men’ Litigation settled

/ By / Copyright

In my earlier post almost a year back, I had reported that yesteryear model Gita Hall May had sued Lionsgate, the production company of the hugely popular TV show ‘Mad Men’ in the Los Angeles Superior Court for the use of her image in the TV show’s title sequence without her consent. With Lionsgate raising First Amendment arguments, we were awaiting  the Los Angeles Superior Court ruling. However, it appears that there will be no ruling as the parties have

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No IPR protection for modern yoga techniques

/ By / Copyright, Trademark

Early this month, the Delhi High Court in the case of Institute for Inner Studies v. Charlotte Anderson discussed the important issues of whether yoga asanas or Pranic Healing are entitled to copyright or trademark protection.  The plaintiffs argued that the defendants’ use of the yoga techniques, practices and other teachings invented by the Master Choa Kok Sui (the Master)  without the prior authorization of the plaintiffs was not permissible as firstly, it amounted to an infringement of the copyright

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Section 8, Patents Act and the requirement of willfulness

/ By / Patent

In a momentous decision with significant ramifications for patent prosecution in India, the Delhi High Court has effectively read in “willfulness” into Section 8. Early last month, the Delhi High Court issued an order that narrowed the scope of its ruling in the 2009 case of Chemtura Corporation v. Union of India. In Chemtura, the Delhi High Court had ruled that the requirement to disclose information regarding pending foreign applications was a mandatory requirement under S. 8, Patents Act, 1970.  The

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The Sholay saga continues- this time on 3D production

/ By / Copyright

The Bombay High Court on the 1st of April, 2013 refused to grant a stay on the 3-D production of Sholay. (Shouvik’s post on this can be found here.) An appeal to this order was filed by Ramesh Sippy and the appeal was dismissed by the two judge bench of the Bombay High Court. Ramesh Sippy’s claim was that he was owner of the rights in Sholay and therefore, SMEPL’s (Sholay Media and Entertainment Private Limited) license to PIPL and

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Consilience 2013-2014 at NLSIU, Bangalore

/ By / Uncategorized

Early last month, Shouvik blogged the call for papers of Consilience, 2013-2014 organized by the Law and Technology Committee of NLSIU, Bangalore.  Please read below for the details of the conference and registration. The Law and Technology Society of National Law School of India University, Bangalore is organizing the 6th edition of its flagship Conference ‘Consilience’ on 14th and 15th December, 2013 (Saturday and Sunday) on the theme of ‘Legal Issues pertaining to Cloud Computing’ at NLSIU Campus, Bangalore. The Conference will see some of the best lawyers, jurists and industry leaders

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Weekly Review (4th Week of November)

/ By / Others

We started this week with my post on the ruling of the United States District Court of New York that the Google Books Library Project was permissible fair use. Under the Google Books Library project, Google has scanned more than twenty million library books in their entirety from libraries such as the  New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and a number of other university libraries. Google did not obtain or seek permission from the copyright holders prior to

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THE INN PROPOSAL: BOON OR BANE?

/ By / Patent

The Indian Patent Office is presently considering a proposal that would make it mandatory for drug firms to disclose the WHO-assigned INN (International Non-proprietary names) in the pharma patent applications. This proposal has been mooted, according to the Patent Office, as it would help ensure that frivolous patents, which do not provide any enhancement of efficacy of a therapy, are not granted. In order to contextualise this proposal better, the working of an INN needs to be understood. An INN

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Google Books Library Project is Permissible Fair Use

/ By / Copyright

On 14th November 2013, Judge Chin of the United States District Court of New York, in a much-awaited ruling, decided that  the Google Books Library Project was permissible under the fair use defense of copyright.  The facts of the case were that the Authors Guild were suing the Library project of Google Books for copyright infringement. (Earlier the Association of American Publishers were also plaintiffs. However, they entered into a settlement with Google) Under the Google Books Library project, Google

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