Author name: Lokesh Vyas

Lokesh is a Phd candidate at SciencesPo, Paris, where he is examining the "Genealogy of "Balance" discourse in International Copyright Law" under the guidance of Professors Séverine Dusollier and Alain Pottage. Lokesh graduated from the Institute of Law Nirma University and later studied LLM at American University Washington College of Law as an Arcadia Fellow and the Arodhum Scholar. He is interested in the issues around knowledge governance and information regulation which he enjoys exploring through history and philosophy. He has won several essay competitions, notably the Professor Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition, 2020 and the annual ATRIP Essay Competition, 2023. He can be contacted at lokesh.vyas[at]sciencespo[dot]fr

Notes From Doctoral Diary: TACIP, Turku (20 – 21 August 2025)

/ By / Copyright

Every once in a while, one happens to be at an academic gathering that feels less like a “conference” and more like a genuine coming together of minds, hearts, and histories. Yes. And TACIP, 2025, held in the strikingly serene city of Turku, in Finland, was one such experience for me. TACIP stands for Technical Assistance as an Enabler of the Constitutionalising of Intellectual Property Norms in Africa. (Quite a mouthful term, isn’t it …?) For context, TACIP is a […]

Notes From Doctoral Diary: TACIP, Turku (20 – 21 August 2025) Read More »

From the Archives: A Telling Tale of Copyright Over the Indian National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana

/ By / Copyright, Others

Wishing our readers a very Happy Independence Day in advance! May this year bring love, luck, and lights into your life … get you the “freedom” in every beautiful sense of the word! Today, I bring to you a little gem from the archives. Yes … it’s a story of copyright, authorial control, and national unity, all wrapped around the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. And really … What better day to unspool this spiel than the 79th year

From the Archives: A Telling Tale of Copyright Over the Indian National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana Read More »

From the Archives: India’s (not so) Secret Breakup Letters to the Berne Convention

/ By / Copyright

Hello, Today, I got you two exciting archival documents regarding the Berne Convention, specifically the time when India was on the verge of denouncing it.  But here’s the context first … Some of our readers might already be familiar with the twists and turns of Indian copyright history—or may have read the exciting account by Prashant and Sumathi, which tells the story of India’s engagement with the Berne Convention. This multilateral treaty, first adopted in 1886, is considered the beginning

From the Archives: India’s (not so) Secret Breakup Letters to the Berne Convention Read More »

Notes from the Doctoral Diary: 16th Annual Workshop of ISHTIP (25-26 June 2025)

/ By / Others

Namaskar, As June bade farewell, so too did the season of conferences—a rumoured rite of passage in the European academic circuit. Around this time last year, I wrote about my experience of ATRIP in Rome. This year, I return not from Rome, but from Madrid, where I had the pleasure of attending ISHTIP—the 16th Annual Workshop of the International Society for the History and Theory of Intellectual Property. Unlike most IP gatherings where doctrine reigns supreme, ISHTIP is a curious

Notes from the Doctoral Diary: 16th Annual Workshop of ISHTIP (25-26 June 2025) Read More »

The Great Flip: Can Opt-Outs be a Permitted Exception? Part II

/ By / Copyright

This post is co-authored with Yogesh Badwal, an incisive student from NLSIU, a SpicyIP member, and, of course, a dear friend. In the previous part, we examined whether the opt-out mechanism, as claimed in Gen-AI litigations, constitutes a prohibited formality for the “enjoyment and exercise” of authors’ rights under Article 5(2) of the Berne Convention. And we argued no. In this post, we address the second question: Can opting out be permitted as an exception under the three-step test outlined

The Great Flip: Can Opt-Outs be a Permitted Exception? Part II Read More »

The Great Flip: Is Opt Out a Prohibited Formality under the Berne Convention? Part I

/ By / Copyright

This post is co-authored with Yogesh Badwal, an incisive student from NLSIU, a SpicyIP member, and, of course, a dear friend. Bonjour, Lately, we’ve been cogitating on this curious concept called the “opt-out”, which has been cropping up with increasing frequency in generative AI litigation, including in India. The EU and the UK are taking the idea seriously and considering giving it statutory teeth. On the surface, it is sold as a middle path, a small price to pay for

The Great Flip: Is Opt Out a Prohibited Formality under the Berne Convention? Part I Read More »

Mind your Monopoly: Delhi HC, Compulsory License, and PPL’s Licensing Fees

/ By / Others

Did you hear about the recent interesting case before the Delhi High Court, Al Hamd Tradenation vs. Phonographic Performance Limited, involving a compulsory license over sound recordings? Deliberating on the scope of Article 31(1) of the Copyright Act and whether unreasonable licensing fees can be regarded as withholding the work from the public, the Court found the petitioner’s case meritorious. This long-ish post discusses this 23-page order, highlighting its key ideas that may carry significance beyond the immediate case. First

Mind your Monopoly: Delhi HC, Compulsory License, and PPL’s Licensing Fees Read More »

Who Gets to Be Read: Knowledge, Power, and the Ones We (rarely read and) Cite?

/ By / Others

Namaskar, I recently read How GN Devy Challenges Our Concept of Knowledge by Martand Kaushik. If you have not heard of him, G. N. Devy is an Indian cultural activist, literary critic, and former professor of English. He is the author of a long list of books and papers, and has been anointed with several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi award, a SAARC Literary Award, the Prince Claus award, the international Linguapax prize, and the Padma Shri. And yet, as

Who Gets to Be Read: Knowledge, Power, and the Ones We (rarely read and) Cite? Read More »

The Screenwriters Rights Association of India (SRAI) is registered, but what is a Script: A Dramatic or a Literary work?

/ By / Others

“Overlap”—such an interesting word, isn’t it? It’s everywhere. Our ideas overlap, our works overlap, our words overlap, and even our feelings and emotions. And yes, so do our laws and their intricate concepts. But why am I talking about overlaps? While reading the news about the Screenwriters Rights Association of India (SRAI) officially registering as a Copyright Society (Reg. No. CS/06/2024), the word clung to my mind. Especially when a close friend (who prefers to remain anonymous) pointed out the

The Screenwriters Rights Association of India (SRAI) is registered, but what is a Script: A Dramatic or a Literary work? Read More »

SpicyIP Tidbit: Reasons be Recorded While Granting Ex-parte Injunctions, held the Delhi High Court

/ By / Others

Recently, Praharsh shared an interesting order, Kailash Kumar Jain v. Kundan Electro, with me concerning ex-parte proceedings—where the Delhi High Court called out non-recording of reasons by the trial court for granting ex-parte injunctions, setting the suit afresh. While there have been past instances where courts have criticized the unreasoned granting of interim ex-parte injunctions (see, e.g., here), the present case places special emphasis on this issue. Examining the current law and cases on ex-parte injunctions, the case raises the

SpicyIP Tidbit: Reasons be Recorded While Granting Ex-parte Injunctions, held the Delhi High Court Read More »

Scroll to Top