Author name: Lokesh Vyas

Lokesh is a PhD candidate at Sciences Po, Paris, where he examines the “genealogy of international copyright discourse (1850s–2000)” under the guidance of Professors Séverine Dusollier and Alain Pottage. He graduated from the Institute of Law, Nirma University, and later pursued an LL.M. at American University Washington College of Law as an Arcadia Fellow and Arodhum Scholar. He was previously a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. Lokesh is interested in questions of knowledge governance, which he enjoys exploring through historical and philosophical inquiry. He also takes a certain, steady satisfaction in essay competitions—having been fortunate to fare fairly well—securing, for instance, the first Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition in 2020 and the ATRIP Annual Essay Competition in 2024. He can be contacted at lokesh.vyas[at]sciencespo[dot]fr.

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

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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 […]

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

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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

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

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“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

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

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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

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SpicyIP Tidbit: DPIIT Hits Pause on Public Notice concerning Music Playing at Weddings Amid Novex Case Appeal

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Namaskar. Remember the Goan circular concerning section 52(1)(za) of the Copyright Act, 1957, saying no permission is required to perform music at religious ceremonies, including weddings and its connected social events, which was later revoked? And many other stories of the provision we’ve commented on in the past? Well, we now have a “new” twist in this story …  The news is that DPIIT has issued a new notification that puts the previous 24th July 2023 Public Notice on hold

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Don’t Offend My Oats: Generic Disparagement, Market Leadership, and Marico Limited vs. Alpino Health Foods

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Trademark law has an interesting concept—generic disparagement that goes a bit further than general disparagement. In this post, I discuss one such case from the Delhi High Court: Marico Limited vs. Alpino Health Foods Pvt Ltd, where the plaintiff (“Marico”) seemed to take the whole “disparagement” thing a bit too personally (or perhaps, generally). Facts: The story has it that Marico has been in the oats business since 2010 and sells it under the name “Saffola Oats,” but it has

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Whither Indian IP Academics’ Engagement with the Judiciary?: Some Thoughts for Discussion – Part II

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In Part I, we looked at the legal mechanism around IP professors’ engagement with the judiciary. This post furthers the discussion by broaching a few questions/ideas for engagement. Two Hypotheses and Many Questions  I get two points or hypotheses from the Part-I discussion: the Indian legal system doesn’t see, or at least doesn’t leave much space for (IP) law professors as influential drivers of socio-legal change, unlike advocates, leaving little room for them to make substantial contributions outside the classroom.

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Whither Indian IP Academics’ Engagement with the Judiciary?: Some Thoughts for Discussion – Part I

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Recently, Praharsh revived a discussion about the not-very-active state of IP academic interventions in India while sharing the news of the appointment of Prof. Arul Scaria by the Delhi High Court as an “expert” in a copyright case. Prashant raised similar questions a few years ago when Prof. Basheer was appointed, as an “academic intervenor” in the Novartis case. Swaraj, during our conversations about Indian IP thinking and IP academia, has also made similar points several times as to —why

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Journey Through “Mays” on SpicyIP (2005 – Present) 

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As I conclude my summer vacation at home, it’s the perfect moment to bring the series I started over a year ago to its conclusion … Welcome to the climactic finale of our “Sifting Through SpicyIP Pages” series! Yes, it’s the 12th and final post, culminating this year-long time-travel-ish journey. I began the series with a sense of Sankofa—aiming to fetch what was left behind (if any) and see how we can take things forward. We aimed to explore SpicyIP’s

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Notes from the Doctoral Diary: 42nd ATRIP Congress in Rome (30th June – 3rd July 2024)

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Salaam … Recently, I met Prashant Reddy who shared his experience of the 2018 WIPO-WTO colloquium for Teachers of IP from Developing Countries and Countries in Transition. While I was planning to save my experience in writing, meeting Prashant motivated me to share my experience of the 42nd ATRIP Congress with all our readers. My hope is twofold: Firstly, to encourage scholars, particularly from the Global South, to participate in next year’s Congress and leave their mark. This is a

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