Mathews P. George

Mathews is a graduate of National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. His interest in intellectual property was kindled when he bagged the second position in his second year of Law School (in the prestigious Nani Palkhiwala Essay Competition on Intellectual Property). His stint as a student of Prof. Shamnad Basheer further accentuated his interest in intellectual property. Winner of almost a dozen essay competitions in his Law School days, he was involved in various research and policy initiatives relating to intellectual property. Mathews is, currently, based out of Munich, Germany. He had earlier done his LLM in 'IP and Competition Law' from Munich Intellectual Property Law Centre (jointly run by Max Plank Institute for Innovation and Competition, University of Augsburg, Technical University of Munich and George Washington University, Washington).

Functionality in Copyright Law : In the light of a recent EU Case Law

by Mathews P. George July 29, 2020

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In this post, I would like to discuss a recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Brompton Bicycle (C-833/18). This judgment is relevant in the context of Section 52(1)(w) of India’s Copyright Act which provides as follows: “The following acts shall not constitute an infringement of copyright, namely:- (w) the making of a three-dimensional object from a two-dimensional artistic work, such as a technical drawing, for the purposes of industrial application of any purely…

Discussion on Fundamentals of ‘Authorship’: Copyright System v. Author’s Rights System

by Mathews P. George June 23, 2020

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The digital world is challenging the fundamental norms of IP laws. This calls for a new perspective on IP as a whole and copyright law in particular. This post offers some thoughts in the context of an article titled ‘Musician uses algorithm to generate every possible melody to prevent copyright lawsuits’ and another article which deals with the usage of AI for emulating the styles of great painters such as Van Gogh, Turner and Vermeer. What are the fundamental principles…

Trademark

The Delhi High Court and an Anti-Suit Injunction – Part II

by Mathews P. George May 25, 2020

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[Please read Part I of this two-part post for the summary of the judgment discussed herein] Introduction I am unable to agree with the judgment of Delhi High Court on various counts. At the outset, this is an ex-parte proceeding. The evidentiary threshold, as held by the Supreme Court in Ramesh Chand Ardawatiya v. Anil Panjwani (AIR 2003 SC 2508), is as follows: “33. ………In the absence of denial of plaint averments the burden of proof on the plaintiff is…

Trademark

The Delhi High Court and an Anti-Suit Injunction – Part I

by Mathews P. George May 24, 2020

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The Delhi High Court recently granted an anti-suit injunction in HT Media Ltd v. Brainlink International in an ex-parte interim injunction proceedings. Part I of this two part post shall summarise the judgment. Part II shall critically analyse the judgment. Brief Facts The plaintiff owns the trademarks “Hindustan” and “Hindustan times” under Class 16 and Class 38. The defendant owns the domain name www.hindustan.com. The negotiations between the plaintiff and the defendant for handing over the domain name were not…

Trademark

Global Trademark Report Card, 2019 (Special 301 Submission) – II

by Mathews P. George March 29, 2020

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This is the second and last post covering submissions with respect to trademark (the one first can be viewed here). While making comments, I have relied on inputs provided by various practising lawyers based out of Delhi and other parts of India. Court Proceedings: The Report notes that, ‘it may require at least two-to-three years for court proceedings to be decided, sometimes longer (up to seven years), particularly in courts other than the Delhi High Court. The Commercial Courts Act,…

Trademark

Global Trademark Report Card, 2019 (Special 301 Submission) – I

by Mathews P. George March 28, 2020

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In these posts, from an Indian perspective, I shall discuss the main points of ‘2019 Global Trademark Report Card’ by Trademark Working Group (Special 301 Submission for 2020) [For complete list of documents, click here]. i) Certification standards The submission expresses its disapproval over the procedure for registration of certification marks (especially on 4-month opposition period regarding certification mark standards). It says that, as a result of the procedure, the owner of the mark may lose control over its certification…

CISAC Global Collections Report – 2019

by Mathews P. George November 29, 2019

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CISAC is the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers. Its stated objective is to ‘protect the rights and promote the interests of creators across all regions of the world and artistic fields; music, audiovisual, drama, literature and visual arts’. It aims to ‘foster a legislative environment that supports the cultural and creative industries, thereby contributing to both cultural diversity and economic growth worldwide’. [For more details, please click here.] According to Wikipedia, it is the world’s largest international…

Others Trade Secret

Appreciating the Fundamentals of Trade Secrets Law – I

by Mathews P. George November 27, 2019

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I discussed a trade secret case law recently. I wrote that I would discuss some of the fundamental aspects from a comparative law perspective. As a prelude, I can only discuss the broad contours of trade secret protection in a blog post. I am limiting the discussion of this post to fundamentals of trade secret protection and US position. I shall discuss the EU position in a later post. If specific questions are asked, I shall try to answer them….

Patent

GoI Approves Patent Prosecution Highway Program

by Mathews P. George November 27, 2019

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Government of India approved the proposal for Bilateral Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Programme between Indian Patent Office under Controller General of Patents, Design and Trade Marktis (CGPDTM), Government of India and Patent Offices of other interested countries/regions. The maiden initiative is with Japanese Patent Office (JPO). It will be run on a pilot basis for a period of three years. What is a Patent Prosecution Highway Programme? The word “prosecution” is not to be understood as in Criminal Law. Broadly…

Trade Secret

Trade Secret Case Law: Steer Engineering Pvt. Ltd. v. Glaxosmithkline Consumer & Ors.

by Mathews P. George November 18, 2019

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This is a case on trade secret / confidential information. The Indian jurisprudence on trade secret law is still at a nascent stage. While discussing this case, I am limiting the scope to the issue of protection of trade secret / confidential information only. Facts This is a commercial appeal filed under Section 13 (1A) of the Commercial Courts Act read with relevant provisions of CPC. The Appellant had earlier unsuccessfully pleaded for an interim injunction at the Court of…

{ Justice Prathiba Singh is a trailblazer. We need more of this. We have some brilliant IP academics in India and students turning towards academia. This is extremely motivating-... }
Akshat { At the prima facie stage, even if the documents are on record- without any cross examination, the veracity of any document cannot be made out. In any case,... }
Bhidu { "At the prima facie stage, where evidence ought not to be produced by parties, the reasoning given by the Single Judge requiring Defendant to show “material” in support... }
Swaraj Paul Barooah { Thanks for your kind words Neha! }
Swaraj Paul Barooah { Thank you for your comment and feedback! The length of the articles is becoming a delicate balance between all that we want to include, and trying to ensure... }