Author name: Nikhil Purohit

SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 15 – 21)

/ By / Copyright, Design, Geographical Indication, Patent, Trademark

Topical Highlight Sherlyn Chopra Case- Non-Consensual Sharing of Intimate Images/Videos, Obscenity Laws and Copyright Remedies In this post, non-consensual sharing of intimate images or videos from a copyright perspective, in light of the recent case filed against Sherlyn Chopra for sharing obscene content online. She first analyses copyrightability of obscene content. She notes decisions from Israel and England that have used grounds of immorality to deny copyright protection to works. She contrasts this with Indian copyright law where such grounds […]

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 22 – 28)

/ By / Copyright, Geographical Indication, Innovation, Others, Patent, Publication, Trademark

Thematic Highlight A Draft “Open” IP Syllabus In this post, Swaraj shared the first draft version of an ‘Open’ IP Syllabus that he along with a small team of researchers has worked on in the last few months. The syllabus is aimed to contain materials that are legally and publicly available free of cost and outside of paywalls, touching upon diverse themes concerning intellectual property law. While the completion of the entire syllabus is expected to take some time, this

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (February 1-7)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

Thematic Highlight An Alternative to Delhi HC’s Approach on Confidentiality Clubs in InterDigital-Xiaomi SEP Dispute In this guest post, Abhilasha analyses the recent Delhi High Court decision on confidentiality clubs in InterDigital v. Xiaomi. She first lays down the background in which confidentiality clubs have originated in the Indian IP litigation. She particularly emphasises on the balancing of interests carried out by Delhi High Court in the Vestergaard judgment while creating a confidentiality club. She then analyses the decision in

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (January 4 – 10)

/ By / Biological Diversity, Copyright, Geographical Indication, Others, Patent, Trademark

Topical Highlight Issues in Sci-Hub Case ‘A Matter of Public Importance’ In this post, Swaraj highlighted some issues that came up during the hearing of the recent litigation, involving Elsevier, Wiley, and ACS suing Sci-Hub and LibGen for copyright infringement. He observed that it was a positive step for Justice Midha of the Delhi High Court to repeatedly point out that case was ‘a matter of public importance’, and he would not want to pass any orders without hearing the various

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Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part III

/ By / Copyright

This post is in continuation of my previous posts dealing with the background on the copyright infringement suit against Sci-Hub and Libgen (here) and the applicability of the fair dealing exception to the impugned use of copyrighted works (here). In this post, I discuss the exception in the Copyright Act for use of works for the purposes of education and the interim injunction plea sought by the plaintiffs. Education Exception Section 52(1)(i) of the Act allows for “the reproduction of

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Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part II

/ By / Copyright

This post is in continuation to my previous post (here) discussing the copyright infringement suit filed by academic publishers against Sci-Hub and Libgen, particularly the dynamic injunction sought by the plaintiffs. Here, I discuss the applicability of the fair dealing exception to the use of copyrighted works on the defendant websites in the instant dispute. Fair Dealing Even if the court rules that the defendant websites were indulging in activities amounting to copyright infringement, it is necessary for the court

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Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part I

/ By / Copyright

Recently, three major academic publishers Elsevier, Wiley, and American Chemical Society filed a copyright infringement suit in the Delhi High Court against two groups of websites going by the names ‘Sci-Hub’ and ‘Libgen’ which provide free access to millions of research papers/books. The plaintiffs have sought a permanent injunction against these websites and a dynamic injunction order so that the mirror links of these websites can be blocked as and when the plaintiffs notify. Additionally, the plaintiffs have sought an

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SEPs and Confidentiality Clubs: Protecting Fair Play from Excessive Secrecy

/ By / Patent

InterDigital, in its ongoing SEP infringement dispute with Xiaomi, proposed a Confidentiality Club for sharing confidential documents to assess whether the licensing terms being offered by InterDigital were on FRAND basis. While both parties were in agreement with the thought of having a confidentiality club, it is the structure of this club that was opposed by the defendants. Particularly, InterDigital’s proposal sought to restrict access to certain confidential information from the defendant’s representatives, and to be subject only to external

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (November 30- December 6)

/ By / Biological Diversity, Copyright, Design, Others, Patent, Privacy, Trademark

Topical Highlight COVID-19 Vaccines: Patent Ownership and the Barriers to Equitable Access In this post, Adyasha conducts a thorough analysis of the vaccines developed by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford, the complex ownership status of their intellectual property, the bilateral pre-purchase deals struck with higher-income countries and their implications on the Global South. She first notes the importance of public funding for the fruition of the three vaccines upon which patent protection is being claimed by their respective owners. She then

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (November 23- 29)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

Topical Highlight A Copyright Reform Agenda from a Group of Like-Minded IP Teachers In this guest post, Prof. (Dr.) N.S. Gopalakrishnan provides us an overview of the recommendations focussing on desirable public interest oriented amendments to the Copyright Act prepared by a group of ‘like minded IP teachers’. He particularly summarises four broad themes of amendments. The first set of proposed changes deal with Section 52. These include an open-ended fair dealing clause under Section 52(1)(a), expanding educational use exception

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