Prashant Reddy

T. Prashant Reddy graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, with a B.A.LLB (Hons.) degree in 2008. He later graduated with a LLM degree (Law, Science & Technology) from the Stanford Law School in 2013. Prashant has worked with law firms in Delhi and in academia in India and Singapore. He is also co-author of the book Create, Copy, Disrupt: India's Intellectual Property Dilemmas (OUP). He has recently been appointed as an Assistant Professor at NALSAR, Hyderabad, starting September 1, 2017.

Has IPRS Set the Stage for a Battle with Apple, YouTube, Reliance Jio, Airtel etc?

by Prashant Reddy February 20, 2018

7 Comments

Last week, Gulveen Aulakh of the Economic Times broke the news that the recently re-registered copyright society Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) has written to Indian telecom companies and platforms such as Apple and YouTube, demanding that they pay up for the use of IPRS’s repertoire, either by way of streaming or downloads. The recipients of these notices reportedly also include Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio. Apparently, some of these telecos have told the ET that…

And Now, ISRA’s Sanjay Tandon Accuses Us at SpicyIP of Being in the Pockets of Big Music Companies

by Prashant Reddy February 16, 2018

5 Comments

We received a comment a few days ago on one of my earlier posts, from Sanjay Tandon who claims to be CEO, Co-Founder, Managing Director etc. etc. of the Indian Singers Rights Association (ISRA). I reproduce the comment below: “As expected Spicy IP prefers to be hands in gloves with the Rich Music Companies and not with Artists… giving always a one-sided story… It was prompt to report this… but did not have the courtesy to report on the DISMISSAL…

Novex Muzzled by Bombay High Court in a Recent Threats Action by Gulraj Hotels

by Prashant Reddy February 13, 2018

3 Comments

In a recent order, dated February 9, 2019; Justice S.J. Kathawalla has restrained Novex Communications from taking any coercive action against Gulraj Hotel which filed a threats action under Section 60 of the Copyright Act after receiving a legal notice from Novex. (COMIP (L) No. 163 of 2018). The plaintiff in this case was represented by a team from the law firm Wadia Ghandy consisting of Sameer Pandit, Ramesh Soni and Madhupreetha Elango and led by Senior Advocate Virendra Tulzapurkar….

Patent

Advocates v. Patent Agents: A new case before the Madras High Court

by Prashant Reddy February 11, 2018

14 Comments

The ToI recently reported that Madras based advocate Sanjay Gandhi has sued the Controller General of Patents before the Madras High on the grounds despite being “entitled to appear before the statutory body [Patent Office] and advance arguments in his capacity as a qualified advocate, he was disallowed from doing so.” Advocates qualified under the Advocates Act, 1961 have been claiming for some time that they are entitled to practice before the Patent Office without qualifying as a patent agent…

Others

Justice Manmohan Singh Appointed as IPAB Chairperson under Potentially Illegal Tribunal Rules – Continues to Hold the Post of Chairperson of Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property

by Prashant Reddy January 2, 2018

8 Comments

After more than a year of speculation, retired Delhi High Court judge, Justice Manmohan Singh has been appointed as the Chairperson of the IPAB, presumably under the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017. These rules which have been notified under the Finance Act, 2017 are under constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court for impinging on the independence of the judiciary. Even more strangely, the notification mentions that Justice Manmohan Singh…

IPRS Gets Re-registered as a Copyright Society – Akhtar & Saregama Bury the Hatchet

by Prashant Reddy December 21, 2017

1 Comment

The Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) has at long last been re-registered as a copyright society, under the Copyright Act, by the Registrar of Copyrights. The re-registration took place on November 28, 2017. As our readers may be aware, IPRS has been ‘ground zero’ for the turmoil and conflict between the authors and the music labels over the control of copyright societies. Originally constituted in 1969, as a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act, 1956 IPRS was first…

Trademark

By Invitation: The Delhi High Court Declares Louboutin’s Red Sole As a ‘Well Known Trademark’

by Prashant Reddy December 21, 2017

1 Comment

The Delhi High Court recently declared Christian Louboutin’s ‘Red sole’ a well known trademark. The decision is rather surprising and is going to once again raise questions about the Delhi High Court’s jurisprudence on well-known trademarks. We invited Eashan Ghosh to write a post for us on the issue. In his post, Eashan conducts a deep dive into the judgment delivered by the Delhi High Court in the ‘Red Sole’ case. He covers the court’s analysis of well known mark…

Patent Trademark

RTIs reveal tardy record keeping practices at the IPO – no records of pending patent oppositions – 1,13,857 trademark oppositions pending + 5,533 rectifications

by Prashant Reddy December 4, 2017

5 Comments

Over the last two years we have been subject to a relentless stream of press statements from the DIPP Joint-Secretary Rajiv Agarwal and Controller General O.P. Gupta, about how the backlog at the Patents Office and Trade Mark Registry has been massively reduced over the last few years. First, let us give credit where it is due – the DIPP and Patent Office finally managed to conduct large scale recruitment process of patent office examiners without any major scandal –…

Patent

Novartis succeeds in 37 patent infringement lawsuits related to Vidagliptin – Judge Tyagi dismisses the 38th lawsuit for lack of evidence

by Prashant Reddy December 4, 2017

1 Comment

Starting in March, 2014 the Swiss Pharma company Novartis filed multiple qua timet patent infringement lawsuits against a number of generic companies including Biocon, Glenmark, Wockhardt Ajanta Pharma etc. and managed to secure several interim injunctions against these generics. While the lawsuits filed before the Delhi High Court got the most attention, Novartis through its counsel, Mr. Hemant Singh of Intettl Advocare, was also instituting lawsuits in courts across the country including in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Bombay, Nashik, Madras, Mohali…

Others

DIPP should hold off IPAB appointments until the Attorney General clarifies govt. position on Tribunal Rules

by Prashant Reddy November 28, 2017