Author name: Sai Vinod

SpicyIP Weekly Review (May 2013, Week 1)

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SpicyIP is delighted to announce a new section on ‘Social Innovations’ focusing on innovations which are ‘development oriented or specifically directed at social causes’. Swaraj brought our attention to world’s first Braille smartphone developed by an Indian company, Kriyate Design Solutions. The phone enables visually impaired to send and receive text message, tactile maps, scan and convert external text to braille and even represent our surroundings in braille! The project is a brainchild of Sumit Dagar, a graduate from National […]

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Publishers Support Fair Use. Really?

/ By / Copyright

Image from here In an earlier post, we highlighted a protest letter by academics and authors to leading publishers, Oxford University Press (OUP), Cambridge University Press (CUP) and Taylor & Francis (T&Y) on March 10, 2013. The letter asked that publishers withdraw an egregious copyright lawsuit filed against the Delhi University (DU) and its licensed photocopier for creating and disseminating course packs. For a quick overview of the case and what it represents, see here. For a detailed coverage of

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Thalappakatti biryani trademark row

/ By / Trademark

The southern district of Dindigal in Tamil Nadu occupies a special place in the hearts of biryani lovers. In the late 1950s, one Nagasamy Naidu opened a biryani eatery under the name ‘Ananda Vilas Biryani’ in Dindigal. As he always wore a turban (or thalapa in Tamil) to cover his bald head, folks in the town referred to him as ‘Thalappakatti Naidu’. Soon, his savory biryani acquired a wide popularity and ‘Thalappakatti Naidu Biryani’ became synonymous with the eatery. His

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IPAB’s first CL decision, resounding emphasis on public interest in CL proceedings

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The decision of India’s specialized IP tribunal on appeal against India’s first compulsory license granted by the Controller is available on the Board’s official website here. The Board’s chief Prabha Sridevan in an open court on March 4, 2013 dictated the order upholding the Controller’s decision for grant of compulsory license on Bayer’s patented drug, Sorafenib Tosylate. As Prof. Basheer noted earlier, to the delight of patients and generics, the opening sentence of the order states that “‘compulsory license’ is

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Guest Post: Eye witness account of India’s first compulsory license appeal before the IPAB [Part II]

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Continuing from the previous guest post on the IPAB’s pronouncement on Bayer’s appeal against grant of CL to Natco, this part takes us through the crux of the decision on Sec. 84 (grounds of reasonable requirement of public and working of the invention). Furthermore, decision on aspects relating to suppression of facts and misrepresentation made by Natco during the proceedings are noted. To see our extensive coverage on India’s first CL, please click here.  Part II Whether the patentee has reasonably

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Guest Post: Eye witness account of India’s first compulsory license appeal before the IPAB [Part I]

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SpicyIP is delighted to bring to our readers a detailed blow-by-blow account to Justice Prabha Sridevan’s seven hour long dictation of the order upholding India’s first compulsory license this Monday. We thank Saranya Murugaiyan, an IP practitioner at the Madras High Court, who witnessed the announcement in the open court for this excellent summary of events. Saranya completed BA,BL (Hons) at the School of Excellence in Law, Chennai and recently completed her Masters from the Benjamin N Cardozo School of

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Film release strategies and anti-competitive practices in the Indian film industry

/ By / Competition Law, Copyright

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has begun its probe into the anti-competitive practices alleged by actor-producer Kamal Hassan against certain film distributors and exhibitors. The probe has been initiated in relation to the simultaneous direct-to-home (DTH) release of his latest blockbuster film, Vishwaroopam. It all began in December last year when the actor announced his plans to release the film through pay-per-view (PPV) on DTH platforms, a day before it’s theatre release. This hits directly at the exclusive window

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Off-Topic: Call for Papers from the Journal of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Law

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The Journal of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Law (JTBL) is an international peer-reviewed, student-edited journal of National University of Juridical Sciences, India. Dedicated to pioneer legal scholarship in the field of telecommunication and broadcasting laws and addressing a global scholarly community, JTBL strives to publish relevant research on said disciplines. The Journal encourages deliberations on subjects of interdisciplinary nature and would include review of laws and policies involved in the field. The journal accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Interested contributors

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Budget 2013-14: What’s in stock for IP and innovation?

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Yesterday, the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the budget before the Lok Sabha for the eighth time, only two short of equaling Morarji Desai’s record for the highest number of Union Budgets presented till date. Although the budget speech isn’t something IP practitioners look forward to each year, it is still disappointing to see no reference to the Science Technology and Innovation Policy announced earlier this year which would require a great deal of funds for its successful implementation. Nonetheless,

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