Author name: Spadika Jayaraj

Spadika is a student of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Apart from Intellectual Property Law, she is also interested in Law and Technology issues.

GCIP 15 Day 2: Discussions on Health Technology, Innovation and Access

/ By / Others

This post is part of SpicyIP’s coverage of the Fourth Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest. The Global Congress is a confluence of academics, policy advocates and activists working in the sphere of IP and Public Interest. The stated aim is to enable participants to share research, experiences and insights in tackling unbalanced law reform and enforcement proposals. The session on Health Technology, Innovation and Access in the Access to Medicines Track was an embodiment of this stated …

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GCIP Day 1 Session 3: Challenges in Re-Articulating Public Interest

/ By / Others

This post is part of SpicyIP’s coverage of the Fourth Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest. At the third plenary session of GCIP15, the discussion revolved around challenges in re-articulating ‘public interest’ dimension in IP law and policy. The session saw an eclectic mix of speakers addressing the public interest question from various perspectives- such as copyright, human rights, international law and trade law. Making Technology Accessible in Indian Languages The first speaker was Venkatesh Hariharan, Director …

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GCIP2015: Notes from the Inaugural Session

/ By / Others

The 2015 Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest kicked off with its inaugural plenary session, on 14th December, 2015. With over 400 registered participants, ranging from established academics to activists to students gathered in the auditorium in National Law University, Delhi, Phet Sayo, a Senior Fellow at IDRC and a panelist at the session rightly observed that if a bomb were to go off at this venue, “there goes IP activism”.  The inaugural  session began with Dr. Ranbir …

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Guest Post: The Voodoo Arithmetic that Led to the Flawed Award of Punitive Damages in the Sholay Judgment

/ By / Copyright

Last week, I had blogged about Sholay Media and Entertainment suing Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag for violating their moral rights over the film Sholay. The Delhi High Court had decreed that the Defendants pay punitive damages of 10 Lakh. In this post, Prashant Reddy questions the reasoning of the Court in granting punitive damages.  The quality of IP jurisprudence being produced by the original side of the Delhi High Court has been on gently sloping downward curve for most …

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‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’ Loses (More) Money

/ By / Copyright

Eight years after being classified a ‘disaster’ by boxofficeindia.com, scoring a 2/10 on IMDB and an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, the tragic tale of Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag continues. The movie has now been held by the Delhi High Court to be violative of the moral rights of the authors of Sholay. The Court has further prescribed punitive damages of Rs.10 Lakh plus costs upon Ram Gopal Varma and his Production House. Read the judgment here. The rights owners …

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Wall Street Meets Big Pharma; Drama Ensues

/ By / Patent

‘Coalition for Affordable Drugs’ (CAD) sounds like the name of a group of health activists engaging in litigation and advocacy to bring down prices of medicines. It is in fact a series of hedge funds formed by billionaire American Hedge Fund manager Kyle Bass. Surprisingly, CAD manages to pitch for cheaper drugs and bring revenue to the Hedge Fund through a single strategy- employing a procedure in US patent law called the Inter Partes Review (IPR). The Inter Partes Review …

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The Kuchipudi Copyright Conundrum (Part II)

/ By / Copyright

This two-part post is about a Writ Petition filed by a Kuchipudi dancer in the Kerala High Court, alleging that video recordings of dance performances by the Petitioner’s students at a state-sponsored school competition were leaked and sold online, and agents of the State Government profited from the same. In Part I, I discussed the copyright issues surrounding the same. In this post, I discuss whether the provisions dealing with Performers’ Rights can be invoked in the Petitioner’s defense in …

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The Kuchipudi Copyright Conundrum (Part I)

/ By / Copyright

Anupama Mohan, a famous Kuchipudi dancer, has filed a Writ Petition in the Kerala High Court alleging copyright infringement by the state government. Allegedly,  the Government has leaked video recordings of dance performances which took place in a State-sponsored inter-school Competition and profited from its distribution (read Livelaw’s coverage of the story here). In this two part post I discuss the several interesting legal issues that this Writ Petition throws up. While Part I discusses copyright, Part II will discuss …

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Guest Post: Taxing Transfers of the Right to use IPs (Part II)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Trademark

In this two-part series, Ashwini Vaidialingam, a V Year Student at NLSIU, Bangalore analyses the recent development in the law surrounding taxation of right to use intangible goods, its validity and implications for IP Transactions. Read Part I here.  In the previous post, I examined the peculiar stance Maharashtra has adopted on what amounts to “transfers” of right to use IPs. I had argued that the stand taken by the Bombay HC blurs the line between transfers of right to use …

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Guest Post: Taxing Transfers of the Right to Use IPs (Part I)

/ By / Copyright, Others, Trademark

We are happy to bring to you a two-part Guest Post by Ashwini Vaidialingam, a V Year Student at NLSIU, Bangalore who is interested in Taxation and IP Law. She analyses the recent development in the law surrounding taxation of right to use intangible goods, its validity and implications for IP Transactions.  The Commissioner of Sales Tax, Mumbai issued a Trade Circular on 13th July, 2015 (available here) declaring that Maharashtra VAT is leviable on transactions involving the transfer of …

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