Author name: Swaraj Paul Barooah

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SpicyIP Tidbit: WIPO releases database for economics of IP

/ By / Copyright, Innovation, Others, Patent, Trademark

WIPO recently released a very useful database of academic literature on the economics of IP. In their words, WIPO’s Economics Literature Database provides an overview of key academic literature that has influenced thinking in the field of intellectual property (IP) economics. The Database is an ideal and convenient starting point for researchers, policy-makers, and anyone else interested in the economics of IP. Divided by ‘IP instrument’ as well as by ‘theme’ to make it easily searchable, I for one am […]

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EC can’t agree on IP norms but can agree on funding-bans for developing countries that don’t follow them?

/ By / Copyright, Innovation

On 1st and 2nd July, the European Commission has put out two significant, yet contradicting IPR related press releases. While the first one talks about possible funding bans for developing countries that ‘violate IPR rules’, the second press release is a perfect example of a major problem with the approach in the first press release! Read on for more: 1. “Strategy for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries” In a 19 page letter, addressed as ‘Communication

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$15 million prize money given to Mathematicians

/ By / Innovation

Forbes reports that the Breakthrough Prize for Mathematics recently announced its first winners. Mathematics, though a fundamental bedrock of science, is often ignored by many including the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (who administer the Nobel prize). The Breakthrough Prizes are given for 3 fields – fundamental physics, life sciences and now maths. It was started by a group of people including Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Sergey Brin, Anna Wojcicki, Jack Ma, Cathy Zang,and Yuri and Julia Milner. The prize for maths

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India on International Piracy Watch-list; Reasons include presence on watch-list

/ By / Copyright

In yet another unilaterally decided list, a caucus of US Congressmen have named India as one of four countries on their “International Creativity and Theft-prevention Caucus Watchlist”. The other three countries named are China, Russia and (surprisingly) Switzerland. The Congressmen include Bob Goodlatte, a co-author and sponsor of the infamous SOPA bill. For India, they state, “Despite a large domestic creative industry in film, music, and other copyright intensive industries, India continues to lag badly in both the legal framework for protection

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Mainstreaming delinkage

/ By / Innovation

At the 67th World Health Assembly Last month saw the occurrence of a development which, even if small and under-reported, I would consider to be of significant importance – when the 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) announced a decision to give the World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat a mandate to create a pool fund that will allow the price of a drug to be delinked from the R&D costs involved in creating that drug. Though the fund is to be

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Guest Post: When (C) meets CM

/ By / Copyright

Yesterday, the Hindu carried an article on what seems to be some egregious copyright claim over some classical Carnatic compositions. Much earlier, Sumathi had written a post for us on the bootlegging of some classical Carnatic performances (where, incidentally most artists turned a convenient blind eye) but I don’t think we’ve come across an instance like the present one where recording companies seem to be claiming copyright over classical Carnatic compositions and getting material taken down from Youtube! That too, despite the

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And We Thought Java APIs Were Open?

/ By / Copyright

Tarun Khurana brings us a guest post looking at the recent Oracle v. Google decision decided by the US Federal Circuit. The ruling, holding that Oracle can claim copyright to Java APIs subject (subject to fair-use defences, etc), sent shockwaves through much of the tech community. In this post, Tarun explores the implications that this may have. Tarun Khurana is a partner at Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys, and its consulting firm Institute of Intellectual Property Research and

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Guest Post: Google, ARA and Open Source Licensing

/ By / Copyright, Innovation, Patent

Kartik Chawla brings us an extremely interesting post on the new ‘free and open hardware platform’ for modular smart phones that Google is developing. In this post he focuses on MDK’s IP licensing policies and their implications, and discusses Google’s deviation from its initial Open source approach. Kartik is a 3rd year student at Nalsar. You can view his previous guest posts for us here. Google, ARA and Open Source Licensing When Google sold Motorola, which it had bought only a

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Webinar On Patenting strategies for Start-ups in the IT and ITES domains

/ By / Event, Patent

We’re happy to announce a free webinar by IPMetrix on Patenting Strategies for Start-ups in the IT and ITES domains. Please see the details as below. LIVE WEBINAR ON PATENTING STRATEGIES FOR START-UPS in the IT AND ITES DOMAINS Date/Time: Tuesday, May 27, 2014; 11.30 AM to 12.30 PM IST (Approx. 1 hr) Event Details: Did you know that it is easier to obtain patent rights for your invention in the US compared to India? And, did you know that an

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India signs Treaty for the Visually Impaired

/ By / Copyright

On April 30th, 2014, in a big step towards facilitating access to published works by the visually impaired or print disabled, India signed the “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (MVT)“. The treaty, which which was first adopted on 23 June 2013, was also signed by the European Union, France and Greece, bringing the total number of countries that have signed to 64, out of WIPO’s 187 members.

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