Author name: Swaraj Paul Barooah

.

‘Not just a Trophy Treaty’

/ By / Uncategorized

Pictured: Surprisingly unempathetic lady of justice (thus far) Recently in one of our guest posts, Snigdha Roy made a note of the lack of international consensus towards a treaty that has, for too long, been in the offing. I can’t fathom why discussion and debate over the necessity of an international treaty that would essentially give print disabled persons access to the same materials that others have always enjoyed, is something that would take four long years. But such is […]

‘Not just a Trophy Treaty’ Read More »

Guest Post: A Step Forward and a Step Back for the Print Disabled

/ By / Copyright

We are happy to bring our readers our first guest post entry from our SpicyIP Fellowship applicants.Snigdha Roy, a 3rd year student from Gujarat National Law University, discusses some of the problems that modern copyright law has presented to the print disabled. She notes the mixed success of efforts with welcome new Amendments in India’s Copyright law on one hand and the failure of the International Treaty of the Blind to make any headway on the other hand. A STEP

Guest Post: A Step Forward and a Step Back for the Print Disabled Read More »

First SpicyIP Fellowship

/ By / Uncategorized

SpicyIP is pleased to announce the first SpicyIP Fellowship for researching and writing on developments in the Indian intellectual property rights and innovation policy scenario. The 2013-2014 fellowship is open to all interested students and carries a stipend of Rs. 15,000.[Edit: Please note, the fellowship is now opened to all interested parties and not just ‘students and recent graduates’]  What are we looking for? As our mission statement reads, our writers are bound by an interest in fostering a more transparent,

First SpicyIP Fellowship Read More »

Meeting on the Future of the Internet – Mired in lack of transparency

/ By / Uncategorized

Level of Transparency these days depicted above Why is transparency such a difficult proposition nowadays? It seems to be constantly popping up as an issue in nearly any large bureaucratic process. There are only two possible answers of course – either a belief that true democracy (which requires information as a basis for choices) is untenable as a governing mechanism, or that democracy is undesirable to those “leaders” unwilling to conduct transparent proceedings. I would lean towards the latter. For those more

Meeting on the Future of the Internet – Mired in lack of transparency Read More »

SpicyIP Tidbit: RSC puts forward excellent US Copyright analysis; gets retracted next day

/ By / Copyright

On Nov 16th, in a little over 8 pages, Republican Study Committee (RSC) staffer Derek Khanna put forward a succinct and accurate report on US Copyright laws, its problems and some policy solutions. About 24 hours later, the RSC issued a statement saying that they were retracting the policy brief as it had been published without adequate review and failed to meet their standard for publication.  (As per wiki page, “The Republican Study Committee [RSC] is a caucus of over 170 conservative members

SpicyIP Tidbit: RSC puts forward excellent US Copyright analysis; gets retracted next day Read More »

SpicyIP Weekly Review (November Week 4)

/ By / Uncategorized

Another relatively quiet week in the IP world has passed us as we go deeper into holiday season. Having said that though, there have been a few very notable developments in this last week. Starting off, in what is definitely the highlight this last week, is the 5-6 hour hearing that Prof Shamnad Basheer received as an academic intervenor over a 2 day period in the much highlighted Novartis case presently before the Supreme Court. As Prashant writes, ‘His arguments (as expected)

SpicyIP Weekly Review (November Week 4) Read More »

Part II: IPCheckups & Intellectual Ventures: What are they about?

/ By / Patent

Part I of this 2 part series covered a discussion with Matthew Rappaport, founder of IPCheckups, a patent analytics firm which is looking to uncover the super secretive patent portfolio of Intellectual Ventures, a company which may be the largest patent holder company in the world.  After speaking with Matthew, I got in touch with Nicholas Gibson, International Marketing Director of Intellectual Ventures. Specifically regarding the IPCheckups project, he gave the company’s official statement. However he was more than happy

Part II: IPCheckups & Intellectual Ventures: What are they about? Read More »

Part I: IPCheckups & Intellectual Ventures: What are they about?

/ By / Patent

Intellectual Ventures (IV) is a private company that is quite often heard about in the IP community.  As per it’s wiki entry, “Intellectual Ventures is a private company notable for being one of the top-five owners of U.S. patents, as of 2011.[1] Its business model has a focus on developing a large patent portfolio and licensing these patents to companies. Publicly, it states that a major goal is to assist small inventors against corporations. In practice, much of their revenue comes

Part I: IPCheckups & Intellectual Ventures: What are they about? Read More »

Academia struggles to pay up as Journal prices soar!

/ By / Uncategorized

What is “Open Access”? Explained by PhD comics In yet another story headlining publishing houses, India’s top science officials have expressed concern over not being able to afford subscriptions to international science journals, budgeted at Rs 500 crores for the 5 year period covered by the 12th five-year plan (2012-2017).  The issue is concisely captured in the quote in the LiveMint article here: ““I’ll try my best to get this (budget for journals) passed, though I doubt whether the Planning Commission

Academia struggles to pay up as Journal prices soar! Read More »

First sale doctrine under threat in US

/ By / Copyright

image from here While Hurricane Sandy has shut down most of the east coast of US, one of the only official buildings still open in Washington DC on Monday was the Supreme Court, as they heard arguments in the Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons case, a case revolving around the extent of ‘protection’ that copyright owners should get.  Textbook prices, it appears, are a problem world over. It makes sense. Without getting into whether it is good policy or

First sale doctrine under threat in US Read More »

Scroll to Top