Author name: Varsha Jhavar

Parliamentary Standing Committee’s Recommendations Concerning AI and IP: A Little Late or Way too Early?

/ By / Copyright, Innovation, Patent

Appreciating the growing importance of AI in various fields as well as its economic impact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee Report (hereinafter the Report) recommended the ‘revisiting of IPR legislations and implementing a strong IPR framework’ in order to ‘extract benefits from AI’. (Pg 38) The Report relying on a research report by Accenture stated that AI related innovations might add USD 957 billion to the Indian economy by 2035. The Report does propose a bigger picture, but fails short of …

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Vempati Ravi Shankar – Facebook Copyright Dispute: Issues on Moral Rights and Posthumous Enforcement of Celebrity Rights

/ By / Copyright, Privacy

Recently, a copyright infringement suit had been filed before the District Court, Trivandrum, against Facebook India. (CNR Number: KLTV010019372021) The reason for filing the suit was that certain unknown people had posted without authorisation original sound recordings created by Vempati Ravi Shankar (the plaintiff’s late husband) on the defendant’s social media platforms – Facebook and Instagram. Being his sole legal heir, the copyright in these works is held by Sweety Priyanka Vempati Ravi Shankar. (hereinafter Priyanka) She had notified Facebook …

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IPAB Issue Finally Comes to a Conclusion: Delhi HC Creates Specialist IP Division

/ By / Copyright, Design, Geographical Indication, Patent, Plant Variety Protection, Trademark

In a welcome move yesterday, the Delhi High Court issued a press release stating that it will create an Intellectual Property Division (hereinafter IPD) in the Delhi High Court. According to today’s roster sheet, the judges that have been nominated for IPD are Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, Justice Jayant Nath, Justice Anu Malhotra, Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Sanjeev Narula. (pg 9) The court is in the process of formulating comprehensive rules for this division. As you may recall, …

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Protection of Jewellery: A Combination of Trademark, Design and Copyright Law? – Part II

/ By / Geographical Indication, Trademark

In Part I, in the light of jurisprudence, I had analysed whether copyright or design law would be the appropriate IP for jewellery protection. Additionally, I had also discussed if ‘adaptation’ or ‘reproduction’ would be the more suitable term for referring to the conversion of 2D drawings into 3D jewellery. In Part II, I look at other questions such as what would happen if a suit in respect of copying of jewellery is brought under copyright law and passing off, …

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Protection of Jewellery: A Combination of Trademark, Design and Copyright Law? – Part I

/ By / Copyright, Design, Overlaps in IP, Trademark

The issue of IP protection of jewellery has hardly been discussed or adjudicated upon in India. Generally, it is understood that the sketch of the jewellery design can be protected as artistic work under copyright law, while the actual appearance of the jewellery, such as the configuration, pattern can be protected under design law. But, it’s more complicated than that. There are many questions without clear answers, such as, whether jewellery is protectable under copyright or design law in India, …

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Supreme Court Interprets ‘High Court’ under Section 22(4) of the Designs Act

/ By / Design

Recently, in a Special Leave Petition, the Supreme Court dealt with certain pertinent issues such as the separation between revocation of registration – in infringement suits and in cancellation actions and cause of action and interpretation of the term ‘High Court’ under the Designs Act, 2000. In S.D. Containers Indore v. Mold Tek Packaging, a division bench of the apex court provides clarity that ‘High Court’ under Section 22(4) includes a High Court that does not have ordinary original civil …

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What’s Happening with WhiteHatJr?: A Look at the IP Issues

/ By / Copyright, Trademark

Recently, in interim applications decided on 23rd and 24th November, the same single bench of the Delhi High Court granted a limited ad-interim injunction in favour of Karan Bajaj (WhiteHatJr’s CEO) and Byju’s Whitehat Education Technology Private Limited (WhiteHatJr). The major issues in these cases were similar – defamation and trademark infringement. For the purposes of this post, only the IP issues will be looked at. In the first case, Karan Bajaj v. Pradeep Poonia, the former along with his …

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India vs Pakistan: Dispute over Basmati’s GI Registration in the European Union

/ By / Geographical Indication

Recently, the aromatic, long grain rice known as ‘Basmati’, became another source of conflict between India and Pakistan. It isn’t the first time that a European GI registration for Basmati has been in the news, nor the first conflict relating to a GI between India and Pakistan. In the past, the GI registration of Pashmina had been a contentious issue. In 2008, India had decided to register Pashmina as a GI domestically and a Pakistani body had opposed this on …

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