Category Archives: Copyright

We’re delighted to bring to you a short guest post by our former blogger Aparajita Lath, updating us on the issue of prohibition on reverse engineering of the Govt’s COVID-19 tracking mobile app Aarogya Setu. She had recently questioned the legal enforceability of this prohibition in light of the fair use rights under the Copyright Act in a guest post here. Aparajita is a lawyer based in Bangalore. Her previous posts on the blog can be viewed here. SpicyIP Tidbit:…

Fact Checking the Fact Check: Is Circulation of Free E-Newspapers Permitted under Copyright Law?

by Balu Nair May 19, 2020

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When the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions came into effect, the physical distribution and door step delivery of newspapers became affected. Faced with these constraints, most newspapers started offering free trials on their websites for e-papers and even free PDFs of the day’s paper. This also led to a surge in e-papers getting forwarded on social media by individuals, rather than newspapers themselves. Newspaper Dainik Bhaskar then came out with a piece claiming that downloading and circulating PDFs of e-papers was illegal….

Reverse Engineering and Aarogya Setu App: Contracting Out of Fair Dealing?

by SpicyIP May 13, 2020

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We’re excited to bring to you a guest post by one of our former bloggers, Aparajita Lath. Aparajita is a lawyer based in Bangalore. In this post, she examines the legal enforceability of the prohibition on reverse engineering imposed by the terms of service of the Govt’s COVID-19 tracking mobile app Aarogya Setu, in light of the fair use rights of users under Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957. Her previous posts on the blog can be viewed here….

Debate on Parallel Import of Books: Still Relevant in the Post-Amazon Age?

by SpicyIP May 12, 2020

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We’re delighted to bring to you another guest post by our Fellowship applicant Anupriya Dhonchak, discussing the relevance of the debate on the legality of parallel importation of books in India in the age of Kindle and e-books. Anupriya is a 4th year law student at National Law University, Delhi. Her earlier posts on the blog can be viewed here and here. Debate on Parallel Import of Books: Still Relevant in the Post-Amazon Age? Anupriya Dhonchak There was a raging…

A Petition to Shutdown the IPAB and Shift Its Functions to High Courts and Commercial Courts

by Prashant Reddy May 7, 2020

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A few weeks ago we had an interesting series of posts on SpicyIP, debating the role of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and whether it should continue to exist. Along with our former blogger Rahul Bajaj, who is currently a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, I have drafted the petition below requesting the government to consider a proposal to scrap the IPAB and transfer its functions back to commercial courts and High Courts. We intend to send it to the…

US Supreme Court’s Decision on Copyrightability of Annotations to Official Code of Georgia: Can It Inspire the Access to Law Movement in India?

by SpicyIP May 2, 2020

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We are delighted to bring to our readers an insightful post by Dr. Arul George Scaria on the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Georgia et al., v. Public.Resource.Org holding that annotations to the official code of Georgia are not copyrightable. In this post, he makes a case for the adoption of the government edicts doctrine by Indian courts to foster greater ‘access to law’ in India. Dr. Scaria is an Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre…

The Legality of Digital Libraries in a Lockdown

by Divij Joshi April 29, 2020

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Quarantine and lockdown in the midst of the CoViD-19 pandemic has left entire populations without physical access to schools, colleges and public libraries. Even more than before, this has shone a spotlight on the digital access to cultural and educational resources. Taking a cue from Namratha’s insightful post on the responses of copyright law in such a situation, in this post I explore the many legal contentions around the ‘digital’ access to libraries, particularly in the present moment. This is…

Screening of Movies in Educational Settings: Copyright Infringement or Fair Use?

by Balu Nair April 26, 2020

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Every year, April 26th is celebrated as World IP Day. WIPO’s website states that the aim of the celebration is to “learn about the role that IP rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity”. A less remembered and celebrated fact though is how fair use provisions play an equal, if not larger role, in fostering creativity and innovation. Such a skewed view often results in people being less aware/prevented from availing the benefits of fair use provisions. I was recently…

US Supreme Court Upholds States’ Immunity from Copyright Infringement Suits : Is US in Violation of the TRIPS Agreement?

by Adarsh Ramanujan April 22, 2020

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Last month, the US Supreme Court issued its judgement in an interesting case involving sovereign immunity for copyright infringement. This was the case of Frederick L Allen v. Roy A. Cooper, III, Gov of North Carolina et al. The copyrighted work in question involved the videos and photos taken by the plaintiff concerning the shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s revenge. The plaintiffs sued the State of North Carolina when it published some of these videos and photos online and the…

Offence of Copyright Infringement Cognizable or Not? : Still a Catch 22 Situation!

by SpicyIP April 21, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you another post by our intern, Bhavik Shukla, discussing whether the offence of copyright infringement under section 63 of the Copyright Act is cognizable or not. Through the post, he notes the impact of the classification of the offence on creativity and free speech. Bhavik is a 5th year student at NLIU, Bhopal. Offence of Copyright Infringement Cognizable or Not? : Still a Catch 22 Situation! Bhavik Shukla Recently, in a decision which has evoked…