Category Archives: COVID-19

Comparative Advertising Copyright COVID-19 Others Patent Trademark

SpicyIP Weekly Review (June 22 – 28)

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Topical Highlight To Mock the Corona Word: Disparaging During the Time of Crisis In a post co-authored with Praharsh Gour, Swaraj wrote about disparagement of the famous beer brand ‘Corona’ given its resemblance to the ongoing pandemic in the context of the Cerveciria Modelo De Mexico v. Whiskin Spirits case. Analyzing the order, it is noted that the Court has not recorded its assessment of the advertisement in granting the ex-parte interim injunction. The post goes on to highlight that…


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Comparative Advertising COVID-19 Trademark

To Mock the Corona Word: Disparaging During the Time of Crisis

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a “Corona Extra'' labelled bottle is in the middle of eight circumscribing small bottles of another product, with arrows emitting from the Corona Extra labelled bottle and words “Stay home” inscribed below. In fact, in the ‘advertisement’, the defendants products are not even distinguishable as belonging to the defendant.

[This post has been co-authored with Praharsh Gour. Praharsh is a graduate from Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur and is presently an LL.M. candidate at the Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University, New Delhi] You know you are in for a roller-coaster ride when the name of your 95 year old brand resembles the ongoing pandemic. The recent Covid-19 outbreak has perhaps left the famous beer brand ‘Corona’ swinging like a pendulum between two wildly varying image issues. On…


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Copyright COVID-19

Dainik Jagran Sues Telegram for Copyright Infringement: Are Platforms or Group Admins Liable for Unlawful Speech on Closed Online Forums?

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Telegram, a widely used instant messaging platform, is in a copyright soup before the Delhi High Court, concerning the circulation of ‘e-papers’ or digital versions of newspapers, through open Telegram Channels, a group messaging feature available on the app. In an order dated May 29, 2020, Justice Mukta Gupta issued an ad-interim injunction directing Telegram to provide information about the subscribers or ‘owners’ of certain Telegram Channels allegedly circulating online versions of Dainik Jagran, a Hindi daily. Further, Telegram was…


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COVID-19 Data Exclusivity Innovation Patent

Patents for Pharmaceutical Innovation – Basic Concerns

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Comparison of BRICS countries Public Health spending. Please contact author if you want breakdown of details

Covid 19 seems to have done what public health activists have been crying hoarse about for years – that is, shine a bright spotlight on the various inadequacies of the public health systems around the world, and its related issues. With several public calls for letting patent rights on pharmaceuticals take a back seat vis-a-vis this pandemic, this bright spotlight has also shone on those who’ve been lobbying for ever-restrictive patent rights on pharmaceuticals. For example, as KEI has pointed…


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Copyright COVID-19

Real-Time Piracy Concerns Emerge as Live Music Streaming Goes Mainstream in Wake of COVID-19

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We’re glad to bring to you a guest post by Simrat Kaur, discussing the piracy challenges that may emerge with live music streaming becoming a norm in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Simrat is a New Delhi based IP lawyer. She pursued her undergraduate law course from Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab and masters law course from National University of Singapore. After having worked with leading Indian law firms (Anand & Anand and Luthra & Luthra Law…


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COVID-19 Patent

Are Patent Pools an Effective Solution to COVID-19’s IP Barriers?

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The COVID-19 pandemic has in many ways shown the benefits of collaborative research. Data is being released freely almost every day on preprint servers, which is proving to be crucial for understanding the biology of the virus and in the search for possible drugs and vaccinations. Research and discovery of genome structures too, which has traditionally been limited to private institutions is now being publicly shared on platforms such as GISAID to help researchers and scientists work with open access…


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Copyright COVID-19

SpicyIP Tidbit: Reverse Engineering of Aarogya Setu App Not Prohibited Anymore

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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:…


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Copyright COVID-19

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

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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….


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Copyright COVID-19

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

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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….


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Copyright COVID-19

The Legality of Digital Libraries in a Lockdown

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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…


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