Category Archives: Innovation

A recent judgement of the Bombay High Court may have finally put to rest the convoluted saga of the applicability of the statutory licensing scheme under the Copyright Act to online streaming services. In a blow to online music services in India (looking at you, Spotify), in Tips Industries v Wynk Music, Mr. Justice Kathawalla has comprehensively rejected the claim that online streaming services are eligible for being granted statutory licenses for broadcasting under Section 31D of the Copyright Act….

Innovation Others Patent

US Trade Representative Special 301 Report 2019: “Phir Ek Baar, Priority Watch List Ki Vaar”

by Divij Joshi April 28, 2019

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aka the Priority Watch List Strikes Again. For the 27th year in a row, India has made it to the infamous Priority Watch List in the Special 301 Report – an annual classification exercise by the office of the US Trade Representative, meant to put pressure on nations allegedly not complying with United States’ domestic standards for intellectual property protection. The list classifies certain countries as belonging to a ‘watch list’, or a ‘priority watch list’, and is meant to…

Innovation Patent

Patenting Blockchain Services in USA and India

by Prarthana Patnaik June 20, 2018

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Blockchain, initially introduced as a part of the Bitcoin currency, has now proven to be the new game-changer technology in several industries, with big corporations using it for various customer-friendly services such as cross-border payment systems, electronic shipping platforms, portable health records etc. Blockchains act as databases that store records for every transaction conducted and which are distributed, indestructible, decentralized, peer-to-peer and independently verifiable in nature. Controversies arise, however, when companies seek to patent their blockchain based services. Blockchain patents…

Innovation

Global Innovation Index: General Deconstruction and Critique

by Prateek Surisetti March 14, 2018

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In October 2017, I posted a brief report on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2017 (10th edition). Over the course of the ensuing write-up, I have attempted to provide a more general review of the GII, albeit basing most viewpoints on recent reports (including the 2017 report). The objective is to acquire a better understanding of (a) the process behind such indices, (b) the inherent subjectivity and also, (c) take note of a few limitations of the GII. The GII…

Innovation Others Patent

And the Wind Invented the Windmill

by Pankhuri Agarwal February 14, 2018

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We are pleased to bring to you a guest post by Achille Forler, Advisor to the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS). After graduating in Graphic Arts, Achille studied Indian Culture (M.A.) and Sanskrit (Ph.D.). He has 35 years of experience in the creative industries. Founder-director of a cultural centre in the 1980s, he was Attaché for Cultural Industries in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1990-94). He co-organised the first Asia-Europe Symposium on Cultural Industries, November 1995 in Goa. Achille…

Innovation Patent

Are Patents Property: India vs United States

by Shamnad Basheer December 19, 2017

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In a recent brief filed before the United States Supreme Court, the US government argued that patents are not property! For those not in the know, this relates to a monumental constitutional challenge (Oil States Energy vs Green’s Energy Group) to a proceeding at the US patent office called the Inter-Partes Review (IPR), where third parties can contest the grant of a patent. A bit similar to our post grant opposition proceeding. Under US law, you cannot divest someone of…

Innovation

India’s Performance in the Global Innovation Index 2017

by Prateek Surisetti October 1, 2017

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INTRODUCTION In a couple of weeks, I shall be posting a detailed analysis of the methodology employed by the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2017 Report. But prior to that, I felt it would be beneficial to provide readers with a brief synopsis of India’s performance in the said report. Report is accessible here. Over the course of this post, I intend to cover the following: Basic Data Regarding The GII India’s Performance In Isolation India’s Performance in Comparison to the…

Driving Them Up The (Pay)Wall – Sci-Hub and the Disruption of the Academic Publishing Industry

by Divij Joshi July 25, 2017

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Elsevier, one of the world’s largest publishing houses, has quite a hallowed history. Founded in 1880, it has today transformed itself from a small Dutch publisher of classical scholarship into a multi-billion dollar enterprise, controlling access to over 2,000 scientific and research journals and with some of the highest profits among any industry. Sci-Hub, a free, online, tool, has an admittedly humbler past. Started in 2011 by Kazakh student Alexandra Elbakyan, the project has no significant financial backing, its management is virtually…

Open/Secret – Assessing India’s Commitment to Open Data

by Divij Joshi June 27, 2017

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Image from here The ‘Digital India’ slogan has not been enough to pull the government out of its digital data doldrums. India’s rank in the Global Open Data Index, which ranks countries on openness across various sets of government data, dropped 15 places to No. 32 between 2015 and 2016. While some gains have been made in the implementation of the data.gov.in portal under the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (“NDSAP”), these are fledgling in relation to the…