Overlaps in IP

Part I: Flower Nahi, Fire: Delhi HC Waters the Wrong Rights (Again!) 

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

Recent personality rights orders from the Delhi High Court continue to push the doctrine into uncertain territory, with the latest ruling in favour of Allu Arjun marking a particularly sharp turn. In Part I of the two-part post on the order, Dr. Aakanksha Kumar argues that by characterizing the likeness of the actor as “copyrights of the plaintiff”, the Court collapses distinct IP doctrines into an overbroad conception of “personality rights,” raising serious concerns for copyright and publicity jurisprudence in […]

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The SpicyIP TV Podcast SS Edn: Ep 09 with Dr. Kailash Nadh on Reimagining Copyright, Tech Sovereignty, Open Source, and Innovation

/ By / Copyright, Others, Overlaps in IP, Patent, Podcast

In the 9th episode of the SpicyIP Podcast Summer School Edition, it was a privilege to speak with Dr. Kailash Nadh, a major proponent of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in India, who many know as the CTO of Zerodha. It was a great learning experience for us as students to have him at the Summer School, where he took a session under the trees discussing Open Source software and technology sovereignty, nudging students to re-think IP in the

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Novenco v. Xero: Do IP Cases Get a Free Pass to Bypass Sec 12-A? 

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

The recent decision of the SC in Novenco Building and Industry v. Xero Energy Engineering seems to have been well taken. Comments online have showered praised over the decision for striking the right balance between procedural lapse and substantive justice. Writing on this blog for over 2 years now, I have learnt one important lesson- the outcome must never shift one’s focus away from the reasoning.  To gauge how much off the mark reasoning in this judgement was, please read this- “the public

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Let’s IPsa Loquitur: The Personality Rights Debacle – Whose Face Value Is It Anyway?

/ By / Copyright, Overlaps in IP, Podcast, Privacy

Regular readers (and now, viewers!) would’ve seen the launch of our SpicyIP TV series with the Summer School edition, where we spoke with many of the fantastic faculty members who had come to generously spend their time with our summer school students. That series (still on-going, with more to come), is geared especially towards those who are interested in the state of legal education as well as various ways of approaching how to build one’s career in IP and related

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GUI and IP: Here, There and Everywhere!

/ By / Copyright, Design, Others, Overlaps in IP, Patent

Image from here The Calcutta High Court (CalHC) seems poised to resolve the issue of registrability of GUI under the Designs Act (Act) once and for all. In a recent order in Erbe Elektromedizin GmbH v. Controller of Patents (Erbe, IPDAID/22/2024), CalHC has appointed Adv. Adarsh Ramanujan as amicus curiae to assist the Court on a matter, which seems to involve questions on the registrability of GUI under the Designs Act (See Adarsh’s post). This comes at a time when

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Double-Dipping via Design? Why the Crocs Judgment on Trade Dress and Design Rights Wrongly Mixes it Up

/ By / Design, Overlaps in IP, Trademark

A division bench of the Delhi High Court recently passed a judgment addressing whether a remedy against a passing off allegation be sought for a design registered under the Designs Act. The judgement was passed in an appeal arising out of two orders of a single judge passed in Dart Industries v. Vijay Kumar Bansal and Crocs v. Bata (which was passed after clubbing together 5 suits), and relies extensively on a DHC 5 judge bench decision in Carlesber v.

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Image of Dr. Kshipra Uke and Dr. Shiv Shankar Das.

A Big Win for Dalit Researchers: Implications for IP

/ By / Copyright, Overlaps in IP

[Long Post ahead!] In Nov. 2023, the Bombay HC (Nagpur Bench) delivered a salient judgement, with significant implications for both the SC/ST Act and “Intellectual Property”. Rightfully, the case was highlighted for its positive outcome in providing monetary relief to the Dalit researchers for the theft of their research data. However, while the case is certainly a situation of just and deserved outcomes, the jurisprudential path the case took brings up some concerns that have gone unscrutinised —can research data, often uncopyrightable

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Cheroots to Cheers or Bringing IP Conversations to Wider Audiences: A SpicyIP Initiative for Vernacular Dissemination

/ By / Opportunities, Others, Overlaps in IP, Publication

Discussions over intellectual property rights are not just restricted to our textbooks but spill over to the kind of music we listen to,the medicines we intake and much much more. However, it cannot be denied that discussions around IP have been somewhat confined to the academic, legal and policy circles, navigating our mind frames like giant smoke rings from formidable cheroots of erstwhile colonial English Lords. These formidable cheroots are the technical language that shrouds IP rights (not always the

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (September 9-September 15)

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

Here is our recap of last week’s top IP developments including summary of the posts on posthumous personality rights of artists, and book reviews of “Modern Law of Copyright in Singapore” and “Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights (2nd Ed.). This and a lot more in this week’s SpicyIP Weekly Review. Anything we are missing out on? Drop a comment below to let us know.  Highlights of the Week  Book Review: Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights 2nd Edition The 2nd edition of “Overlapping IP

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Book Review: Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights 2nd Edition

/ By / Overlaps in IP

We’re very happy to bring to our readers a review of one of the last (to reach completion, at least) pieces of work that our founder, Prof Basheer had been working on prior to his passing. Started in 2018, the 2nd edition of Overlapping IP Rights (OUP) was brought to completion in 2023 by his co-editor, the inimitable Prof Neil Wilkof, along with Prof Irene Calboli who came on as a co-editor following Prof Basheer’s demise. The book, a follow

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