Category Archives: Overlaps in IP

Piracy, Privacy and Procurement: What Internet and Software Associations Had to Say About India to the USTR

by Divij Joshi March 16, 2020

Following up on Prashant’s detailed coverage of certain commercial associations making representations to the US Trade Representative on its Special 301 Report, I looked into the representations made by prominent software and internet industry associations. Below, I summarise the India-specific recommendations of the following bodies – the Business Software Alliance (BSA), Internet Association and the International Intellectual Property Association (IIPA). India Continues to be a ‘Piracy Priority’ for the Special 301 Lobbies The business associations had little love for India…

Overlaps in IP

WIPO Public Consultation on AI and Intellectual Property

by Divij Joshi December 13, 2019

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The World Intellectual Property Organisation has called for public comments as part of its process to develop a policy on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Rights. The call is available here. The call is concurrent with the release of WIPO’s issues paper where it has outlined the following core issues concerning the relationships between AI and IP: (a) Patents (b) Copyright (c) Data (d) Designs (e) Technology Gap and Capacity Building and; (f) Accountability for IP Administrative Decisions. Submissions are…

Overlaps in IP Privacy

Just (Let) Google (Do) It: Updates on the Right to Be Forgotten from the European Union

by Divij Joshi September 30, 2019

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In two significant judgements made on September 24, 2019, the top court of the European Union, the CJEU, has deliberated upon the scope of the delisting and de-indexing requirements (otherwise known as the Right to Be Forgotten (‘RTBF’)) to be followed by search engine operators under the EU’s data protection laws, including the Data Protection Directive as well as the more recent General Data Protection Regulation. In Google v CNIL, the Court has held that EU law does not require…

Competition Law Data Exclusivity Overlaps in IP Patent

Shogun Organics: Burden of Proof and Follow On Registrations

by Aparajita Lath August 25, 2019

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Shogun Organics Limited v. Gauri Hari and Others is a curious case concerning burden of proof and an apparent conflict between the Patents Act, 1970 and the Insecticides Act, 1968. Facts Shogun Organics Limited (plaintiff) filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction to restrain the defendants from infringing its process patent. The patent relates to the manufacturing of d-trans Allethrin (an active ingredient in mosquito repellants). Shogun had also obtained an ‘original’ registration for the manufacture of this product under the…

Design Overlaps in IP Trademark

Delhi HC: Clearing the Confusion Around Design-Trademark Overlaps

by Prarthana Patnaik December 19, 2018

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A few days ago, I had written a post on the Delhi HC’s judgment in Greenlight Planet India Pvt. Ltd. vs Gee Lighting Technology dealing with a design-trademark overlap. The Court, in this order, had deliberated on the issue of whether a separate suit of passing off can be filed for a registered design after having filed a prior suit of design infringement. In their order, they limited their analysis to Order II, Rule 2 of the CPC (which does not allow…

Design Overlaps in IP Trademark

Delhi HC Deals with Yet Another Design-Trademark Overlap!

by Prarthana Patnaik December 13, 2018

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IP overlaps take place when multiple overlapping IP rights vest in an owner for a single subject matter. These overlaps have given way to numerous debates regarding over-protection, policy implications, statutory interpretation and many more issues. (To get a better understanding of the same, do refer to Prof. Basheer’s chapter in Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights.) Design-trademark overlaps, in particular, have had an interesting history in Indian litigation. A recent decision of the Delhi HC yet again brings these overlaps to the fore. In…

Overlaps in IP

Foreign IP Law Firms Defying SC Ruling?

by Prarthana Patnaik October 26, 2018

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The issue of foreign law firms allegedly defying SC instructions in their practice in India was recently brought into attention by a complaint filed by Sumit Sinha, an advocate on record. The complaint was filed before the Bar Council of India, the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks and other authorities. It identified certain foreign law firms namely Zacco, Abu Ghazaleh, Mirandah Asia, United GIPS, Clydes and Anderson Global. Notably, all these firms have some sort of local presence in India…

Overlaps in IP Patent

India’s IPR Regime Looks to Hi-Tech to Improve Administration – From Video Conferencing to AI and Blockchain

by Divij Joshi October 23, 2018

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The IPR administrative offices form the backbone of the legal system of India’s IP regimes. The efficacy of the law depends, to a large extent, on how these offices manage their administrative tasks, which includes substantive evaluation of claims over IP, as well as tasks of effectively maintaining registries and public records. We have written, in the past, about many worrying aspects of their administration, such as non-transparent functioning of the Copyright Office, or the skewed incentives system within the…

Obscenity and Morality under IP Law

by Prarthana Patnaik September 2, 2018

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Obscenity under the Indian Penal Code (“IPC”) is a relic of India’s colonial past. Though the need for such a provision is often subject to debate, it is indisputable that the judiciary’s interpretation of this provision has been often been anachronistic in past instances. The judiciary has, no doubt, evolved from the infamous Hicklin Test (tendency of the impugned material to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences) to the contemporary community standards (testing the impugned material against contemporary…

Overlaps in IP Patent

India Breaks the Patents-Customs Linkage a Bit!

by Prarthana Patnaik July 1, 2018

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The IP-customs linkage has always been a contentious one. Particularly so in the case of patents, an area of law which is difficult enough to decipher for trained judges, much less customs officials (more often than not generalist bureaucrats appointed by the Government of India). Given this problematic linkage, it is heartening to note that vide a recent notification dated 22nd June, 2018, issued by the Central Government, the linkage between patents and customs has effectively been broken (a bit)….