Draft Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Proposes Major Changes to India’s Open Access Culture

by Swaraj Paul Barooah January 4, 2021

[This post has been co-authored with Praharsh Gour] On 2/01/2021, the Ministry of Science and Technology rolled out the draft version of the proposed Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. The process to have a new policy, subsequent to the 2013 one, was in the works since May 2020 (see here for our coverage of the same). And after a claimed 4 track process of consultations and “nearly 300 rounds of consultations with more than 40,000 stakeholders well distributed in terms…

The Sci-Hub Case: Why It is Time to Stop Favouring the Doctrinal Approach to Law over an Empirical One

by SpicyIP January 4, 2021

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The Sci-Hub/Libgen case continues to generate interest from researchers across the country. We’re pleased to bring you another guest post on this issue, this time one that showcases the results of a ‘mini survey’ on users of Sci-Hub, as well as highlights the lack of empirical evidence in these debates. This post is co-authored by Anshuman Sahoo and Aditi Shirpurkar. Anshuman is a 2nd year LL.M. student at Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Kharagpur. He regularly writes…

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Interdigital v. Xiaomi: Confidential Information and Open Courts

by Anupriya Dhonchak January 4, 2021

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In this post on the recent Delhi High Court order in Interdigital v. Xiaomi, I highlight how the common practice of courts granting confidentiality in commercial litigation without much reasoning does not augur well for transparency, judicial accountability and the citizens’ right to be informed of Court processes and reasoning as part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. The Public’s Right to Know The Delhi High Court’s order…

Patent Trade Secret

Interdigital v. Xiaomi: Relevance for Defendant’s Rights beyond SEP Litigation

by Anupriya Dhonchak January 4, 2021

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Recently, Nikhil covered InterDigital’s ongoing SEP (Standard Essential Patents) infringement dispute with Xiaomi, wherein a Confidentiality Club was proposed for sharing confidential documents to assess whether the licensing terms being offered by InterDigital were on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) basis. The Delhi High Court in its recent order in the case rejected the plaintiff’s proposal to restrict access to certain confidential information from the defendant’s representatives, and to make it subject only to external eyes. In this post, I discuss the relevance…

SpicyIP Weekly Review (December 28 – January 3)

by Anupriya Dhonchak January 4, 2021

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Topical Highlight Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part I In this three-part post, Nikhil dissects the ongoing copyright litigation in the Delhi High Court by three big publishing houses, namely Elsevier, Wiley and ACM against the shadow libraries Libgen and Sci-Hub, alongwith the interpretive issues before the court. In Part I, he explains the background of the dispute and analyses the dynamic injunction plea sought by the plaintiffs. He argues that a thorough…

COVID-19 Trademark

Tenability of Passing Off Action against ‘Covishield’ Vaccine of Serum Institute of India

by Mathews P. George January 3, 2021

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As you are aware of, Covishield, the vaccine candidate of Serum Institute of India was approved by Drug Controller General of India for restricted emergency use today. Pertinently, a passing off suit was filed against Serum Institute of India by a Nanded-based pharmaceutical company Cutis Biotech last month, which claimed to be the lawful and the prior user of the trade name ‘Covishield’. The trademark applications, which were filed by the Cutis Biotech and the Serum Institute of India, are…

A Look Back at India’s Top IP Developments of 2020

by Pankhuri Agarwal January 1, 2021

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(This post has been co-authored with SpicyIP Fellows Adyasha Samal, Anupriya Dhonchak and Nikhil Purohit.) Here’s wishing all our readers a very happy, safe and healthy new year! Unfortunately, many traditions worldwide had to be broken the past year, but here at SpicyIP we’re glad to continue our annual tradition of recounting all the significant developments that impacted the Indian IP landscape in 2020. This year, we have divided these developments into four categories: a) Top 10 IP Judgments/Orders (Topicality/Impact) b) Top…

‘Jhund’ Injunction Order: Copyright and Personality Rights in Real Life Stories

by SpicyIP December 31, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Shivam Kaushik, analysing the Telangana High Court’s order granting an interim injunction restraining the release of the film ‘Jhund’ in October this year. Shivam is a 5th year law student at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He’s previously also written guest posts for us, titled ‘Copyright and Webinars: Ownership, Licensing and Fair Use’ , ‘Govt’s Draft Model Guidelines on Implementation of IPR Policy for Academic Institutions – A Critique‘, ‘Reengineering of the Requirement…

Copyright and the Sci-Hub/Libgen Case: A Constitutional Query

by SpicyIP December 30, 2020

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By now, most readers are likely to be aware of the case against the shadow libraries Sci-Hub and LibGen, by three publishing houses. We had a post questioning why ‘poorer’ countries were still allowing copyright law to act as a hindrance to development here, and a three-part post looking into the case against Sci-Hub and LibGen, the fair dealing exception and the education use exception here, here and here. We’re pleased to now bring you an incisive post by Saral…

Sci-Hub and Libgen Up against Academic Publishers: A Death Knell for Access to Research? – Part III

by Nikhil Purohit December 28, 2020

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This post is in continuation of my previous posts dealing with the background on the copyright infringement suit against Sci-Hub and Libgen (here) and the applicability of the fair dealing exception to the impugned use of copyrighted works (here). In this post, I discuss the exception in the Copyright Act for use of works for the purposes of education and the interim injunction plea sought by the plaintiffs. Education Exception Section 52(1)(i) of the Act allows for “the reproduction of…

Sadly, No! { This is bizarre since it has been widely recognised now, even in the most capitalist countries such as the US, that pharmaceutical companies and their market-oriented incentives will... }
Ravikiran Upadya { Firstly, well written. Now, I've a basic question. I know quite a few people, (it was 17 when I stopped keeping count) who have been re-infected. Some after... }
Mohan { Are there any patents (granted or pending) for Covid-19 vaccines?. If yes, how is it possible since virus appeared in 2019 only.. }
Congratulations { Just on what is ICMR's contribution: 15 NEWS NATIONAL NATIONAL ICMR to get royalty from Covaxin sale Jacob Koshy NEW DELHI 03 MAY 2021 22:41 IST UPDATED: 03... }
Congratulations { You responded but there was no need. Thanks. Your response on the first point is completely unrelated to the point. I simply mentioned that vaccine waiver demand before... }