In these unprecedented times where a pandemic has brought the globe to a standstill, the top-most concern of IP owners (of course, other than to save themselves from COVID-19) would be about meeting deadlines in IP prosecution. This is because, deadlines in IP prosecution are often hard deadlines, and if extendable, involve a fee – sometimes these require the filing of signed/ notarised/ stamped documents. This concern is equally and anxiously shared by IP lawyers who assist IP owners around…

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 16 – 22)

by SpicyIP March 23, 2020

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(This post has been authored by Bhavik Shukla, a 5th year student at NLIU, Bhopal) Topical Highlight Swaraj covered all the adjournments issued by the various IP offices in India due to the COVID-19 outbreak. First, he notes the adjournment of all in person hearings in various Patent Offices in India till April 15, 2020, the notice for which directs video conferencing in the alternative. [As per a notice issued today, all video conferencing hearings at the Patent Office scheduled…

Publication of Pleadings without Lawyers’ Consent : Copyright Infringement or Fair Use?

by Balu Nair March 20, 2020

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Earlier this month, the Supreme Court held that legal pleadings/court records cannot be accessed through the Right to Information Act if the procedure for obtaining them is provided for under the procedural rules of the court (for a wonderful summary of the decision, see Prashant’s piece in The Hindu here). Pleadings are documents of various sorts submitted by parties to a case. In India, it is extremely difficult to access these documents. As detailed in this Vidhi report, one may…

SpicyIP Fellowship: Directors’ Plight without (Copy)Right – ‘Mr. India’ Trilogy Runs Into Trouble

by SpicyIP March 17, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you a post by our Fellowship applicant, Lokesh Vyas, on the rights of film directors (or rather the absence of them) under Indian copyright law. Lokesh is a 4th year student at Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad. This is his first submission for the Fellowship. Directors’ Plight without (Copy)Right: ‘Mr. India’ Trilogy Runs Into Trouble Lokesh Vyas The Copyright Act, 1957 recognizes three stakeholders in a movie namely; producers, authors of underlying works (such…

Royzz & Co. Int’l Student Scholarship for IP LL.M. at University of New Hampshire (UNH) Franklin Pierce School of Law [Apply by April 1]

by SpicyIP March 16, 2020

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As we’d informed our readers last year, the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property at the University of New Hampshire School of Law (UNH) and Royzz & Co. (erstwhile Solomon & Roy) have partnered to offer a scholarship for prospective international LL.M. students specialising in IP Law. The scholarship applications for the upcoming academic year are due by April 1, 2020. For further details, please read the post below where the recipient of the scholarship for the current academic year…

COVID-19 Others

[Updated] COVID-19 Related Adjournments at Indian Patent Office, IPAB

by Swaraj Paul Barooah March 16, 2020

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Japanese light signs for proceed, caution, stop

[Further related adjournments have been updated on this page. If readers know of other adjournments that are not listed here, we request you to mention them in the comments below. The edits that have been included since the first posting of this include: Final Edit: 26/03/20: Cancellation of hearings in Patent Office amid COVID19: See here All IP Offices to remain closed for 21 days:See here Last date to Register for Patent Agent Exam-2020 Extended to 15.04.2020 : See here…

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

by Divij Joshi March 16, 2020

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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…

Others

SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 9 -15)

by Namratha Murugeshan March 16, 2020

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Topical Highlight In an extremely topical post, Swaraj wrote about how COVID-19 (Corona Virus) has brought forth the tension between public health and private-profits. Given the widespread panic, there have been many calls for delinking R&D costs from drug prices and finding new pharmaceutical innovation models. Swaraj notes that while open-access, open sharing of information along with greater calls for collaboration have been used in the emergency response, big pharmaceutical companies are still pushing for greater IP protection and liberty…

Publication

Call for Papers: NLSIU’s Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT) Vol. 16 [Submit by April 15]

by SpicyIP March 15, 2020

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We are pleased to inform our readers that NLSIU Bangalore’s Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT) is inviting original and unpublished manuscripts for publication in Volume 16. For further details, please see the call for papers below: Call for Papers: NLSIU’s Indian Journal of Law & Technology Vol. 16: Submit by April 15th, 2020 The Indian Journal of Law & Technology (IJLT) is now accepting submissions for Volume 16. Please send in your submissions before April 15, 2020 in…

Events

SpicyIP Events: Workshop on Access to Medicines, TRIPS and Patents in the Developing World [Guwahati, April 20-24]

by SpicyIP March 15, 2020

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We’re pleased to inform you that The Third World Network (TWN), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan are organising a five day workshop on Access to Medicines, TRIPS and Patents in the Developing World from April 20-24, 2020 in Guwahati, Assam. The deadline for applications is March 20, 2020. For further details, please see the announcement below: Workshop on Access to Medicines, TRIPS and Patents in the Developing World Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Third World Network (TWN)…