US Supreme Court Upholds States’ Immunity from Copyright Infringement Suits : Is US in Violation of the TRIPS Agreement?

Last month, the US Supreme Court issued its judgement in an interesting case involving sovereign immunity for copyright infringement. This was the case of Frederick L Allen v. Roy A. Cooper, III, Gov of North Carolina et al. The copyrighted work in question involved the videos and photos taken by the plaintiff concerning the shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s revenge. The plaintiffs sued the State of North Carolina when it published some of these videos and photos online and the […]

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SpicyIP Events: Sagacious IP’s Virtual Conference on the Occasion of World IP Day [April 28]

We’re pleased to inform you that Sagacious IP is organizing a virtual conference on the occasion of World IP Day on ‘How MSMEs can Innovate and Lead into a Green Future’. The Conference is scheduled to be held on April 28, 2020. For further details, please read the announcement below: Virtual Conference on ‘How MSMEs can Innovate and Lead into a Green Future’ on the Occasion of World IP Day [April 28] To mark the occasion of World IP Day, Sagacious

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Regarding the Scrapping of the IPAB

We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Justice (Retd.) Prabha Sridevan on the shutting down of IPAB (our recent series of posts on which can be viewed here). Justice Sridevan needs no introduction – she served as a judge of the Madras High Court from 2000 to 2010 and as the Chairperson of the IPAB from 2011 to 2013 and her stint as both resulted in a number of significant IP developments, which we have covered here, here, here and here.

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Is Sub-Licensing of a Trademark Permitted under the Indian Trade Marks Act?

Last month, I had blogged about the feasibility of a sub-license under the Indian copyright law. In this blog post, I will examine the issue whether the Indian Trade Marks Act, 1999 (“the TM Act”) permits sub-licensing of trademarks. An oft-discussed issue while working on corporate deals which involve IP licensing is the insistence by a licensee that its “right to sub-license” the mark must be provided for in the agreement. In my opinion, it is not permissible under the

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The Case for Keeping the IPAB Open – Part II

I am compelled to draft a reply to Prashant’s response to my post (which in turn was a response to the initial post by him and Prannv arguing for the shutdown of IPAB). The bulk of my ire is against the allegation that I have written my last post only because I make a living off the IPAB. I must state that the courts, especially the High Courts are substantially the means of my daily subsistence. Therefore, my views against

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Offence of Copyright Infringement Cognizable or Not? : Still a Catch 22 Situation!

We’re pleased to bring to you another post by our intern, Bhavik Shukla, discussing whether the offence of copyright infringement under section 63 of the Copyright Act is cognizable or not. Through the post, he notes the impact of the classification of the offence on creativity and free speech. Bhavik is a 5th year student at NLIU, Bhopal. Offence of Copyright Infringement Cognizable or Not? : Still a Catch 22 Situation! Bhavik Shukla Recently, in a decision which has evoked

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Former IPAB Chairperson Supports the Scrapping of IPAB, while IP Lawyers Continue to Live in Denial

Last week, Arun responded to my piece to shut down the IPAB and shift back its functions to the High Courts. I am not surprised – Arun’s firm makes a healthy living by filing matters before the IPAB. I have been speaking to several other people on this issue including former Chairperson of the IPAB, Justice Prabha Sridevan who was kind enough to point me to an opinion piece she wrote many years ago in the Hindu calling for the

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (April 13 – 19)

(This post has been authored by our intern, Bhavik Shukla, a 5th year student at NLIU, Bhopal) Topical Highlight In an important and pertinent post, Namratha discussed the applicability of India’s fair use provisions to the use of copyrighted works for online education during the current COVID-19 pandemic. First, she notes that the scope of fair use under section 52(1)(i) of the Copyright Act is not merely limited to classroom teaching but to the entire process of education, including online

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CovEducation, Copyright and Fair Use in India

The coronavirus pandemic and the consequent lockdowns across the globe has completely turned our everyday lives upside down. Social distancing, work from home and online classes are the current norm. While we adjust to this new normal, issues surrounding the uncertainty of how copyright law applies to online education have cropped up. This post analyzes the position of Indian law on the copyright related questions that have arisen in other jurisdictions in the wake of online teaching and the scope

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The Case for Keeping the IPAB Open

I had read Prashant and Prannv’s post, and wanted to explain why scuttling the IPAB is not the fix for bureaucratic red-tapism, of which the IPAB has been a rather targeted victim. Needless to state there have been intermittent delays in appointing chairpersons and members to the IPAB. This was especially manifested in the appointment of the last two chairpersons. The cause of this delay cannot obviously be thrust on the Tribunal itself, which is subject to the vagaries of the

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