The administration of the World Wide Web’s ‘.org’ domain registry has been handed over from a non-profit organisation to a private equity organisation, sparking concerns and backlash about the privatization of internet commons and possibly increased censorship owing to the change in the non-profit status of the domain name registrar. Domain name registrars are responsible for the allocation of domain names (the naming system of the world wide web) and also set the policies for acceptable uses of Top Level…

Charminar Case by the Indian Supreme Court in 1996 and the AG’s Opinion in Sky v. Sky Kick

by Latha Nair December 2, 2019

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On October 16, 2019 the Advocate General (AG) of the European Court of Justice rendered an opinion in Sky Plc & Ors v. Sky Kick UK Ltd. & Anr. (“the Sky case”) in a reference by Justice Arnold of the England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division). The AG’s opinion caught my attention because the opinion as well as the facts of the case resonated the 1996 order of the Indian Supreme Court in Vishnu Das Trading v. Vazir Sultan Tobacco Ltd.,…

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SpicyIP Fortnightly Review (Nov 18 – Dec 1)

by Rishabh Mohnot December 1, 2019

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Topical Highlight Recently, the Delhi HC set aside two interim injunction orders passed against Natco. In a post co-authored by Pankhuri Agarwal and Bhavik Shukla, these orders were identified as a welcome restoration of the three-pronged test for the grant of interim injunctions in India. The earlier orders of Justice Endlaw had done away with the three-pronged test in light of the interests of the patentee. However, the authors note that the three-pronged test must be retained to ensure that…

CISAC Global Collections Report – 2019

by Mathews P. George November 29, 2019

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CISAC is the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers. Its stated objective is to ‘protect the rights and promote the interests of creators across all regions of the world and artistic fields; music, audiovisual, drama, literature and visual arts’. It aims to ‘foster a legislative environment that supports the cultural and creative industries, thereby contributing to both cultural diversity and economic growth worldwide’. [For more details, please click here.] According to Wikipedia, it is the world’s largest international…

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CUSAT Institutes Minor IP Research Project for Teachers

by Pankhuri Agarwal November 28, 2019

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We’re pleased to inform you that The Inter-University Centre for IPR Studies (IUCIPRS), Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) has instituted a Minor Research Project with the objective of encouraging young teachers from Kerala and the rest of India, to undertake research in the area of intellectual property rights. For further details, please see the announcement below: IUCIPRS Minor Research Project in the Area of IPR for Teachers The Inter-University Centre for IPR Studies (IUCIPRS), Cochin University of Science…

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Appreciating the Fundamentals of Trade Secrets Law – I

by Mathews P. George November 27, 2019

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I discussed a trade secret case law recently. I wrote that I would discuss some of the fundamental aspects from a comparative law perspective. As a prelude, I can only discuss the broad contours of trade secret protection in a blog post. I am limiting the discussion of this post to fundamentals of trade secret protection and US position. I shall discuss the EU position in a later post. If specific questions are asked, I shall try to answer them….

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GoI Approves Patent Prosecution Highway Program

by Mathews P. George November 27, 2019

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Government of India approved the proposal for Bilateral Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Programme between Indian Patent Office under Controller General of Patents, Design and Trade Marktis (CGPDTM), Government of India and Patent Offices of other interested countries/regions. The maiden initiative is with Japanese Patent Office (JPO). It will be run on a pilot basis for a period of three years. What is a Patent Prosecution Highway Programme? The word “prosecution” is not to be understood as in Criminal Law. Broadly…

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Tribunal Rules: Trade Marks Act to Govern IPAB Appointments Again till New Rules are Framed

by Balu Nair November 24, 2019

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[This post has been co-authored with Pankhuri Agarwal] Earlier this month, the Supreme Court in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank Ltd. & Ors., struck down the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017 (‘Rules’) framed under Section 184 of the Finance Act, 2017 (‘Act’) on the grounds that they impinge on judicial independence and are contrary to the guidelines laid down in cases like RK Jain and Madras Bar…

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Justice Endlaw’s Lessons on Legal Drafting

by Latha Nair November 22, 2019

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Earlier this year, Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw made a concluding remark on the “non-essential verbosity” of a plaintiff in a civil dispute [Nikita Gupta v. Alok Gupta (May 21, 2019)]. He observed that the plaint filed therein was a classic textbook case of how not to draft a plaint, which he felt should have been taught in law schools. Justice Endlaw has raised similar concerns in the past even in IP cases. In Vifor (International) v. Suven Life Sciences Ltd.,…

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Transborder Prosecution History Estoppel in Patent Litigation?

by SpicyIP November 20, 2019

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We’re pleased to bring to you an insightful guest post by Abhilasha Nautiyal. Abhilasha is an attorney at Ira Law, a firm that she co-founded with other colleagues. Prior to this, she was a partner at an IP law firm. Abhilasha graduated from the Army Institute of Law and then pursued a master’s in law from Harvard Law School. Her detailed bio can be found here. Abhilasha has co-authored a guest post for us in the past as well. Transborder…