In a press release by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, it was clarified that any order of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and any decision of intellectual property offices (such as the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks) can be challenged before High Courts by way of a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution and before the Supreme Court by way of Special Leave Petition under Article 136 of the Constitution. This press release is…

The New (Draft) Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Guidelines – Part II

by Adarsh Ramanujan December 9, 2019

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Continuing further on my comments on the new Draft ABS Guidelines, 2019. Definition of Conventional Breeding Under draft Regulation 12(d), accessing biological resources for “conventional breeding or traditional practices in use in any agriculture, horticulture, poultry, dairy farming, animal husbandry or bee keeping”, is exempt from approval. This exemption can perhaps be traced to the exclusion of the said activities in Section 2(f) of the BDA. However, the regulations now add a qualifier that such activities are exempt only if…

Biological Diversity

The New (Draft) Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Guidelines – Part I

by Adarsh Ramanujan December 7, 2019

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In this post, I intend to share my views on the draft “Guidelines on Access to Biological Resources and Associated Knowledge and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Regulations, 2019” (draft ABS Regulations, 2019). As many may be aware, the previous version of the same guidelines was issued in 2014, viz., ABS Regulations, 2014. The draft ABS Regulations, 2019, is intended to replace the earlier version and was put up for comments earlier this year. The topic is a little dated, but…

Designs

Design Rights: Originality to Remain the Sole Criterion ? – India and the EU

by Pankhuri Agarwal December 6, 2019

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We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Mathangi K. Mathangi is a second year law student at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar. Design Rights: Originality to Remain the Sole Criterion ? – India and the EU Mathangi K The origin of the term “industrial design” can be traced back to the 20th century German architect Peter Behres, who has been hailed to be the first industrial designer in the world. The concept of “industrial design” as an…

Trademark

Sale of the ‘.org’ Domain Registry Sparks Concerns About Privatisation of the Internet Commons

by Divij Joshi December 3, 2019

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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…

Trademark

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.,…

Others

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…

Others

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…

Others

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….