Global Excess v. Union of India: Compulsory Registration for Import of Electronic Goods Not a Restriction on Parallel Imports

/ By / Others

On 17th January, 2014, the Gujarat High Court set aside a Writ Petition, holding that the “Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012” which mandates the registration of fifteen categories of electronics items under the Compulsory Registration Scheme of Department of Consumer Affairs subject to compliance with Indian safety standards was neither violative of Arts. 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India nor an indirect ban on parallel imports.  The petitioner in this case was […]

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SPICY IP TIDBIT: Govt for discussion paper on royalty payment ceiling

/ By / Copyright, Others, Patent, Trademark

Background We had earlier reported that the Indian government, in 2009, waived the requirement of prior government approval in case of payment of royalty by Indian companies to multinational corporations and allowed such payments through the automatic route. Later, we also carried a Business Standard report which stated that the aforesaid relaxation is being used by the MNCs to divert a major portion of the profits made by their Indian arms in the form of royalty payments and technology transfer

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SpicyIP Events: IT Legal Summit 2014

/ By / Event, Sponsored

Information Technology Legal Summit (ITLS) 2014, 22nd May, 2014 Vivanta by Taj – Whitefield, Bengaluru http://www.itlegalsummit.com Download Summit Agenda | Register Now! Aim of the Summit With globalization and IT Revolution there are issue that do not fall within the same spectrum of law or jurisdiction and making difficult to easily avail a consolidated expert knowledge of applicable laws at transaction level and any relevant interpretation thereto. The 2nd Annual of IT Legal Summit by Lex Witness provides a fast paced

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Expired Patents, Injunctions and Commercialization

/ By / Patent

The following post discusses two recent patent cases where the relief of permanent injunction became infructuous due to the expiration of the impugned patents. A related issue of commercialization of patents is also briefly discussed. U. Varadaraya Nayak v S.K. Anand, Del HC: In this case, the patentee a retired school teacher obtained a patent for an invention titled ‘twin blade razor’. The inventive feature of the blade was the “novel manner in which the holes are positioned in relation

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (28th April to 4th May)

/ By / Others

  SpicyIP Highlight of the Week! On 30th April, India signed the ‘Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (MVT)’ which allows for better access to published works by the visually impaired. This is indeed a welcome move to address the problem of “book famine” which is faced by those who are visually impaired or print disabled; India’s copyright laws being already in harmony with the Treaty makes

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CCI penalises Google for non-disclosure of information; fines it one crore rupees

/ By / Competition Law

Earlier in March, Google was fined one crore rupees by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for not cooperating with the Director General’s (DG’s) investigations into its operations. The DG had served seven notices directing Google to provide certain information during its investigation, which Google did not fully comply with. Background Our readers may be aware that the CCI had received complaints against Google from two organisations, Matrimony.com (runs BharatMatrimony.com) and Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS). While returning search,

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Bollywood Music Awards and Personality Rights: Sonu Nigam v. Mika Singh and Ors.

/ By / Others

In a rare instance of litigation based on personality rights, the Bombay High Court, on 26th April, 2014 granted an injunction in favour of  singer Sonu Nigam, restraining the singer Mika Singh and the recording label OCP Music from publishing an advertisement that impinged on Sonu’s personality, image and civil rights. The dispute was regarding the publicity of the Mirchi Music awards. The defendants had put up billboards and hoardings containing Sonu Nigam’s image advertising the awards ceremony, without Sonu’s

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International Day Against Digital Rights Management

/ By / Others, Privacy

Today, the 6th of May is being celebrated as the International Day against DRM or Digital Rights Management. Digital Rights Management is understood as “the practice of imposing technological restrictions that control what users can do with digital media.”  These restrictions can be on hardware or software and it can restrict users from performing lawful activities such as being able to repair or modify the things that they own.  As Defective By Design puts it, “When a program is designed

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2nd IJLT-SFLC Law & Technology Essay Competition 2014

/ By / Others

The Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT) and the Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC) are proud to announce the 2nd IJLT-SFLC Law & Technology Essay Competition 2014. Open to undergraduate law students across India, this essay competition seeks to encourage creative thinking and promote research and writing about crucial legal issues in the field of information technology and the internet. The IJLT The Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT), is a student-run law journal published by the National

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India signs Treaty for the Visually Impaired

/ By / Copyright

On April 30th, 2014, in a big step towards facilitating access to published works by the visually impaired or print disabled, India signed the “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (MVT)“. The treaty, which which was first adopted on 23 June 2013, was also signed by the European Union, France and Greece, bringing the total number of countries that have signed to 64, out of WIPO’s 187 members.

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