SpicyIP

Yahoo v. Controller, and Rediff: Business Methods are not patentable.

January 22, 2012 / By Rajiv Kr. Choudhry / Patent

In one of its first major decisions involving patentability of business method patents (available here), the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has ruled (December 8, 2011) that pure business methods are not patentable in India. This post provides an overview of the decision and its implications for the patent community: (1) Business methods are not patentable in India; and (2) Any refusal of a patent under section 25(1) of the Act may be appealed to the IPAB as it relates to an order […]

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A secretive search for prior art

January 22, 2012 / By Sumathi Chandrasekharan / Uncategorized

The agreement between the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to outsource prior art searchesare the IPO’s “confidential documents”, according to CSIR, and it is for the IPO to decide “how much information it wishes to put in the public domain”. CSIR also believes that this information is exempt from being put out in the public domain as it is lying in their possession by virtue of fiduciary relationship with the IPO. This

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IP in a song: Poplaw and theatre

January 20, 2012 / By Sumathi Chandrasekharan / Copyright

(Warning: Long post) Earlier this week, I was at Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi, which was packed to full capacity and then some, watching a play called ‘Stories in a Song’. The play itself was a montage of stories which told of how different forms of music of the north Indian tradition had evolved in response to their ages. The music for the play was selected from traditional repertoire and set by Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan (they are the

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John Doe orders for Blocking of Websites: Mad Dog without a Leash?

January 19, 2012 / By Sai Vinod / Competition Law

Of late increasing number of Bollywood filmmakers are seeking relief in terms of a John Doe order for blocking websites in anticipation of piracy before a movie release. Last month Megaupload and Filesonic were blocked by Reliance Communications (RCOM) pursuant to a John Doe order of the Delhi High Court prior to the latest release of its sister company, Don 2 (Kartik recently blogged on this here & here). The point enquiry in this post is three fold: (i) Whether

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Website Blocking and John Doe orders: Barking up the wrong tree? (Part II)

January 14, 2012 / By Mathews P. George / Copyright

by Kartik Khanna. Part I is available here. I had discussed in Part I of this post that Reliance Communication’s [‘RCOM’] initiative in blocking websites on the basis of the John Doe order has no legal basis in IP Law. RCOM has relied on Section 79 of the Information Technology Act [‘IT Act’] to claim that they are bound by the order. I will discuss the relevant provisions to see the veracity of this statement. IT Act Section 79 provides

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Website blocking and John Doe orders: Barking up the wrong tree? (Part I)

January 12, 2012 / By Mathews P. George / Copyright

by Kartik Khanna Kartik Khanna is a fourth year student of NUJS, Kolkata. He blogged very recently here. Bollywood has seen a growing number of John Doe orders over the past year. Spicy IP covered this trend here and here. While the previous posts discussed the advent of the tool in India, I will touch upon a substantial case of misuse of the same. Facts The Times of India, in a report dated December 24, 2011 (available here) states that

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Call for Papers: School of Law, Christ University Inaugural Law Journal

January 11, 2012 / By Shouvik Kumar Guha / Uncategorized

The Journals and Publications Society, School of Law, Christ University, invites contributions on current or contemporary issues of law for the inaugural peer-reviewed edition of its Law Journal to be published in March, 2012. The Journal is an effort by the Journals and Publications Society to promote and encourage legal research and writing in the legal community. The School of law, Christ University welcomes original and well researched submissions from legal professionals, activists, academics and students. Submission Guidelines: Submissions entertained

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A Distinct IP Domain for India?

January 10, 2012 / By Shamnad Basheer / Trademark

When a Scandinavian colleague of mine recently opined that Indian IP was “interesting”, I thought it a gross understatement and a rather mild label. For Indian IP is not just interesting: it is highly entertaining, exotic, spicy, quirky, you name it! With each species of IP that we touch upon, we somehow manage to carve out a distinct identity and draw international attention. Think patents and you have the mysterious section 3(d) that continues to be mired in controversy. With

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ICICI Bank Domain Name Dispute

January 9, 2012 / By Amlan Mohanty / Trademark

There seems to be an increasing trend towards cybersquatting in recent times, particularly by parties in foreign jurisdictions, who register domain names that are strikingly similar to well known trademarks in India. In this post I will cover a recent domain name dispute decision delivered by Justice Sistani of the Delhi High Court, involving ICICI Bank Ltd. (The decision can be found here) Background to the Case In this case, ICICI Bank filed a suit for permanent injunction to restrain

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Contrasting international opinion on file-sharing!

Image from here Big Bully is watching your Government It’s no surprise to anyone that countries with means do what they can do ‘negotiate’ with other countries to have them see their way. While the US places not so subtle pressure on several countries through their annual Special 301 Reports, a recent wikileaks cable between US and Spain has shown that the US may have stepped over the ‘pressure’ line and moved into the ‘threatening’ zone. Part of the message

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Anonymous on Looking for the Reasons in the Delhi High Court’s FRAND Determination in the Ericsson- Lava SEP Case- Part I
please describe the impact on consumers in these IP litigations.
Anonymous on Google LLC v. Controller of Patents: Foreign Disclosure requirement and Patent (Amendment) Rules, 2024
Seems like a one-sided commentary. From the decision, one understands the fine was imposed pursuant to Section 119 of the…
Anonymous on SpicyIP Tidbits – Natco’s Request to Vacate Ceritinib Interim Injunction Rejected, Madras High Court Revokes Omega Ecotech’s Patent, and Delhi High Court Upholds IPO’s Patent Rejection
On the Macleods Pharmaceuticals case, I have never seen such a strange argument made on the effect of revocation or…
Yogesh on Is Every ‘Educational Use’ a ‘Fair Use’? Looking at the AP HC’s Curious Decision on Textbooks and Copyright
Thank you for sharing this. The notification is strikingly similar to the AP case. On a quick glance though, it…
Anonymous on Is Every ‘Educational Use’ a ‘Fair Use’? Looking at the AP HC’s Curious Decision on Textbooks and Copyright
Thank you for discussing this important development. Coincidentally, recently NCERT issued a public notice threatening to institute a copyright infringement…