Part I: Digitization of content: a comparative analysis of growth trends in the music, film and television industries.

/ By / Copyright

This post consists of two parts. Both parts examine the impact of digitization on the entertainment industry. The first part analyzes the growth patterns of the music industry (international as well as domestic). The second part analyzes the growth trends of the international and domestic, film and television industry. The conclusion seeks to show that inspite of digitization the entertainment industry is doing well in terms of output, revenues and creativity. Across the globe policy makers are coming to terms […]

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Patent office notifies the next patent agent examination

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Our patent office, yesterday, notified the dates for the upcoming patent agent examination.  The next qualifying examination for patent agents will be held on 4th and and 5th May 2013 at Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi and Nagpur.  Based on the DIPP notification issued after the cases of Anvita Singh (discussed here), and Renu Rampal (discussed here), the weightage for viva is 25% of the weightage given to the written examination.   Our patent office has also clearly described the pattern of the upcoming examination.

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IPAB revokes several claims of yet another patent belonging to Dr. Wobben

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Image from here In a decision dated 23rd January, 2013; a bench of the IPAB, consisting of Justice Prabha Sridevan and D.P.S. Parmar, revoked 18 of the 21 claims of Patent No. 198648 granted to Dr. Alloy Wobben for “An inverter for producing an alternating or three phase current from a DC voltage”. The IPAB has ordered Dr. Wobben to amend even the 3 remaining claims, to narrow them down. The entire order of the IPAB can be accessed over

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The ‘Emcure model’ of Foreign Investment and Joint-Ventures

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Over the last few years, we’ve seen an increasing amount of co-operation between Big PhRMA companies and Indian generics, mostly in the form of acquisitions such as the Abbot-Piramal deal or the Ranbaxy-Diachi deal. The aim of these deals, for innovator companies, was to build up capacities in the generics sector to cater to the growing market for generic medicines. The growing investment led to a clamour for a ban on 100% foreign direct investment in generic pharmaceutical companies. Apart

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Patent Office makes public the feedback to the Draft Guidelines for Examination of Biotechnology Patents

/ By / Patent

Image of E.Coli Bacilli from here In a welcome development, the Controller General has made public the feedback that his office received in response to his call for comments on the Draft Guidelines for Examination of Biotechnology Patents. The feedback can be accessed over here on the website of the IPO. Our earlier post on the topic can be accessed over here.  Most of the replies were from mainly law firms, specializing in patent prosecution. Responses from these law firms

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SpicyIP Announcement: Brainstorming Session on Traditional Knowledge & Biodiversity

/ By / Event

Patent Gurukul and Pravin Gandhi College of Law at Mumbai are hosting a ‘brainstorming’ session on ‘Traditional Knowledge & Biodiversity’ on February 15, 2013. The session will focus on the recent ‘Guidelines for Processing of Patent Applications Relating to Traditional Knowledge’ and its implications on the Biodiversity Act & Rules. The objective of this exercise as outlined in the press release below: In view of the extreme approach adopted by the government which is highly detrimental to indigenous research, it

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Locus standi and public interest under the GI Act – Analysing GI Registry Order in ‘Darjeeling Tea’ rectification application

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[*Long post]   We reported that a rectification application had been filed under Section 27 of Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (“GI Act”) for removal of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ GI.  The Assistant Registrar vide Order dated 28.09.2012 (“Darjeeling TeaOrder”) rejected the application inter alia on the ground of absence of locus standi. I shall argue that the Darjeeling Tea Order is legally incorrect vis-à-vis the ground of locus standi. I shall analyse other issues in a later

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Spicy IP Weekly Review: January Weeks 2-3

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Image from here This week, we come to the readers with the review slightly late and will be covering all the posts in the past 2 weeks since the January Week 1 Review by Sai Vinod. Given the higher number of blog posts to reminisce about, this weekly review won’t have a separate section referring to the global IP happenings this week. It all started with Mathews carrying a detailed and incisive post in 2 parts (here and here) introducing

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meme text: If i download a movie in jamaica, am i a pirate of the carribean

Pirates of the Carribean: Retaliating Against IP

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As expected, the WTO recently authorised Antigua, a tiny Carribean island, to “cross retaliate” against intellectual property belonging to the United States.  What this effectively means is that Antigua qualifies as a “legal” pirate of the Carribean i.e. it can pirate music and movies belonging to US copyright holders, without violating any international norm. (I deliberately use the term “legal” pirate, if only to evoke a strong paradox).”… As the US threatened Antigua with dire consequences for this purported “IP

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Delhi High Court clarifies the notification re patent agent examination

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In a previous post, we had mentioned that the DIPP had notified the changes in the patent agent examination that prescribed a lower weightage to viva than the written examination.  Based on this notification, candidates like Renu Rampal (post) could have applied to become patent agents.  However, the patent office faced a few practical difficulties in implementing the decision of the Delhi High Court (DHC).   The practical difficulty was that if the notification was applied retrospectively, a few candidates (~20) who had passed

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