CSIR finally discloses details of patent licensing: More than 400 patents licensed over last ten years!

/ By / Patent

Finally, after almost 6 months of RTI applications, appeals and reminders, the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has provided me with a comprehensive, lab-wise, list of all the patents that it has licenced in the last 10 years. The only information not provided was royalty figures but CSIR has promised to disclose even these figures in the not so distant future. The entire reply from CSIR can be accessed over here. (The print was small and hence a […]

CSIR finally discloses details of patent licensing: More than 400 patents licensed over last ten years! Read More »

Copyright in Advertising Slogans?: Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. v Dharampal Satyapal Ltd. & Another

/ By / Copyright

This case dealt with the question of copyrightability of advertising slogans. We had earlier blogged on this issue over here. It was decided in early July this year by the Delhi High court. The full judgment is available here. Facts The parties in this case are both pan masala manufacturers. Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendants had copied their advertising slogan, Shauq Badi Cheez Hai and brought the suit against them alleging infringement of copyright, passing off, unfair competition and dilution. The case

Copyright in Advertising Slogans?: Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. v Dharampal Satyapal Ltd. & Another Read More »

SpicyIP Announcement: NUJS Law Review Special Issue on the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012

/ By / Event

SpicyIP is glad to announce that the NUJS Law Review is inviting submissions for its special issue on ‘The Copyright Amendment Act, 2012: Welcome Change or Missed Opportunity?’. The flagship journal of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) was launched in 2008 under the aegis of its Founding Editor-in-Chief, Professor Mahendra P. Singh.   Below is a call put out by the Editorial Board:   The Copyright Amendment Act, 2012 recently passed by both houses of parliament promises to

SpicyIP Announcement: NUJS Law Review Special Issue on the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 Read More »

Miscredited authorship violates moral rights of authors says Delhi High Court

/ By / Copyright

In a recent decision, the Delhi High Court on July 5, 2012 granted a permanent injunction against OCA Productions Pvt. Ltd restraining them from broadcasting ‘Ek Kadam Aur’, a TV serial based on Indian novelist Maitreyi Pushpa’s autobiographical work ‘Kasturi Kundal Basey’. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker and National Award winner Arun Chadha filed the suit [CS (OS) No. 1096/2009] claiming authorship over the TV serial and sought damages for breach of special rights under Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957. 

Miscredited authorship violates moral rights of authors says Delhi High Court Read More »

Copyright Act Amendments of 2012: National Seminar at ILS, Pune

/ By / Copyright, Event

SpicyIP is pleased to announce that ILS, Pune will be hosting a 2 day national seminar on the recently notified Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012. Our previous posts on the amendments can be found here.   The seminar promises to provide an exciting opportunity for students, academics, practitioners and professors to engage in discussions on the impact of the amendments on various industries and stakeholders.  Over 250 participants are expected at the seminar. The schedule for the conference is available below.

Copyright Act Amendments of 2012: National Seminar at ILS, Pune Read More »

An improved prior art search tool – Google Patents

/ By / Patent

While I might not have been too happy with the update from Google yesterday, the update from Google a few hours ago certainly seems like good news. Google already allows users to search through the entire corpus of US patents and starting this week, they have also added the applications that have been submitted to the European Patent Office.  Not only that, they have also added a specific ‘prior art finder‘ that looks remarkably useful. Once a search result is

An improved prior art search tool – Google Patents Read More »

Google may need to change their motto

/ By / Copyright

Coming this week, Google will be making what could be a ground breaking step in it’s search algorithm. Google will start downranking sites in proportion to the the number of valid copyright removal notices that the site receives. According to Google, “This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily”. While on the surface, this seems like a good anti-piracy move, I shall explain why I think it could be a major problem.  I had

Google may need to change their motto Read More »

Guest Post: Airtel pays penalty for indiscriminate blocking – ISPs stuck between a rock and a hard place?

/ By / Copyright

Adithya Reddy, a practising advocate before the Madras High Court, has sent us this excellent post on the various issues that arise out of the decision of a court to impose a penalty on Airtel for blocking access to file-sharing websites as a result of the ‘John Doe’ order granted by the Madras High Court to the producers of the film ‘3’. This post is a must read for all those of you who are interested in the taking the

Guest Post: Airtel pays penalty for indiscriminate blocking – ISPs stuck between a rock and a hard place? Read More »

July 2012: Controller’s decisions at the IPO

/ By / Uncategorized

July was yet another sizzling month (third in a row) at the Controller’s offices!  Out of 138 decisions listed, 56 were granted, 23 refused and no file uploaded for the remainder.   One issue that I must highlight is that the Chennai patent office uploads the decisions in a haphazard manner.  There is no problem with the decision as such, but it may create problem in data retrieval at a later stage.  The decisions are first printed, then signed, then

July 2012: Controller’s decisions at the IPO Read More »

Traditional medicines, clinical trials and re-entry of data exclusivity?

/ By / Uncategorized

In response to consistent pressure from external agencies to impose some kind of quality control on “traditional Indian herbal” medicines,  India may very soon make it mandatory for traditional medicines to undergo clinical trials   before they hit the market.  However the mandatory trials may be made applicable only for new patented drugs and not for ancient formulations.  See TOI report. There are two reasons why clinical testing should be done at least on the newer patented drugs based on

Traditional medicines, clinical trials and re-entry of data exclusivity? Read More »

Scroll to Top