SpicyIP Tidbit: Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010 listed for debate & voting today

/ By / Copyright

The Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010 has been listed as Item No. 3 on today’s ‘list of business‘ for the Rajya Sabha and will be taken up for a debate and voting once the Rajya Sabha concludes its debate on the budget i.e. Finance Bill, 2012 along with a bill for appropriation of funds. Also on the list before the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010 is a move to amend the rules pertaining to development fees for airports.  For those of you […]

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Kardam singlehandedly kills transparency at the IPO; sends it back to the dark ages

/ By / Uncategorized

In a telephonic conversation with Sumathi earlier this evening, Dr. Kardam informed her that he had no intention of reviewing his earlier order rejecting her appeal against the order of the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) at the G.I. Registry, who had priced the information which we had requested for at Rs. 10 per page. Given that Dr. Kardam is not going to review his patently wrong order, it now follows that no information pertaining to patent, trademark and G.I.

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Spicy IP Tidbit: German Minister promises to ensure Just Resolution of Ideafarms Dispute

/ By / Copyright

The readers have already been informed about the ongoing copyright dispute between the Indian company Ideafarms and the German body corporate Continental A.G. and the apparently irregular manner in which the German judiciary has decided against Ideafarms without according the latter a proper hearing (see here). Given that a lot of noise was being made in Germany about the lack of enforcement of IP rights in India following the Enercon and Natco decisions, it was inevitable that Germany would raise

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Gandhi Comes to WIPO

/ By / Uncategorized

Well not literally…but metaphorically and perhaps metaphysically as well. IPWatch (the leading news service on all matters pertaining to international intellectual property) reports that a WIPO senior official, Anil Sinha recently adopted Mahatma Gandhi’s fasting strategy in an attempt to draw attention to the plight of “restructured” WIPO officials. It reports: “A senior official at the World Intellectual Property Organization recently sent an internal letter to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry announcing that he would be undertaking a fast, depriving

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Customs Board issues circular allowing ‘parallel imports’ under Patents Act and Trademarks Act

/ By / Patent, Trademark

In a circular dated 8th May, 2012 (available over here) the Central Board of Customs & Excise (CBEC) has instructed all of its officers that the IPR (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007 will not apply to ‘parallel imports’ under the Patents Act, 1970 and the Trademarks Act, 1999. The circular states that this interpretation of the law is based on the views of the DIPP, which is the nodal government agency for the implementation of the patents and trademarks legislation.

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Yet another baffling judgment from the Delhi High Court extinguishes the rights of composers & lyricists

/ By / Copyright

In yet another setback to composers and lyricists of music in India, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in the case of IPRS v. Aditya Pandey & CRI Events, has dismissed IPRS’s appeal against the order of a Single Judge who had held that radio stations etc., who were broadcasting/communicating ‘sound recordings’ were required to pay royalty to only the owner of the sound recording and not the owner of the lyrics or the musical works which had

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German Court delivers Unfair Judgment in a Battle between Indian David and German Goliath? The Case of Continental A.G. v. Confidign Solutions Pvt. Ltd (Ideafarms)

/ By / Copyright

(Image taken from here) A matter that can potentially attract considerable controversy has recently been brought to the notice of the Spicy IP team. The readers would no doubt be familiar with the recent Enercon dispute (reported here, here and here) and the case involving Natco, wherein Indian Patent Office had granted its first compulsory license in a pharmaceutical product (reported here and here). Since these two decisions, the German government, policy makers and industry-owners have been known to have

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Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health tables damning report on the dangerous liaisons between the DCGI & the pharmaceutical industry

/ By / Drug Regulation

In what is probably a first of its kind report in independent India, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health & Family Welfare has tabled before Parliament a unanimous, damning report on the state of drug regulation in India and the manner in which it severely compromises the safety of Indian patients. The 118 pages report which is exhaustive, thoroughly researched and cross-referenced, and at times forensic in its examination of the evidence before it, raises very serious issues of subversion

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CSIR agrees to disclose royalties from its patent licencing activities for a period of 10 years

/ By / Uncategorized

In a welcome decision, Joint Secretary Dr. Jayakumar (IAS), who is the Appellate Authority for the implementation of the RTI Act, 2005 at the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has agreed to disclose all royalties earned by CSIR through its patent licensing agreements for a period of the last 10 years. Image from here. The CPIO at CSIR HQs had earlier turned down my request to provide this information on the grounds that it was ‘confidential’ and also

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Supreme Court rules against interim CLs by the Copyright Board

/ By / Copyright

In a decision dated 3rd May, 2012, a bench of three judges of the Supreme Court overruled a Division Bench order of the Delhi High Court which had held that the Copyright Board had the power to grant interim compulsory licences under Section 31. The order of the Supreme Court can be accessed over here on the Indian Kanoon website and Mathew’s post on the earlier order of the Delhi High Court can be accessed over here. Radio stations have

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