PPL Extortion Takes a Turn for the Worse: Will the Government Please Step in?

/ By / Copyright

It is lamentable that despite our posts documenting the extortionist tactics of PPL and questioning its non transparent mode of functioning, things have only taken a turn for the worse. SpicyIP now has some damning evidence in the form of letters written by PPL to one of its victims, that reek of high handedness, intimidation, arrogance and worst of all, an utter and brazen ignorance of the law. Clearly this is one organisation which continues to operate under the “legal […]

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Proposed Copyright Amendment Bill

/ By / Copyright

In the recent past, there have been a proposed set of amendments to the Copyright Act, which however, seem to be having a little trouble getting beyond the draft bill stage. While not much progress has occurred after this initial draft bill stage, the proposed amendments themselves are quite noteworthy. Indeed, back in 2006, there appears to be a response by ALF and a group of other NGOs to the HRD ministry with regard to certain proposed amendments. The draft

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The Doctrine of Equivalents: An International and Comparative Perspective

/ By / Patent

The Yale Journal of Law and Technology recently published an article in memory of the late Sir Nicholas Pumfrey, who unfortunately passed away at the fag end of 2007. A gregarious judge who had a stellar reputation for getting to the root of a technology in a patent dispute even before counsels explained it to him, Lord Justice Pumfrey was also acclaimed as one of the “nicest” UK judges. The IPKat did a short obituary, which elicited some very touching

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Wanted: Scientific Advisors to Assist Courts

/ By / Patent

The Indian Patent Office has called for applications for the post of Scientific Advisors to assist Courts in patent infringement suits or any proceeding under the Patents Act (Section 115, Rule 103). Applicants must be: Those with a degree in science, technology, engineering or equivalent With 15 years of practical or research experience and Must hold or have held a “responsible post” in a scientific or technical department of the Central or State government or in any organization. The last

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The Copyright Office: Kind of Blue

/ By / Copyright

The first phase of the “modernization of the Indian Copyright Office” is on track, with the Office sporting a new blue online avatar. Long long overdue, is all I have to say. The domain name has not changed – copyright.gov.in – but the site is transformed from what it used to be until recently. You can see in this post screengrabs of the Old and New Copyright Office website (Left: Copyright Office Now – note to self: will not make

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Guest Post: The Jamnagar Petrol GI Case

/ By / Uncategorized

SpicyIP is delighted to bring you a guest post from Latha R Nair, a leading IP practitioner in India. Ms Nair, who has written occasionally for the blog, is a partner with one of India’s top IP firms, K&S Partners, based in the Delhi/NCR area. Apart from handling matters relating to protection and enforcement of trademarks and copyrights, she advises clients on TRIPS related issues, protection of geographical indications in India and abroad, domain name disputes and intellectual property aspects

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Call for Submissions from the Indian Journal of International Economic Law

/ By / Uncategorized

A call for submissions from the Indian Journal of International Economic Law (IJIEL) which may be of interest to some of our readers. “We, the editorial board of the Indian Journal of International Economic Law (IJIEL), 2009-10, produced by students of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore are proud to invite submissions for the third issue of the journal from academicians, scholars and graduate students on topics relating to International Economic Law. IJIEL is an annual journal

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Turning TRIPS on its Head: Developing Countries and WTO Cross Retaliation

/ By / Uncategorized

Prashant carried a very interesting post on Brazil’s latest WTO authorisation to cross retaliate against the US. Cross retaliation refers to the right to retaliate against another sector/agreement under the WTO, such as TRIPS. Unfortunately, Brazil’s authorisation to cross retaliate is a “qualified” one. And Brazil cannot resort to this unless the losses caused to it by the WTO inconsistent subsidies (maintained by the US) exceed a certain threshold. Brazil claims that the losses caused by the US amounted to

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WTO rules in favour of Brazil, allows for cross retaliation against U.S. IPRs

/ By / Uncategorized

The WTO Arbitration Panel in the Brazil-U.S. trade dispute, regarding the U.S. Government subsidies for cotton, ruled last week that Brazil could retaliate against the U.S.A to the tune of $ 300 million dollars. This particular trade dispute has been running since the year 2002 and was decided in favour of Brazil in the year 2004. Thereafter the U.S.A. unsucessfully appealed the decision of the WTO Panel to the Appellate Authority. After winning before the Appellate Authority Brazil moved to

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Patent Office rejected Tenofovir: Celebrating Opporunity for Generic Manufacturers?

/ By / Uncategorized

Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) is a drug highly recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Till date, the medicine has been mostly marketed by Indian pharmaceutical companies through a voluntary licence scheme negotiated with the California-based Gilead Sciences few years back. Before the product patent regime had been introduced in India in 2005, the country allowed local generic manufacturers to sell cheap versions of Aids drug cocktails, known as antiretrovirals. According to an article penned

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