Copyrights, Music Licenses and New Year Parties

/ By / Copyright

In yet another bid to establish the undeniable importance of IP law in your daily life, SpicyIP, is going to demonstrate how the Law of Copyright is going to impact all you party animals this December 31st. The Hindu recently reported that the Phonographic Performance Ltd.(PPL), a registered copyright society under the Copyright Act, is demanding that all commercial establishments start paying up for the music that they will be playing at year-end parties failing which action will be taken […]

Copyrights, Music Licenses and New Year Parties Read More »

Petition to Increase Transparency at the Indian Patent Office

/ By / Patent

We wish to sincerely thank our readers and many others who supported us in our drive to increase transparency at the Indian Patent Office. Letters to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh (and other Ministers and public functionaries involved with IP) were sent two weeks back, along with all your signatures. We were pleasantly surprised at receiving support/signatures from unexpected quarters–folks that were interacting regularly with the patent office and ran the risk of attracting their ire. We salute their

Petition to Increase Transparency at the Indian Patent Office Read More »

Moser Baer’s Pricing Strategy: The New Anti-Piracy Model?

/ By / Copyright

Moser Baer, an Indian leader in digital media manufacture (DVD’s and VCD’s) is helping change the piracy paradigm. In a laudable initiative, they are acquiring copyright licenses to a wide range of movies and selling DVD’s/VCD’s for rock bottom prices. Needless to state, this move will reduce the scope for piracy considerably. Illustratively, a normal DVD version of a movie costs around Rs 200 (USD 5) or upwards in India, whereas the version sold by Moser Baer costs around Rs

Moser Baer’s Pricing Strategy: The New Anti-Piracy Model? Read More »

Open Source for Cost Effective Drug Discovery

/ By / Uncategorized

Dr. Samir K Brahmachari, the new Director-General of the CSIR is all set to unleash the open source revolution in drug discovery and biotechnology. The Economic Times Reports: “For the first time ever, India plans to launch an innovate drug discovery programme roping in global IT firms, researchers, companies, and young minds at scientific laboratories to invent drugs at a fraction of the cost of an MNC-developed drug. Drug discovery has hitherto been the forte of MNC pharma giants. The

Open Source for Cost Effective Drug Discovery Read More »

Moral Rights Under Copyright Laws: A Peep Into Policy – 2

/ By / Copyright

As promised in my previous post, here’s more on moral rights and related policies. To start where I’d stopped, this week we are looking at an interesting survey (albeit a little dated) conducted by the Copyright Office in the US in the mid 90’s to review the waiver provision’s operation to “assure that artists were not coerced by unequal bargaining power to forfeit their moral rights.” The survey “[sought] comments on artists’ bargaining power relative to that of commercial users

Moral Rights Under Copyright Laws: A Peep Into Policy – 2 Read More »

Basmati redux: the Pashmina story

/ By / Uncategorized

You can see them being sold everywhere: in the open-air stalls of Dilli Haat in the capital; in the crowded, winding lanes of Chinatown in Singapore; in the fashionable streets by the Hotel de Ville in Paris… Pashmina shawls, both real and fake, have become a global fashion statement, and can be found draped around every neck this winter. But where exactly do they originate? In a replay of the Super Basmati yarn, troubles between India and Pakistan have been

Basmati redux: the Pashmina story Read More »

SpicyIP Tidbits

/ By / Uncategorized

1. Pfizer gets a patent for its anti-HIV drug Pfizer was recently granted a patent, by the Indian Patent office, for its HIV/AIDS treatment drug – Celzentry. This is a significant victory for Pfizer given the much publicized rejection of patents for several other drugs. Given the huge HIV infected population in India it is expected that this drug will be a major revenue spinner for Pfizer in India. As a result Pfizer’s stock shot up 7.5% on the Indian

SpicyIP Tidbits Read More »

SpicyIp Tidbits

/ By / Uncategorized

1. India says No to Removal of Trade Barriers. 1ndia on Saturday was at the forefront with Brazil, opposing a proposal of developed nations seeking removal of trade barriers to allow transfer of clean technologies. The European Union and the United States made a joint proposal through the World Trade Organization to remove specific barriers to trade in clean energy technologies like wind turbines and solar panels as part of the long- running Doha round of talks. Both India and

SpicyIp Tidbits Read More »

An Indian DMCA?

/ By / Copyright

We recently posted a note on Spicy tidbits about the increase in copyright notices to Indian ISPs. I picked this up and posted over at IP Think Tank about the increased pressure on ISPs around the world.     One suggestion (by Will), was that the world should take note of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States and follow suit. Canada are about to do this (though with some controversy).   For those who don’t know

An Indian DMCA? Read More »

SpicyIP Tidbits

/ By / Uncategorized

1. Who’s really winning the IP race in India? Joff Wild, of Intellectual Asset Magazine, comments on the patent explosion in India, and who appear to be the actual beneficiaries of the policy changes in Indian IP … Worryingly for India, perhaps, is the fact that 80% of applications come from foreign companies… It seems to me that if India is to realise its huge potential, and the undoubted creativity of its population, a lot more work needs to be

SpicyIP Tidbits Read More »

Scroll to Top