Copyrights
Legal Notices in Intellectual Property Right cases: A slippery slope?
More often than not, when a “bona fide” proprietor of the trademark (I use the term “bona fide” rather loosely here) finds unauthorized use of their mark by a third party, the first step taken (often) is to send the other party a legal notice. While some legal notices sent/received are convoluted…
Morality & IP – How far is too far?
“Intellectual property rights” is a paradox, where it promotes innovation and creativity, on the one hand, it might stagnate and monopolize ideas and business, on the other. With the development of human intelligence, complications also arose such that it became necessary to balance man’s…
Public Performance of Music & Copyright Licenses. Time to Face the Music?
Most commercial establishments often play popular music as a form of entertainment for their patrons. Step into any mall, hotel, pub, restaurant, or gym, and there is a high chance that they will be playing a song that you know. Since music falls under the scope of copyright as intellectual…
Creating a Work? Know if you are indeed the Owner of the Copyright
Owner of the Copyright Let me cut to the chase than going about as to what is Copyright (of course, more on the fundamentals of Copyright and the Indian Copyright Act can be found here). Copyright is quite a complicated IP right and the determination of who the author and owner of work become…
Indian IP office notifications relating to the extension of deadlines at the time of COVID-19
Notifications by the Indian Intellectual Property Office during COVID-19 The paranoia around the COVID-19 continues to etch the air with causalities, while the citizens and the government continue to strive to put their best foot forward to ensure maximum safety and avoid anarchy. With this, we…
Subtitle - Another Movie?
A million droplets make an ocean, similarly a small judgement/order makes a great precedent. This order by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, delivered on 28th September, 2019 pertaining to subtitles in movies, is one such droplet that will potentially open the floodgate for the entertainment and media…
Intellectual Property Rights & MSME- Bridging the Gap
Recently the Engineering Export Promotion Council Chairman, Ravi Seghal, emphasized on the need for the adoption of Intellectual Property rights to protect innovative ideas and strategies of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSME’s) in a highly competitive global economy. His observation…
There’s no such thing as a free lunch (or is there?)
Copyright is a unique animal among the various types of intellectual property. Usually, copyright vests in a work as soon as it is created, and registration of a copyright is not mandatory to obtain some form of legal protection. It is this aspect of copyright that gives rise to various types of…
The rewards of the commons – the Creative Commons licenses
The word “copyright” is a legal term which has become entrenched in everyday conversation because of its ubiquity and widespread use. Copyleft, on the other hand, is a more obscure term which refers to a particular type of copyright license. Broadly speaking, copyleft is a form of copyright…
The battle of the ‘JABARDASTH’ vs ‘BAND BAJA BAARAAT’
On July 8, 2019 The Delhi High Court decided that a copyright infringement occurs when there is no ‘Originality’ under Section 13(3)(a) and Section 2(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957. This is an essential feature for any right claiming copyright infringement, and was missing in the subject matter…