Copyrights
Disability Exceptions in Copyright
Copyright law, which protects literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and affiliated works, mandates that in order to copy or use a copyrighted work one has to get permission from its owner or the author and this has been one of the major reasons for the visually impaired and otherwise print disabled…
Freedom 251 phone icons – Ring any Bells?
My day in office began with the conversation on whether my colleague was lucky enough to order the Freedom 251 smart phone, supposedly the India's first and cheapest smartphone (around USD 4) which was launched yesterday by Noida-based company Ringing Bells. While everyone is curious to see how the…
Think before you ink! Copyright and tattoos
The evolution of tattoos is as interesting as the art itself; it was the during the voyages for the discovery of new worlds that the Europeans came across natives having these permanent designs of themselves. These later became a rage in Europe, which later died down to be used by criminals as well…
Public Domain Day – The Day that Copyright Endeth
The first of January of each year is, well, the New Year’s Day for most part of the world. It is also another reason for celebration for some authors, researchers, archivists and book publishers. January 1st also happens to be Public Domain Day. Each year on this day the copyright in older works…
Copyright is no monkey business – According to U.S Court Judgement
If you haven’t seen this photograph before (which is highly unlikely) you might think is that for real? Did a monkey actually take a selfie? The answer is yes! This beaming monkey has attained pop culture popularity in over the past two years. Coming back to business, the reason why the image above…
Whose Work is it Anyway? Orphan works in the time of file sharing
An Orphan work is a copyright protected work whose author is unidentifiable, which means that it is not possible to contact the author of the work due to the fact that there is no information about him/her, or he/she can’t be traced or because the person is dead. In the age of the internet and easy…
5 things every Software Developer should include in his Software Development Agreement/Contract
The legal issues surrounding software development can be sometimes complex and often confusing. It is not unusual for developers to take up development gigs without any formal engagement in writing resulting in bitter experiences. By understanding the importance of agreements in a software…
Copyright protection for jokes – Not a joke anymore?
Thou shal not steal is definitely the underlying point of all intellectual property rights, and Twitter reaffirmed this by deleting a tweet on a complaint made by Olga Lexell, a freelance writer from Los Angeles. Her premise was that she’s a freelance writer who makes her living writing jokes and…
Decoding software programmes and Copyrights in India
The other day I was just walking on the road trying to get somewhere when someone just handed me this pamphlet which stated that the coaching centre was providing some kind of training to get a hang of this particular software at a certain fee. I passed it on to one of my friends who I thought…
Moral Rights vs Copyright, Everything you need to know
The general notion, I’m sure is that copyright is a bundle of rights which is primarily an economic right (unless you are Gandhi, who resisted to enforce the copyright in his work for economic gain as economic rights) more than it being an indicator of the source of origin of the goods as in the…