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 and packed with legal jargon, some are brief and get the message across. A legal notice simply outlines the rights of the sender (“bona fide” proprietor) and cautions the infringing party to refrain…

Read More


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 imagination and the output of such imagination.

Read More


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 property, any commercial establishment playing music must obtain a license from the appropriate rights holder in order to play such music.

Read More


Creating a Work? Know if you are indeed the Owner of the Copyright

The Indian Copyright Act provides who the Author and Owner are, with respect to any work. It uncomplicates matters by simply putting that the Author of the work is the First Owner of the Copyright (subject to provisions of course). While in most cases, a clear determination is possible, there are circumstances when the logic has to be reconsidered; example when a work (in which copyright exists) is prepared at the instance of another person. There appears to be a very thin hazy line between…

Read More


Indian IP office notifications relating to the extension of deadlines at the time of COVID-19

The paranoia around the COVID-19 continues to stretch the air, people, citizens and the government continue to strive to put their best foot forward to ensure maximum safety and avoid anarchy. With this, we would like to inform you that, the Indian government have been meticulous in their work and have always ensured the best for its citizens, with this the Indian Patent Office, the Indian Trade Marks Registry and the Indian Copyright Office have released their official notices dated,…

Read More


Subtitle – Another Movie?

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 law sector in India.

Read More


Intellectual Property Rights & MSME- Bridging the Gap

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.

Read More


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 copyleft and permissive licenses of copyrighted works, because it gives the creator of a work rights over their work immediately upon creation.

Read More


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.

Read More


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. To decide this, reliance was placed on two other cases- R.G. Anand v. M/s Deluxe Films and Ors., (1978) 4 SCC 118 and MRF limited v. Metro Tyres Limited, CS (COMM) 753/2017.

Read More