Sound Board

Our thoughts and views on the practice of Intellectual Property in India and around the world.

YouTube is filled with videos of people (budding artists!) singing songs of their favourite artists in their own style and giving it their personal touch or artists who are remixing songs. In the first scenario, it would be a most likely be cover version of the original song since the singer is retaining the lyrics and the musical arrangement but singing it in his own style. However, in the case of remixes, the artist is changing the musical arrangement by adding beats, lyrics and a few notes,…

The term ‘marked for exam’ implies that a trademark application has been taken up for examination or is due to be examined shortly by the Trademark Office. The term “examination” per se means that the particular trademark would be examined to see if it satisfies and overcomes the objections enunciated in the Indian Trade Marks Act, 1999( what we call “absolute and relative grounds” under Section 9 and 11), only after which it proceeds to advertisement and ultimately registration.

There have been too many copyright issues in the recent times, either between the producer or the director of the film with regard to ownership of copyright or between say, a scriptwriter and the director. This got me thinking about the rights of the different people who contribute toward making a movie, well a complete movie. There is the music composer, the lyricist, the sound recorder, the record label company to name a few who are individuals who come up with creative ideas and turn them…

Almost every morning most of the dailies these days carry at-least one article on intellectual property, whether it is about scriptwriters fighting producers on copyright for their stories or celebrities registering their names as trademarks, or the major issue of patents and drugs. As an IP lawyer, it’s great to see that there is some mention of my line of work, despite the fact that most journalists interchange the use and concepts of trademarks, copyright, patents and designs. Nonetheless it…

The popular misconception is that the symbol ™ can only be used after a trademark has been applied for registration and not otherwise.

Copyright law never ceases to surprise us with its complex yet interesting issues that affect our day to day lives. About a week ago, the IP world was flooded with news that pictures of the Eiffel Tower taken at night would amount to infringement of copyright, however pictures taken during the day wouldn’t violate provisions of the copyright law in France. The European Union in 2001 issued a directive with respect to copyright law stating that photographs of buildings in public spaces can be…

The Fashion Industry is an Intellectual property intensive industry as it is that industry that involves continuous creation of new and innovative ideas that are commercially exploited. If you just look at your reflection in the mirror, you will find that you are literally wearing “ Intellectual Property ”. The brand that you are wearing is most probably protected under trademark law, the floral design or any other like pattern on the dress is a design and can be protected under the Designs law…

I had recently written about the importance of disclosing status of foreign applications to the Indian Patent Office and how non-compliance can result in revocation of patents under Section 64 (1) (m) of the Patents Act. The Delhi High Court on November 7, 2014 delivered a landmark ruling on Section 8 and clarified that non-compliance would not result in automatic revocation of patent and that the power of revocation under Section 64 (1) (m) was discretionary in nature.

“I could not afford to go to Delhi just to register my script” says Mr. Gopi, a script writer who recently filed a suit against the “Kaththi” director Murugadoss accusing him of stealing his script. I watched this very interesting interview of his where he says that he’s met with the director thrice and had discussed the script with the director’s assistant for years together. When asked if he had given his script prior to the release of the film, he replied in the affirmative and said that he…

During the British rule in India, Khadi was not just a cloth, it was a movement by Gandhiji where he promoted it as an ideology and instilled in the minds of Indians that they could be self-sufficient if they wore only khadi and that they needn’t rely on the high priced goods of the British. Over the years, khadi lost its hold on the Indian market and sales of khadi products became abysmal owing to the wide variety of cloths and garments available in the market.