Insights
Practical perspectives on protecting, managing and enforcing intellectual property across India and the subcontinent.
Jayashri Suresh · 18 February 2016
Sports and Intellectual Property: How the Business Is Protected
Modern sport is a multi-billion-dollar business — and IP holds it together. How trademarks (team names, logos, jerseys), copyright (logos, broadcasts), patents (playing techniques) and personality rights protect the value in sport, plus licensing and domains.
16 February 2016
Ambush Marketing: Infringement in Disguise
Non-sponsors ride the buzz of a big event without paying — devaluing official sponsors' expensive rights. With no dedicated Indian law, ambush marketing is fought through passing off, trademark and copyright. Why India needs specific legislation, especially for future mega-events.
12 February 2016
Who Owns Your Tattoo? Copyright and Body Art
A tattoo is an artistic work, and under Section 17 the first owner of copyright is the artist — not the person wearing it. If you want to own the design on your own skin, you need a contract before the needle, or an assignment after.
Jayashri Suresh · 10 February 2016
Plant Breeders' Rights in India: IP for New Plant Varieties
A new plant variety can be protected as IP. India was among the first to legislate for it, balancing breeders' exclusive rights with farmers' rights. What qualifies, and the trade-offs.
8 February 2016
Patenting Human Genes: Can You Own a Gene?
The US Supreme Court's Myriad ruling said naturally occurring DNA isn't patentable, but synthetic cDNA is. India's Section 3(c) bars patents on things 'occurring in nature' — yet the Patent Office has granted gene patents inconsistently. Where the 2013 biotech guidelines leave the question.
Jayashri Suresh · 3 February 2016
Lee Pharma v. AstraZeneca: Why the Saxagliptin Compulsory Licence Was Refused
Lee Pharma sought a compulsory licence over AstraZeneca's diabetes drug Saxagliptin, arguing a 99% supply shortfall, unaffordable pricing and no local manufacture. The Controller rejected all three grounds — a case that shows how heavy the applicant's evidentiary burden under Section 84(1) really is.
2 February 2016
Outer Space and Intellectual Property Rights
IP rights are territorial — but whose territory is outer space? The Outer Space Treaty says space belongs to no nation, yet objects follow their registry state. How patents and copyright in satellite data collide with a borderless domain, and why India lacks space-IP law.
Shwetha · 29 January 2016
Public Domain Day: When Copyright Ends
Every 1 January, works whose copyright has expired enter the public domain. What the public domain means, India's copyright terms (life + 60 years, and 60 years for films/photos/sound recordings), and the quirks — from Mein Kampf to Sherlock Holmes' 'not so elementary' entry.
27 January 2016
Where Can You Sue? 'Carrying On Business' Under Section 134(2)
BookMyShow sued in Delhi, where it had no office of any kind, arguing its customers there meant it carried on business there. The court returned the plaint — for a company, 'carries on business' requires a registered, principal or branch office.
Jayashri Suresh · 22 January 2016
Protecting Business Processes Under Indian IP Law
'We do business differently' — but can you protect a business process in India? There's no dedicated statute. Why patents are barred by Section 3(k), what copyright and trade secrets can (and can't) do, and how contracts fill the gap.
19 January 2016
The Monkey Selfie: Can an Animal Own Copyright?
A macaque pressed the shutter on David Slater's camera and produced the most litigated photograph of the decade. PETA sued to represent the monkey. The court held it had no authority to extend copyright to animals — and told Congress the question was theirs.
14 January 2016
Trademarks for Startups: Five Common Questions
When to register, whether investors care, what protection unregistered use gives you, whether an Indian registration works abroad, and whether someone else can hold the same mark in a different class. The answers founders ask for most often.