Copyright
Perspectives on copyright across India and the subcontinent.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 18 February 2016
Freedom 251 and Apple's Icons: Ignorance of Copyright Is No Excuse
Ringing Bells' ultra-cheap Freedom 251 phone shipped with Apple-lookalike icons — and its tech head claimed 'Apple hasn't copyrighted its designs.' A cautionary tale about how copyright arises automatically and why 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'.
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.
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.
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.
Shwetha · 12 January 2016
Orphan Works: Copyright When the Author Can't Be Found
An orphan work is a copyrighted work whose author can't be identified or traced. How India's Section 31A compulsory-licence route works, why the internet makes orphaning easier, and why metadata and registration matter.
30 December 2015
Labels Are Not 'Designs': Delhi HC on the Copyright–Design Overlap
A package label is a trademark and an artistic work — but not a 'design'. The Delhi High Court's Midas Hygiene v. Sudhir Bhatia held labels fall outside the Designs Act, so Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act doesn't extinguish copyright in them.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 18 December 2015
What Every Software Developer Should Put in Their Development Agreement
Without a written agreement, the developer owns the code — which surprises clients. With a badly drafted one, the developer loses the right to reuse their own library. Both outcomes come from the same omission.
21 August 2015
3D Printing and Intellectual Property: Who Owns What
Three separate rights sit in a 3D printed object — a patent in the printer, copyright in the CAD file, and a design in the end product. Working out who to sue when someone prints a replica means knowing which of the three has been taken.
Nikita · 7 August 2015
Copyright Protection for Jokes: Not a Joke Anymore?
Twitter deleted a stolen joke after a writer's copyright complaint — raising the question: can jokes be copyrighted, and is that enforceable? How the idea–expression divide, performers' rights and the sheer difficulty of proof shape the answer in India.