Accessibility Archives

Accessibility of Intermediary Services to Persons with Disabilities – Proposed Amendments to IT Rules

A. Background On 6th June, 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India, published a press note sharing the Proposed Draft Amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (hereinafter referred to as “IT Rules, 2021”), and sought comments and suggestions from the stakeholders with respect to the proposed rules. As stated in the press note, two important principles that underlie the proposed amendments are: “The Internet should be Open, Safe &…

June 29, 2022 BananaIP Reporter Accessibility, General, Intellectual Property, Social Media Law 0Comment 1273Views 0Like

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Draft National Policy for Persons with Disabilities – Comments and Suggestions

Background The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India published a Draft National Policy for Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter referred to as "National Disability Policy" or "Disability Policy") for comments from the general public. The proposed policy is expected to replace the prior policy of 2006, and bring India's policy for persons with disabilities in line with the UNCRPD, the RPwD Act, and other developments in the country. One of…

June 18, 2022 BananaIP Reporter Accessibility, General, Intellectual Property, Press Release 0Comment 1455Views 0Like

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Indian IP Office issues Accessibility Guidelines for Persons with Disabilities

On 4th March, 2022 the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks (O/o CGPDTM) issued Guidelines for Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities to facilitate accessibility and reasonable accommodations for Persons with Disabilities practicing and interacting with IP Offices under O/o CGPDTM with an endeavor to take all possible steps to make its website, facilities, documents, services, systems and processes accessible to every person. The O/o CGPDTM has appointed a nodal officer (disability) to address needs of…

March 5, 2022 BananaIP Reporter Accessibility, Biological Diversity, Copyrights, Geographical Indications (GI), Industrial Designs, Intellectual Property, Patents, Trademarks 0Comment 1807Views 1Like

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Image accompanying blogpost on Delhi High Court IPD Rules, 2021

Accessibility in Delhi High Court IP Division Rules, 2021

On 10th December, 2021, the Delhi High Court issued a public notice containing the finalized rules of procedure for its Intellectual Property Rights Division, in exercise of its powers under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966, the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and various intellectual property statutes. The Delhi High Court had published the draft of the 'Delhi High Court Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules, 2021' on 8 October 2021, inviting comments/suggestions from the Bar and other stakeholders from the IP…

December 14, 2021 BananaIP Reporter Accessibility, Biological Diversity, Copyrights, General, Geographical Indications (GI), Industrial Designs, Intellectual Property, Patents, Plant Varieties, Trademarks, Traditional Knowledge 0Comment 2511Views 5Likes

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Indian IP Office and Website Accessibility for Persons with Blindness – Order of CCPD

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 ("RPwD Act") was enacted with the objective of giving effect to the provisions of the UN Convention of Persons with Disabilities to which India is a member state. The RPwD Act requires Government and private establishments to provide information, communications and documents in formats that are accessible to persons with disabilities. The Act also mandates establishments to provide reasonable accommodations, and states that not providing such accommodations amounts to discrimination. The Rights…

September 16, 2020 Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala Accessibility, Intellectual Property 0Comment 1517Views 0Like

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Indian IP Office and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities

One of the biggest issues in modern societies is perhaps a growing sense of apathy towards fellow human beings. Intellectual property as a field has not been untouched by this issue. The Marrakesh treaty for instance since it was first put forward, has garnered only 70 signatories till date out of the 190+ member states that form part of the WIPO. This post however does not intend to deal with or question the aforementioned issues themselves but instead seeks to…

August 19, 2020 BananaIP Reporter Accessibility, Intellectual Property 0Comment 1313Views 0Like

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Open Science and its Facets – ICCIG 4 at IIM, Ahmedabad

As a part of the Fourth International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at/for/from/with Grassroots [ICCIG 4] at IIM, Ahmedabad, Professor Arul George Scaria organized a session on 'Fostering Open Science.' I was fortunate to participate in the well organized panel discussion and learn from its proceedings. From my knowledge,Professor Arul is the only scholar in India researching on Open Science from the legal perspective. His emperical study driven report on Open Science will be released soon, and his insights about…

January 31, 2019 Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala Accessibility, General, Intellectual Property 0Comment 994Views 0Like

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Literary Works to Braille – Which Exclusive Right?

I write in response to Dr. Sunanda Bharti's post on Spicy IP, which talks about rights granted to copyright owners of literary works, and which right is involved in converting a literary work to Braille. In my opinion, the answer is not so complex as it seems. Braille is not a language, it is a form of expression of a language. It has the same alphabets as the language and nothing changes except the way in which letters are represented. So, converting a work…

January 29, 2019 Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala Accessibility, Copyrights, General, Intellectual Property 0Comment 846Views 0Like

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Accessibility of Science to Persons with Blindness: Miles and Miles To Go

In my earlier post, I spoke about the legal framework for access of information and data to persons with blindness and other disabilities from the copyright and disabilities statute perspectives. In the article, I pointed out that access has been placed at less than one (1) percent and that the proportion of access is diminishing as the universe of information is expanding at a rapid rate. Sources and forms of information are changing so fast that that accessibility is finding…

January 28, 2019 Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala Accessibility, General, Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge 0Comment 1225Views 0Like

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Blindness and Accessible Books: From Marrakesh to Marella Gunta Palem

Marrakesh is a busy city in Morocco. It is a popular tourist destination. The Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate accessibility of published works to persons with blindness was signed in and named after the city. Marella Gunta Palem is a small, agricultural village in the State of Andhra Pradesh, India. Less than hundred families live in the village, which has basic information and communication infrastructure. It has been approximately six years since the Marrakesh Treaty was signed, and just more than two years…