Intellectual Property Archives

This image depicts the Open Source trademark, which comprises of a green keyhole with the words Open Source. this post talks about interesting developments in Open source technology. Click on the image to read the full post.

Open Source Software & the Government of India

The Indian Government recently released its policy on adoption and use of Open Source Software (OSS) for government projects. The policy seeks to cut costs and improve flexibility by using, implementing and contributing to OSS development. The policy mandates that preference in government software projects must be given to OSS, and Closed Source Software (CSS) must only be an exception when OSS is not available. The Preamble of the policy reads as follows: "Government of India (GoI) is implementing the…

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This Image depicts the close shot of Nendran Bananas. This Image is relevant as the article deals with the Inclusion of Nendran Banana as Geographical Indication. Click on this Image for more Information.

Nendran Banana gets Geographical Indication Tag

India is the largest producer of the world’s most popular fruit, the Banana, churning out over a quarter of Global production of Bananas, which brings us to the discussion at hand, i.e., Kerala’s sumptuous Nendran Banana has got Geographical Indication registrations from the Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai. Geographical Indication (GI) refers to any indication that identifies the goods as originating from a particular place, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to its…

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Student Blog Idol

Sinapse takes great pleasure in announcing the Winner of the Student Blog Idol contest of 2014! Without much ado, here are the Winners: First place: Nitish Chaudhary (decided based on quality and penmanship; adherence to topic and flow; ease of readability) 5 Second place holders: Neerja Gurnani, Archit Gupta & Ankit Agarwal (co-authors but taken as 2), Pallavi Singh and Amrita Vasudevan Congratulations to all winners! You will receive your prizes shortly. As promised, all participants will receive certificates of…

March 31, 2015 BananaIP Reporter General, Intellectual Property 0Comment 710Views 0Like

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Burger King and McDonald’s: Can Taste be Patented?

Here is the next post in the series of Student Blog Contest. This post is authored by Neerja Gurnani. I recently went to the Burger King outlet that has been causing immense amounts of hype in Indian teenagers, stood in queue, got a burger, and eagerly bit into it, expecting my mind to be blown. Instead, I was greeted with a very familiar taste – that of a McDonald’s burger. This led me to ask, can taste be patented? Recipes…

March 31, 2015 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents, Trade Secrets 0Comment 1985Views 0Like

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This image depicts children singing the happy birthday song. This image is relevant becasue this post talks about the copyright over the tune of the song "Happy birthday to you". Click on the image to view full post.

Happy Birthday sue You; Happy Birthday sue You!

There’s no one who hasn’t awkwardly stood around their birthday cake while people sing "Happy Birthday to You". It’s the world’s most famous song, sung to millions each year. And this six-word set of lyrics with a simple melody is protected by copyright. In 1868, two Hill sisters from Kentucky composed a song called "Good Morning to All" (now known as the tune of "Happy Birthday"), which went like: Good morning to you, Good morning to you, Good morning, dear…

March 30, 2015 BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Media and Entertainment Law 0Comment 1812Views 0Like

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This image depicts a pie-chart. This image is relevant because this post talks about a socio-economic and legal study on the impact of reservation. Click on the image to view full post.

Impact of Reservation: A Socio-Economic and Legal Study

Here is the next post in the series of Student Blog Contest. This post is authored by Pallavi Singh. The paper evaluates caste based reservation system in India. The Primary stated objective of the Indian reservation system is to increase the opportunities for enhanced social status for underprivileged. The reservation system exists to provide opportunities for the members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. Reservation is working in the opposition direction to its main objective as is demarcating the…

March 30, 2015 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property 0Comment 4468Views 0Like

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This image depicts the Emblem of India. This image is relevant because this post talks about the Indian Government setting up a new IPR think-tank. Click on the image to view full post.

The new IPR Policy, an innovative step?

Here is the next post in the series of Student Blog Contest. This post is authored by Archit Gupta & Ankit Agarwal. Keeping in mind the promise made by the new Central government to bring a new Intellectual Property Rights policy, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has constituted an IPR Think Tank to draft the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy and to advise the government on IPR issues. The panel will identify areas in IPRs where study needs…

March 30, 2015 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property 0Comment 1141Views 0Like

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OCR: Credibility of India’s Intellectual Property Enforcement in Question

United States Trade Representative (USTR) ordered an Out of Cycle Review (OCR) for India in October. While the USTR insists that the aim of this exercise is to provide constructive feedback to India in order to improve its IP protection and enforcement, many in India are not happy about this move. Not only has the government criticized this move, but also refused to participate in it arguing that the US laws are not applicable to India. Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Commerce…

March 30, 2015 BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law, Patents 0Comment 760Views 0Like

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Can you sue if your tweet gets copied?

Here is the next post in the series of Student Blog Contest. The Internet is often considered the Wild West of laws; People believe that laws that exist offline do not apply online, or there exist different rules of behaviour. So when you tap out a tweet and hit send, putting it in public domain, can you sue if it gets copied? Short answer: No. Long answer? It’s complicated. Copyrighting a tweet is extremely hard, for various reasons. Reporting on…

March 30, 2015 BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property 0Comment 5290Views 0Like

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Congratulations to Rajiv Aggarwal, India’s New Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks

Sinapse congratulates Rajiv Aggarwal, IAS officer and Joint Secretary of DIPP - Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, for being appointed as the new Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) of the Indian IP Office. He assumed charge on March 18, 2015. Rajiv Aggarwal will be the third IAS officer who will be heading the Indian IP Office. Previously, Mr. Chaitanya Prasad and his predecessor Mr. P H Kurian held the position. These appointments gesture a change in trend from such…