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The Indian Express case

In October this year, the Bombay High Court passed its decision in the case between The Indian Express Limited and Chandran Prakash Shivhare, the publisher and distributor of a journal called "Indian Express" filed before the Bombay High Court in the year 2010, to seek an injunction against the Defendant, and to restrain them from using the title ‘Indian Express’. The crux of this case was whether a registered trademark could be infringed by the use of the identical mark which had…

BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Trademarks November 24, 2015 1057Views 0Like

Copyright Exceptions for Access to the Blind – Marrakesh Treaty

After several years of continuous effort, the MARRAKESH TREATY TO FACILITATE ACCESS TO PUBLISHED WORKS FOR PERSONS WHO ARE BLIND, VISUALLY IMPAIRED, OR OTHERWISE PRINT DISABLED was adopted in 2013. So far, 9 countries, including India, have ratified the Treaty, while 2 have acceded to it. The Treaty will come into force when 20 countries ratify it. Background A WHO report estimates that there are more than 285 million blind or visually disabled people in this world. It is estimated…

BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property November 24, 2015 892Views 0Like

Draft Trademark (Amendment) Rules, 2015: Yay or Nay?

On 19th November, 2015 Draft Trademark (Amendment) Rules, 2015 were issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI). The Rules are intended to amend the current Trademark Rules, 2002 and have proposed a complete revamping of the same. The rules propose the trademark filing fee to be doubled, which means a hundred percent hike in official charges. The Digital India initiative has gone a step further, by discouraging physical filing of Trade Mark applications. The applicants will be required…

BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Trademarks November 24, 2015 713Views 0Like

Digital License Agreement -Part II

Licensing of creative content like cinematographic films or sound recording through digital platforms forms an integral part of the entertainment business. This post is in continuation of our previous post about the structure of a Digital Licensing Agreement. In addition to the definitions, grant of license and the consideration clauses in a standard license agreement, the parties must ensure that the following clauses are also included in the Digital License Agreement: Representations and Warranties : It is essential to…

BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law November 24, 2015 760Views 0Like

Doctrine of Merger and Copyright Law

The fundamental rule of Copyright law is that facts and ideas are not copyrightable, it is only the creative expression of such ideas and facts that is rewarded by law, by conferring a privilege to exclusively exploit such expression for a limited time. However, not all expression are accorded protection under the Copyright Law. The law affords protection to expressions that are fixed in a medium and are ―original. Section 13 of the Copyright Act provides that ―original, literary, artistic,…

BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law November 23, 2015 8854Views 0Like

Statutory License for Cover Versions under the Copyright (Amendment) Act

In our post last week, we looked at statutory licensing for broadcast organizations specified under Section 31D of the Indian Copyright Act. As mentioned earlier, the objective of non-voluntary licensing is to overcome the difficulty of locating the original owner of the copyrighted work in order to obtain a license and to avoid the creation of monopoly of copyright owners. The Copyright Act similarly contains provisions for statutory licensing for cover versions under Section 31C. While Section 31D which talks…

BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property November 23, 2015 2500Views 0Like

The Diary of Anne Frank or Otto Frank?

“I wish to go on living even after my death” -Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl This was just one of the famous lines that Anne Frank wrote in her diary - ‘Kitty’, which it was fondly referred to as by Anne when she penned her thoughts into it. Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl or more famously known as the Diary of Anne Frank was a journal or a diary of a young Jewish girl…

BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property November 23, 2015 863Views 0Like

Thou can copy, oh Google. Tis legal!

The latest IP related news pertains to Google's digital copying of entire books as part of its Google Books service from Google Inc. The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit recently confirmed the decision of the District Court that the scanning activities of Google within its Library Project are to be considered a fair use of copyright works. The Plaintiff-Appellants, who are the authors of published books under copyright, appealed from the judgment of the United States District…

BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing November 23, 2015 750Views 0Like

Machinima – Copyright and Related Issues – Part II

In our post last week, we discussed about the art of machinima, i.e. the use of visuals from a video game to create a cinematographic film. As machinima is a derivative work, using the characters and the environment from the game without the authorization of the game developers would usually constitute an act of infringement. However, many of the creators of machinima, or machinimators, rely on the fair use provisions in the event that a copyright infringement claim is brought…

BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property November 23, 2015 919Views 0Like

Social Media and IP : Part XI – Best Practices for Businesses

Social Media is an integral element of every business today, and no business can afford to ignore its relevance. From employee policies to business development, social media has a role to play in several business related activities. It is therefore important for companies to devise and follow legally acceptable standards and guidelines for handling business activities on social media. This note outlines some best practices from the Intellectual Property, privacy and publicity perspectives. Devise and Implement a Social Media…

BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Social Media Law November 23, 2015 908Views 1Like

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