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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Laws alone cannot eliminate copyright infringements. For copyright law to take its course, there have to be effective detection of infringements and identification of infringers. Furthermore, as with any property rights, owners of copyrighted content have to take certain measures to protect their copyrights before expecting law enforcement to aid them. Digital Rights Managements and ETMs are such measures a copyright owner is expected to take in order to protect his copyrights in the digital world. The term Digital Rights…
On March 10, 2015, a panel of eight jurors of a California Federal Court found the artists Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams guilty of copyright infringement in a plagiarism suit filed by the heirs of artist Marvin Gaye, alleging that the 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” by Thicke and Williams was a rip off of Gaye’s 1977 song “Got To Give It Up”.
‘Blurred Lines’, written and performed by Robin Thicke, T I and Pharrell Williams, was released on March 26,…
I-HIPP (In-House Intellectual Property Professionals Forum), an IP Think Tank and advocacy group, had conducted a conference and moot court in memory of Hitesh Barot, a leading in-house IP counsel, on March 6, 2015 at ABB campus, Bangalore.
Hitesh Barot, Senior IP counsel and Former Vice President of Technology Policy at General Electric (GE), was in a tragic accident that claimed his life on May 21, 2015. In a very unusual occurrence, Hitesh Barot was dragged by a crocodile…
Article contributed by Heema Shirvaikar, Intern at BananaIP Counsels, 3rd-year Law Student at Symbiosis, Pune.
Facts and brief history of case:
In 2011, a Writ Petition was filed before the Madras High Court by Mr. Shamnad Basheer, seeking a Writ of Declaration, to declare the establishment of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, and the Patents Act, 1970 as violative of the basic structure of the Constitution of India.
Shamnad Basheer, founder of…