One of the primary purposes of the Copyright Amendment in 2012 was to ensure that authors get their well deserved consideration. The focus was primarily on authors, who create works for feature films. Other authors, unfortunately, received little or no attention. After making sure that producers do not take away ownership rights by signing 'work for hire' engagements, the amendment made changes to provisions with respect to assignment in Section 18.
The first provision in Section 18, the subject of…
This post was first published on June 25th, 2014.
We reviewed the existing scenario in the entertainment industry with respect to the protection of ideas, in my previous post - how to protect ideas. Before we move on to discuss the tool that can be used to protect original ideas/concepts that are not expressed in a tangible form, let us take a look at the practices followed in the entertainment industry by both the generator and the receiver of ideas.…
This post was first published on June 20th, 2014.
The name that is most often associated with Automobile patents is Henry Ford, in addition to Alexander Winton, Karl Benz, and others. Supposedly, Ford’s first experience with the patent system was not as an “Inventor” but as an “Infringer”, who allegedly infringed a US patent titled “Road Engine” granted to Selden (Patent No. 549160) in 1895. Selden’s patent, with a three-page description, five drawings, and 6 claims, controlled the entire US…
Products made from rubber have come to be a part of our day to day life in the form of automobile tires. It is used for several other applications as well. However, natural rubber becomes solid, cracks in winter and melts in summer. This unstable nature of rubber made lives of rubber product manufacturers difficult. Strong minds, however, don't go down without a fight! It was at this stage that "vulcanization of rubber" was invented by Charles Goodyear. He was awarded a US patent for vulcanized…
Is Section 3(d) an extension of the Inventive Step analysis?
The answer to this question can make a difference to the compliance of non-discrimination obligations under the TRIPs Agreement, and so it plays a significant part. Article 27.1 of the TRIPs Agreement reads as follows:
Subject to the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3, patents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable…
A recent decision from the Delhi High Court (HC) pertaining to the publisher of a weekly magazine, India Today, filing an application for an interim injunction at the Delhi HC so as to restrain Alpha Dealcom from launching a news channel with the name 'Nation Today', stresses the importance of submissions in response to an Examination Report made before the Trademarks Registry.
The publisher of India Today argued that the use of the word ‘Today’ infringed its Trademark. The Delhi HC held that,…
It may not be widely accepted but it is common knowledge that most knowledge-driven companies, sit on their intellectual assets/intellectual property until it's too late. Some may fail to recognize their valuable IP, others may show apathy, and others may not know what to do with the IP that they stumble upon. Even most IP-savvy companies sometimes fall into one of these three types. That being said, when a company does decide to increase its IP revenue, IP filing seldom…
Beginning with the inception of an idea through to the development, protection and commercialization of the idea, investments are needed at every step. The huge costs involved in the conversion of an invention to a final product/process, that can be commercialized to yield benefits, appears to be an insurmountable hurdle for several inventors and small to medium scale organizations. The cost for protection of an invention is nearly equal to the cost for developing and solidifying the concept.
The recent…
Magic is an art in which a magician performs seemingly impossible tricks for entertainment. When it began, people used to associate magic with evil and so the industry faced several hiccups . However, as a result of constant effort of many magicians of that era, people slowly became interested in magic, and came to accept it as a legitimate art in the 18th century. In this post, I will introduce a legend, who was not just a prominent magician, but also an inventor. It…
A patent right is a monopolistic right that is granted only after stringent scrutiny of the patent application. The right is not enjoyed by a patent applicant/patentee unless it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that this proprietorship is well deserved of the invention. Since this grant of patent right affects third parties monumentally, they are given an opportunity to participate and intervene in the grant process by filing oppositions and request for revocations.
An application can be opposed before grant…