In this post we revisit the IP Updates ie., any amendments, ordinances, notifications, and other information related to IP published in the year 2021. For reader’s convenience it has been divided into parts, please find the link to the previous and next parts towards the end of this post.
DELHI HIGH COURT INVITES SUGGESTIONS FOR FIXING ROYALTIES FOR SOUND RECORDING
The High Court of Delhi has issued a public notice on 10th November, 2021, with respect to the intention of the IP Division to fix/revise royalties as mandated under Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957.
The notice invites suggestions from interested persons, in writing along with necessary evidence, to be submitted within 30 days (by 10th December, 2021). The suggestions may be e-mailed to ipd-copyright@dhc.nic.in
A copy of the notice is available here: http://delhihighcourt.nic.in/writereaddata/Upload/PublicNotices/PublicNotice_SIGLWQIP4Z3.PDF
The notice reads as follows:
PUBLIC NOTICE
“Reg: C.O.(COMM.IPD-CR) 14/2021 & other matters
This is for information of all concerned that in view of Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957, read with Rule 31 of the Copyright Rules, 2013 and upon an application in this regard filed by Indian Performing Rights Society Limited, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, IP Division is required to fix/revise the royalties for communication of underlying works, viz. ‘literary and musical works’ in ‘sound recordings’ and utilization thereof in FM radio stations, to the public by way of broadcast through Radio under section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the rules thereto.
This Public Notice is issued to inform all those interested persons regarding the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, Intellectual Property Division’s intention to fix/revise royalties for broadcast of underlying works viz. ‘literary and musical works’ in ‘sound recordings’ through radio, as mandated under Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957, read with Rule 31 of the Copyright Rules, 2013 and the suggestions of all interested persons are invited in this regard.
In accordance with sub-rule (3) of Rule 31, it is stated that any owner of copyright or any broadcasting organization or any radio broadcaster or any other interested person may, within thirty days from the date of this publication, give its suggestions, in writing, with adequate evidence as to the rate of royalties to be fixed/revised for the broadcast of underlying works viz. ‘literary and musical works’ in ‘sound recordings’ through FM radio. No further time will be granted for the purpose of suggestions after the expiry of30 days of Public Notice.
The suggestions be e-mailed to ipd-copyright@dhc.nic.in in this regard.”
Link to the post: https://www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center/delhi-high-court-invites-suggestions-for-fixing-royalties-for-sound-recording/ dated NOVEMBER 11, 2021.
BANANAIP’S SENIOR PARTNER AMONG TOP 300 IP STRATEGISTS
In the recently published IAM Strategy 300 listing for 2021, Ms. Vinita Radhakrishnan, Senior Partner at BananaIP has been recognized as one of the Top IP Strategists in the world. The listing includes 300 internationally recognized IP Professionals selected through a confidential nomination process followed by research and interviews.
The list includes IP Leaders from the industry, law firms, Research institutions and Universities.
Since 2005, Vinita Radhakrishnan has been working in IP, specifically in Patent Prosecution and has made important contributions to Patent Law and Policy in India. She is one of the few professionals in the country with equal standing in Law and Science. She specializes in building strong Patent portfolios that are commercially valuable for her clients.
She has co-authored one of the highly cited and referred books on Indian Patent Law and Practice, published by Oxford University Press and teaches Patent Law at premium institutions
For more information about her achievements and body of work you may visit here
More information on the listing can be found here
Link to the post: https://www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center/bananaips-senior-partner-among-top-300-ip-strategists/ dated SEPTEMBER 20, 2021
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOR BUSINESS VALUE – A PRESENTATION BY DR. KALYAN KANKANALA AT IIM BANGALORE
This presentation is titled “Intellectual Property for Business Value” and was delivered by Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala to the batch of Post Graduate students at the Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore (IIMB) on November 27th, 2021.
Link to the post: https://www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center/intellectual-property-for-business-value-a-presentation-by-dr-kalyan-kankanala-at-iim-bangalore/ dated NOVEMBER 30, 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 community. In view of several requests, the deadline to receive such comments was extended from 22 October 2021 to 10 November 2021. The Committee was pleased to receive wide ranging and detailed comments from practitioners, law firms as well as industry organizations. The Committee has considered the comments/suggestions received and has finalised the Rules.
The Rules will come into force on such date as notified by the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in the Official Gazette.
Apart from laying down rules for procedure and practice, the Delhi High Court has included a provision which specifically deals with accessibility and reasonable accommodations.
Rule 36, titled “Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodations”, reads as follows:
- All filings before the IPD shall be in a Portable Document Format with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) enabled with image resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (dpi);
- The Court, suo motu or upon a request made by way of application, may issue such direction(s) that it deems necessary for providing reasonable accommodation to such person(s) with a specified disability as recognized under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 for the sole purpose of participating in the proceedings before the IPD.
Section 2(y) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, defines “reasonable accommodations” to mean “necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments, without imposing a disproportionate or undue burden in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise of rights equally with others.”
Further, Section 12 requires all Tribunals and Authorities to make their facilities, systems and documents accessible to persons with disabilities to facilitate their full and equal participation before Courts, Tribunals and Administrative Authorities. This can be done by ensuring that:
(a) all their public documents are in accessible formats;
(b) the filing departments, registry or any other office of records are supplied with necessary equipment to enable filing, storing and referring to the documents and evidence in accessible formats; and
(c) all necessary facilities and equipment are available to facilitate recording of testimonies, arguments or opinion given by persons with disabilities in their preferred language and means of communication.
It is well-established that all persons, including persons with disabilities have the right to equality, right to freedom of profession, and the right to life, which includes the right to live with human dignity under Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India. The Honourable Supreme Court has held that arbitrary denial of equal opportunity to persons with disabilities amounts to discrimination, and that affirmative action has to be taken to avoid such discrimination. The Honourable Supreme Court has also stated that facilities and services must be made available and accessible to persons with disabilities, and the non-availability of such facilities violates their right to equality and human dignity.
BananaIP is very happy to note that the Delhi High Court has given appropriate importance to attorneys with disabilities by incorporating provisions relating to accessibility and reasonable accommodations. It is our understanding that these are among the first rules applicable to an IP tribunal which expressly require accessibility and reasonable accommodations. It has been our observation that there is a lack of awareness of the issues faced by persons with disabilities in appearing before various tribunals and adjudicatory authorities. These Rules will go a long way towards improving awareness among IP practitioners, and facilitating full and equal participation in the IP process. The Indian IP office is yet to take such a step, and we honestly hope they will do the needful at the earliest possible.
Final comments/suggestions, if any, may be sent to jr-rules.dhc@gov.in by 17 December 2021 (Friday). The notice states that earlier comments/suggestions have already been considered and the same may not be repeated.
A copy of the Rules may be accessed here: https://delhihighcourt.nic.in/writereaddata/Upload/PublicNotices/PublicNotice_ZY7EJQHTR3S.PDF.
Link to the post: https://www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center/delhi-high-court-intellectual-property-rights-division-rules-2021/ dated DECEMBER 14, 2021
Read previous part of this post: Recap 2021: IP Updates – Part 3
This post is brought to you by BananaIP’s Consulting & Strategy Department
About BananaIP’s Consulting & Strategy Department
BananaIP’s Consulting & Strategy Department has the experience of helping companies use IP for business and competitive advantage. Companies regularly seek their assistance, advise and opinions on identifying/mining inventions and creations, conducting IP audits, protecting IP assets appropriately, launching risk free products, managing litigation for business benefit, resolving disputes out of Court, making money out of IP, enforcing IP, and licensing transactions. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to contact@bananaip.com.
Disclaimer
Please note that these updates have been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the decisions published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down.
