On 30th June 2016, Canada became the twentieth nation to accede to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually impaired or otherwise print disabled, which will bring the Treaty into force in three months time on September 30, 2016. The ratifying countries will now be able to enjoy the benefits enshrined in the treaty that are meant to extend access to literature and information for print disabled persons. The Marrakesh treaty is…
Krishika Lulla & Ors. vs Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta & Anr.
[Criminal Appeal No. 258 & 259 of 2013 SC (Decided on 15.10.2015)]
Facts
Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta (Respondent), had authored a story named ‘Desi Boys’ and had registered the same with the Film Writers Association on 25.11.2008. Mr. Devkatta forwarded the synopsis of the story to his friend Mr. Ramesh Bhatnagar who further forwarded it one Mr. Ahsaan Sagar on 15.10.2009. Subsequently, Mr. Devkatta saw the promos of a…
Hello Readers! Hope you all had a great weekend. Let us take a quick look at what happened in the past week, with this Weekly Warm up.
Kriti versus Bob: Who owns the copyright?
This post discusses the recent copyright controversy between Kriti, a short film by Shirish Kunder and Bob, a short film by Aneel Neupane.The short film, Kriti, was uploaded on YouTube on June 22, 2016. This short film by Shirish Kunder had gained immense popularity within two days…
Recently , a European Court ruled in favour of US fast food giant McDonald’s, restraining a Singapore based company from using the word ‘Mac’ as a prefix on its foods and beverages. One of the primary aims of every trademark law is to prevent consumer confusion. Trademark law provides exclusive rights to the proprietors of a particular trademark, thus allowing them to carve out a niche for their product in the existing market.
In 2008, a Singaporean Company had applied…
This post discusses the latest development relating to the movie ‘Sultan’. The movie was released today, i.e.on 6.07.2016. Ahead of the release of the much awaited movie ‘Sultan’, Yash Raj Films approached the Bombay High Court ,seeking for an interim injunction to fight piracy. Yash Raj Films filed an application after they came across websites hosting several links to download the yet to be released movie ‘Sultan’. These links although dormant at the time of making the application are bound…
Kriti, a short film by Shirish Kunder, has been taken down by YouTube amidst a copyright controversy initiated by a filmmaker from Nepal, Aneel Neupane. The short film, Kriti, was uploaded on YouTube on June 22, 2016. The short film had bagged over two million views within 2 days. However, on June 24, Kriti found itself in controversy as Neupane updated a facebook status, openly accusing Kriti to be a copy of his short film, Bob. Neupane claimed that he…
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has recently published guidelines for examination of patent applications relating to pharmaceuticals.The guidelines have highlighted the need for examining pharmaceutical patents from the perspective of public health.The guidelines set by Prof. Carlos M Correa strongly recommend nations to set out specific and more stringent standards for pharmaceutical patents. The guidelines also encourage patent offices to exploit the flexibilities allowed by the TRIPS Agreement with regard to the aforementioned guidelines. In his foreword, Mandeep Dhaliwal,…
The IP community is well aware about the major reforms that have been implemented recently by the EU( European Union). The European Trademark law has undergone significant changes since the introduction of the Community Trademark system in 1996. The recently adopted European Trademark Reforms have brought in substantial changes not only to Community trademarks but also for owners of national trademarks in the EU.
India has been protesting without any success, against one such new directive in the area…
Udta Punjab, the recently released bollywood movie on substance abuse prevalent in Punjab has been mired in controversy from the beginning. Earlier, when the movie had commenced its shooting,the production unit faced trouble for not taking mandatory permission from the district administration and police authorities of Amritsar. However, recently the movie drew attention due to its certification and censorship by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) which became the bone of contention between the producers and the CBFC. In…
The Patent Amendment Rules of 2016 came in as a much needed respite for many startups. It calls for appreciation of the government and the patent office for introducing several amendments to the Patent Rules which seek to enhance the efficiency of the IPR regime in India and more particularly of the Indian patent law. However, every change brings with it a short phase of chaos and confusion. The Patent Amendment Rules, 2016 brought into effect from the 16th of…