Celebrating 20 Years of IP Excellence

If I Could Copyright… My Book: Copyrights and Writers (Part 5)

Independent Touch of Creativity: Copyrights and Writers (Part 3)

Writings expressed on tangible forms are copyrightable only if they are original and creative. The thresholds are low, but they still have to be satisfied. Originality Originality checks whether a writing has been independently created. The question is not about similarity of works, it is about independence of expression. As long as a writer has independently written her work, it will not matter if the work is similar or identical to another work. Example: If X writes a poem, and it is…

Read more

Intellepedia - IP News Updates

Synthetic cell: Patent or No Patent?

First Publication Date: 27th May 2010. After reading today’s article titled “Patent-run for synthetic life form could be ‘damaging’, says Brit scientist” I thought I was having a Déjà vu. Looks like, once again, history repeats itself. Have you ever wondered as to why every time there is substantial progress in the field of Synthetic biology, we get mixed reactions? We are happy about the progress but when it comes to rewarding a patent to the inventors for the progress,…

Read more

Weekly TM News Updates

Aaj Tak Wins Trademark Battle, Trademark Infringement over a Candle, Discover Brand in India and other news.

Indian Trademark Statistics for November (Fourth Week) 2018, Discovery Brand Now in India, LG Electronics Files Trademarks for Foldable Phones, Aaj Tak Wins a Trademark Battle, Surname Trademark Infringement, and more, brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsels. TRADEMARK QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol whichis the brand image”– Walter Landor INDIAN TRADEMARK STATISTICS The Indian Trademark Office have had a mixed week with respect to…

Read more

If I Could Copyright… My Book: Copyrights and Writers (Part 5)

Write, Keep Writing, The World will …- Copyrights and Writers (Part 2)

Copyright protects original, creative expressions on a tangible form. All three requirements, originality, creativity, and expression on a tangible form have low thresholds, and are easily satisfied by almost, all writings. As long as the writer's work is independently created, not copied; it has  minimal creativity, a pinch at least; and the writing is on a tangible form such as paper, electronic medium, etc., copyright protection automatically begins. Expression is what matters for copyright protection, and impression is irrelevant. Ideas and…

Read more

Genetic Patentability  x

Natural or Man Made

This post was first published on April 4, 2010.   This is in furtherance of Mrs. Vinita Radhakrishnan's post regarding the US District Court decision on BRCA gene patents. Under the US Patent Law, anything that exists in nature is not patentable subject matter. This is also referred to as 'Product of Nature Doctrine'. The test for determining whether something exists in nature or not as laid down in Chakrabarty's case is whether a hand of man is involved in creating…

Read more

Genetic Patentability  x

The Gene Returns to its Body

This post was first published on April 1, 2010.   I’m still in denial of the summary judgment ruling provided by Judge Robert W. Sweet of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Association for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO on March 29th 2010. Looks like all that I read, understood and was convinced that gene patents demands a revisit. The 156 pages summary judgment that was issued on this Monday has for sure taken me by surprise.…

Read more

Intellepedia - IP News Updates

Role of IP Policy in a Knowledge-Driven Company

This post was first published on March 26, 2010. An Intellectual Property (IP) Policy setting out the IP goals of a company in the light of its business goals plays a very important role in enabling the company to acquire competitive advantage from its IP. The IP Policy must lay down the framework in light of the company's IP strategy. Most IP policies cover aspects such as generation, protection, ownership, utilization, management, and commercialization of IP. They also include…

Read more

Copyright x

Who’s Intellect? Who’s Property?

This post was first published on March 16, 2010. Contributed by Prof . Madabhushi Sridhar The print media comprises of newspapers, books both fiction and non-fiction. The copyright law regulating rights over economic benefits of ‘owners’ of electronic media are totally different in its impact compared to that of authors in print media. Electronic media refers to TV, radio, music album publishers, Internet, or online publishers, compute programme writing industry, etc. In electronic media, the investments are high, production process…

Read more

The featured image shows the word copyright written in blue colour on a white background. The post is about latest entertainment and copyright news. To know more, please click here.

Public Domain in Copyright Regime: Facilitating Right to Know

This post was first published on March 16, 2010. The interface between the right to know and limited monopoly over creative expressions to the authentic owner represent conflicts of interests. Proprietorial concerns on one hand and the social interests on the other need to be reconciled in almost every area where individual rights conflict with social concerns. If the copyright is considered as an extension of the right of speech and expression, it contradicts another fundamental right, i.e., right to…

Read more

Patent

Claiming with a Purpose, with the Blessings of the Inventor

This post was first published on March 1, 2010.   Claims draw the boundary to the invention that is being claimed. The boundary that is being drawn must be carefully done in order to ensure that the claims serve their purpose. The point here is that every claim must have a specific purpose and must be targeted to a potentially infringing product or process, or be targeted to protect a specific implementation (in case of defensive approach). In order for the practitioner…

Read more