On 9th July, 2015, The Hindu reported that Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has made its way into the top five research and academic institutions in BRICS countries. The report mentions that IISc tops the list in terms of the number of research publications from an academic institution. It is noteworthy that seven institutions from China figure in the list. Team SiNApSE has earlier tracked news stories of IISc's intellectual property progress, and we felt that this would be a…
“You win some and you lose some”, this is a phrase all too familiar to most people and more specifically to the market of pharmaceuticals. It is perhaps this phrase that most pharmaceutical companies live by during their existence! Patent infringement, claim invalidation, compulsory license and Generic companies are the most clichéd words that one comes across, whenever there is a mention of pharmaceutical patents. Eli Lilly (a cancer treatment drug) happens to be one such entity that has “been…
On July 1, 2015, Google owned video-sharing website YouTube won a legal battle against German performing rights organization GEMA in a German regional court. GEMA had claimed that Youtube should be liable to pay each time a video of an artist, represented by GEMA is viewed. GEMA represents several composers, lyricists, music publishers as its members in Germany and collects their royalty fees. This is not the first time that GEMA has engaged in a legal feud with YouTube. Even…
In addition to Kolhapuri Chappals (registered as GI), Kolhapur is also going to be famous for its Kolhapuri Masala. Yes, you heard it right! The Karveer Adarsha Mahila Aaudyogik Sahkari Sanstha (KAMAAS), a group of women self-help organizations with the help of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), a state-initiative of agriculture department, had applied under the application no-475 on 26th March 2014, to get the Geographical Indication (GI) status for the delectable mixture of different spices that claims to bring a distinct…
Flipkart and Amazon (e-retail giants) are at loggerheads again. The matter concerns the online sale of Amish Tripathi’s book `Scion of Ikshvaku'. This time it is Flipkart which has been sued by the Westland, a Tata owned entity, for alleged infringement under both the copyright and IT Acts, for the unauthorized sale of the aforementioned book.
According to Westland, they had entered into an exclusive agreement with Amazon for a period of two months to sell the book online. These…
Case title
Padmini and ors.Vs.Raj Television Network Limited
Citation
Original Application No. 763 of 2013 in C.S. No. 686 of 2013 (Decided On: 13.04.2015)
Facts
The plaintiffs are the legal heirs of R Venkatraman, who produced the Tamil film ‘Ninaithale Inikkum’ in the year 1979, under the ‘Premalaya’ banner. In 1981 Mr Venkatraman assigned the copyright in the negatives, of both picture and sound, of the said film to ‘Kumar Pictures’, by way of an assignment deed, for a period of…
The Chennai-based saree retail Brand Nalli has issued a cease and desist notice to the leading e-commerce website Snapdeal for illegal use of its brand name, trademark and images on its website.
Nalli, a brand that has become synonymous with the traditional silk or Kanchipuram sarees has become a trusted household name when it comes to sarees. It was alleged by Nalli that Snapdeal sought to unjustly cash in on the goodwill of the brand by making people believe that…
Indian Institute of Management (IIMB) has become the first business school in India to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) through their program called ‘IIMBx’. The program desires to provide quality education free of cost. The courses have been carefully designed to cater to a divergent group of learners, who can utilize these courses to hone their managerial skills.
This is good news, considering the plight of students who face fierce competition every year trying to get a seat in…
Google is again in the news for its patents wars. With every leading company wanting to satisfy its customers by providing the best street view mapping software, Google too hasn’t left any stone unturned. Google was sued by Vederi in 2010, alleging that Google’s “Street View” infringed claims of related patents, which concerns ways of creating images of a geographical area that can be navigated by computer.
Google Street View has already been the subject of a number of lawsuits. …
Application No 14 for the registration of Geographical Indication (GI) of "Basmati Rice" was filed on 19th August 2004 in Class 30 by M/s Heritage, Haryana under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999.
India and Pakistan had agreed to protect the GI of Basmati rice varieties covered by EC Regulation 1549/2004 as detailed in Council decisions 2004/617/EC and 2004/618/EC, when GI application was filled before the Registry. Basmati is the name given for certain varieties of…