Celebrating 20 Years of IP Excellence

The featured images shows the flying carby terrafugia This post is about a flying car that has been granted a patent in the US. To read more click here.

Ignition, Gear and Lift-off!

The idea for a flying car has now moved a step closer to reality from fantasy. The world's biggest automaker Toyota recently filed a patent application revealing a flying vehicle resembling a hover car or a roadable aircraft. The USPTO has published the patent application disclosed in application no. 14/194,795 on September 3rd, 2015. The patent discloses a vehicle that can be both, flown as a fixed wing aircraft and driven as a land vehicle. The invention titled “stackable wing…

Read more

Intellepedia - IP News Updates

Access to Copyrighted Works for Persons with Disability- Conference at NLSIU

The Marrakesh Treaty, which focuses on the rights of the blind, visually impaired or print disabled persons, with respect to access to copyrighted works was signed on June 27th, 2013. The underlying objective of the Treaty has been to incorporate certain exceptions to the national laws of countries, in order to provide works in accessible format for persons with print disability. India became the first country to ratify the Treaty and displayed its allegiance to the cause. Bearing in mind…

Read more

Copyright x

Exceptions for Access to the Blind

  Provisions for facilitating access of copyrighted works to the disabled, including blind persons, were introduced in the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 in 2012. Limitations and Exceptions in the Indian Copyright Law can be categorized into two types: Fair Dealing exception for the disabled; and Compulsory License for making works accessible to the disabled. Fair Dealing ((Section 52(zb)) The use of a work for making it accessible to a disabled person is considered as fair dealing under the Indian…

Read more

Intellepedia - IP News Updates

Patent Trolls – Lesson No. 2

In furtherance to my recent post on patent trolls or the Non Practicing Entities (NPEs), I would like to discuss here in this post about how software technology is becoming a treasure trove for patent trolls.  Cloud based business products are one of the major business fields today. Software-oriented platforms such as C (SaaS) providers are primary targets for the patent trolls. General observation indicates that in the area of software patents the patents are much broader. In several instance, patents…

Read more

Trademark Infringement

The Indian Express case

  In October this year, the Bombay High Court passed its decision in the case between The Indian Express Limited and Chandran Prakash Shivhare, the publisher and distributor of a journal called "Indian Express" filed before the Bombay High Court in the year 2010, to seek an injunction against the Defendant, and to restrain them from using  the title ‘Indian Express’. The crux of this case was whether a registered trademark could be infringed by the use of the identical mark which had…

Read more

Intellepedia - IP News Updates

Copyright Exceptions for Access to the Blind – Marrakesh Treaty

After several years of continuous effort, the MARRAKESH TREATY TO FACILITATE ACCESS TO PUBLISHED WORKS FOR PERSONS WHO ARE BLIND, VISUALLY IMPAIRED, OR OTHERWISE PRINT DISABLED was adopted in 2013. So far, 9 countries, including India, have ratified the Treaty,  while 2 have acceded to it. The Treaty will come into force when 20 countries ratify it. Background A WHO report estimates that there are more than 285 million blind or visually disabled people in this world. It is estimated…

Read more

business   x

Digital License Agreement -Part II

  Licensing of creative content like cinematographic films or sound recording through digital platforms forms an integral part of the entertainment business. This post is in continuation of our previous post about the structure of a Digital Licensing Agreement. In addition to the definitions, grant of license and the consideration clauses in a standard license agreement, the parties must ensure that the following clauses are also included in the Digital License Agreement: Representations and Warranties : It is essential to…

Read more

Intellepedia - IP News Updates

Doctrine of Merger and Copyright Law

The fundamental rule of Copyright law is that facts and ideas are not copyrightable, it is only the creative expression of such ideas and facts that is rewarded by law, by conferring a privilege to exclusively exploit such expression for a limited time. However, not all expression are accorded protection under the Copyright Law. The law affords protection to expressions that are fixed in a medium and are ―original. Section 13 of the Copyright Act provides that ―original, literary, artistic,…

Read more

The featured image shows the logo of google. To read more on the google versus oracle dispute click here.

Thou can copy, oh Google. Tis legal!

The latest IP related news pertains to Google's digital copying of entire books as part of its Google Books service from Google Inc. The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit recently confirmed the decision of the District Court that the scanning activities of Google within its Library Project are to be considered a fair use of copyright works. The Plaintiff-Appellants, who are the authors of published books under copyright, appealed from the judgment of the United States District…

Read more

Social Media x

Social Media and IP : Part XI – Best Practices for Businesses

  Social Media is an integral element of every business today, and no business can afford to ignore its relevance. From employee policies to business development, social media has a role to play in several business related activities. It is therefore important for companies to devise and follow legally acceptable standards and guidelines for handling business activities on social media. This note outlines some best practices from the Intellectual Property, privacy and publicity perspectives. Devise and Implement a Social Media…

Read more