BananaIP Counsels Logo

Celebrating 20 Years of IP Excellence

This image depicts children singing the happy birthday song. This image is relevant becasue this post talks about the copyright over the tune of the song "Happy birthday to you". Click on the image to view full post.

Happy Birthday sue You; Happy Birthday sue You!

There’s no one who hasn’t awkwardly stood around their birthday cake while people sing "Happy Birthday to You". It’s the world’s most famous song, sung to millions each year. And this six-word set of lyrics with a simple melody is protected by copyright. In 1868, two Hill sisters from Kentucky composed a song called "Good Morning to All" (now known as the tune of "Happy Birthday"), which went like: Good morning to you, Good morning to you, Good morning, dear…
March 30, 2015 Copyrights, Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Media and Entertainment Law 0Comment 1406Views 0Like
Share

Read more

This image depicts the logo of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. This image is relevant because in this post, the U.S. talks about the credibility of India's Intellectual Property Enforcement. Click on the image to view full post.

OCR: Credibility of India’s Intellectual Property Enforcement in Question

United States Trade Representative (USTR) ordered an Out of Cycle Review (OCR) for India in October. While the USTR insists that the aim of this exercise is to provide constructive feedback to India in order to improve its IP protection and enforcement, many in India are not happy about this move. Not only has the government criticized this move, but also refused to participate in it arguing that the US laws are not applicable to India. Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Commerce…
March 30, 2015 Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law, Patents 0Comment 577Views 0Like
Share

Read more

Twitter

Can you sue if your tweet gets copied?

  Here is the next post in the series of Student Blog Contest.  The Internet is often considered the Wild West of laws; People believe that laws that exist offline do not apply online, or there exist different rules of behaviour. So when you tap out a tweet and hit send, putting it in public domain, can you sue if it gets copied? Short answer: No. Long answer? It’s complicated. Copyrighting a tweet is extremely hard, for various reasons. Reporting on…
March 30, 2015 Copyrights, Intellectual Property 0Comment 4744Views 0Like
Share

Read more

The image depicts the Logo of Apple Inc. The image is relevant as the post is about Apple losing to Smartflash. Click on the image for full description.

Smartflash takes a $ 532.9 Mn worth bite of Apple

Apple, known for suing other high profile companies, gets a taste of its own medicine. Apple Inc. has been ordered to pay US$ 532.9 Mn after a federal jury in Texas found that its iTunes software infringed three patents owned by patent licensing firm, Smartflash LLC. To market and commoditize his patents, Patrick Racz, in the early 2000s established Smartflash. As a non-practicing entity, the firm operates solely through patent licensing and litigation. Smartflash, a Texas-based patent licensing company, sued Apple…
March 10, 2015 Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Patents 0Comment 620Views 0Like
Share

Read more

This image depicts the title software/music licensing. This image is relevant because this post talks about a presentation on the said topic presented by Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala. Click on the image to view full post.

Presentation on Software and Music Licensing-By Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala

The presentation herein was given by Dr. Kalyan Kankanala. It deals with the different types of IP, assignment and licensing. Important clauses such as Recitals, Definitions, Grant, Royalties, Term & Termination are discussed. All of these are explained with the help of examples. Open Source licenses are talked about in detail. Licenses and their types with a special focus on music licensing brings about the close of the presentation.
March 6, 2015 Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law, Open Source Licensing 0Comment 631Views 0Like
Share

Read more

This image depicts the IBM building. IBM has recently filed a patent infringement suit against Priceline. Click on the image to read the full post.

IBM sues Priceline and subsidiaries for Patent Infringement

International Business Machine Corp. (IBM) has filed a lawsuit against online travel leader, Priceline and its associated websites for infringing on 5 of IBM’s patents to build its own business model. IBM has made allegations that Priceline has constantly refused to discuss a license to the patented inventions of IBM and should pay royalties on the billions of dollars of revenue it generated using them. Priceline declined to comment on the issue. Two of the patents Priceline allegedly infringed on are…
March 3, 2015 Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Patents 0Comment 850Views 0Like
Share

Read more

ecommerce

E-commerce Retailers face flak over alleged Counterfeits by Vendors

E-retailers have come a long way since the advent of e-commerce in India in the early 2000s. Other than a few cautious buyers, most have become comfortable purchasing an entire range of products online. However, nowadays a lot of e-commerce customers are left fuming because of counterfeit vendors gaining a foothold even in reputed e-commerce sites. In October 2014, the Delhi High Court prohibited Gurgaon-based online marketplace, ShopClues from using, manufacturing, marketing, selling, displaying or advertising the name of L’oreal…
February 18, 2015 Intellectual Property, Trademarks 0Comment 457Views 1Like
Share

Read more

This image depicts the logo of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA). This image is relevant because it talks about the change in IEEE's IP policy. Click on the image to view full post.

IEEE amends it’s IP policy related to Standard Essential Patents

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Standards Association (IEEE-SA) has proposed a change to it’s IP (Intellectual Property) policy. The revised policy can be viewed here. The new policy comprises revisions to the provisions related to commitments from holders of Standards Essential Patents. The revised policy states that the patent holders have to make licenses for Standards Essential Patents available to other parties under Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (RAND) terms. The biggest change with respect to the updated policy…
February 7, 2015 Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Patents 0Comment 688Views 0Like
Share

Read more

This image depicts a conversation between Narendra Modi and Obama. This image is relevant as the article deals with the online piracy discussions held in US CEO Summit. Click on this Image for more Information.

Online Piracy, A matter of great concern, As Discussed during the India-US CEO Forum

The second visit of President Barack Obama to India, the first US President to have visited India twice while in office, clearly highlights the global partnership between the two nations in the task of strengthening economies and strong democracies. Referring to said partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the partnership assumes great relevance in the digital age. In this age of modern digital technology, an issue that has been nagging the industrial sector, particularly the Entertainment Industry, is online…
January 30, 2015 Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law 0Comment 538Views 0Like
Share

Read more