Celebrating 20 Years of IP Excellence

Featured image is of EDM D.J. Joel Zimmerman a.k.a. DeadMau5 performing as the post is about his famous Mau5 ears and the trademark dispute with Disney. To read the post click here.

Disney finally dances to Deadmau5’s tune

Deadmau5   the Canadian progressive-house music producer who made his first tour of India last year had found himself in a trademark battle with the most loved mouse of all time, Mickey Mouse the well known cartoon character and the proud mascot of Disney.  The root of Deadmau5 - real name Joel Zimmerman's troubles was literally sitting on his head, his iconic Mau5head which he regularly wears during all his performances around the world. The Walt Disney Company Disney is fiercely  protective of…

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YouTube ordered to take down copyright infringing material

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…

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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…

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RPX acquires patents owned by Apple’s Rockstar Consortium for US$ 900M

American patent risk management company, RPX Corp., entered into an agreement to acquire around 4,000 patents owned by Rockstar, a consortium led by Apple Inc. and other firms for US$ 900M. Rockstar was created as a patent holding entity in 2011 by technology bigwigs like Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, Sony and Ericsson, with the intent of purchasing the 6,000 patents from the Nortel Network Corp., for US$ 4.5B, following its bankruptcy. About 2,000 of the most valuable patents have already been distributed…

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This image depicts a Court Gavel. This image is relevant as the article deals with the decision delivered by Delhi High Court regarding Royalties to singers. Click on this Image for more Information.

Royalties for Singers – Delhi High Court passes a favorable order

For all of us waiting to hear of development in the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012, yes, we have some news for you. It is not for Lyricists, or for Music Composers, but for Singers this time! The Indian Singers Rights Association (ISRA) has obtained a favourable order against one of the Delhi based clubs, Night Fever Club & Lounge, that has been playing songs and not paying Singers their due. The ISRA filed a suit against this lounge before the Delhi High Court…

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This image reads Intellectual Property and licensing. THis image is relevant because this post talks about a presentation given by Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala at IIM Bangalore on the said topic. Click on the image to view full post.

Intellectual Property and Licensing – Presentation by Dr. Kalyan at IIM, Bangalore

This presentation, delivered by Dr. Kalyan Kankanala at IIM, Bangalore, gives an overview of intellectual property and licensing. Starting with an introduction to Intellectual Property and its species, Dr. Kalyan introduces some licensing concepts. Through recent cases and examples, Dr. Kalyan provides a basic understanding of the nature of licensing transactions and types of licenses.Continue Reading Intellectual Property and Licensing – Presentation by Dr. Kalyan at IIM, Bangalore

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