SpicyIP Weekly Review ( 29th May – 4th June )

SpicyIP Highlight of the Week

Our SpicyIP Highlight of the Week was definitely the guest post by Harshavardhan Ganesan – an LLM student at the University of California, Berkeley – where he discusses the issue of trademark genericide. He begins by considering the reasons for a trademark’s foray into the public domain, and goes on to discuss the steps that companies can take to prevent the death of its trademarks. He concludes by throwing up several pertinent questions that the issue poses.

Then, Ritvik scrutinized the clauses relevant to India in the U.S. Trade Representative’s 2016 Special 301 Report on IP Protection and Enforcement. He begins by looking into the statutory basis for the report, and goes on to explore three pertinent considerations made in it – Section 3(d)’s requirement of proving enhanced efficacy; the manner of enforcement of compulsory license provisions; and the need to adhere to local working requirements for patents. He concludes by questioning whether India has begun caving in to the US’ demands.

In our next post, Professor Basheer noted the absence of a chairman at the IPAB for a good two weeks since Justice Basha attained superannuation. He briefly examines its fallout, and mentions the high likelihood of Justice Manmohan Singh of the Delhi High Court replacing Justice Basha.

Shan then put up a post where she briefly reviewed a letter written to the U.S. Trade Representative by a group of 15 Democrats, pushing them to clarify their stance on generic medicines in Columbia following recent news reports that US officials may have dissuaded Colombian government officials from issuing a compulsory license on cancer medication, ‘Gleevec’ manufactured by Novartis.

In our final post for the week, Aparajita explores the interrelation between the Designs Act, 2000 and the Copyright Act, 1957, in the light of the recent Ritika Private Limited v. Biba Apparels Private Limited case. She argues that the ambiguity in the laws unintentionally leaves the system open, and concludes by questioning whether such ‘openness’ is in fact, justifiable.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

1. Donald Trump Settles Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over “Piercing, Intimate” Bald Eagle Portrait
2. N.C. Photographer Sues State Alleging Copyright Infringement of Shipwreck Images
3. Huawei sues Samsung, claiming Patent Infringement
4. Mercedes-Benz Stripped of Its Airscarf After Ruling of Patent Infringement
5. Google Earth cleared of Patent Infringement