Intellectual
property rights (IPRs) have assumed tremendous importance
these days and both individuals and organisations are doing their
level best to protect and enforce the same. As a result, the IP
battles are increasing world over and India has also
witnessed a growth in IPR disputes.
IP like trade
secrets, patents,
copyright,
trademarks,
etc have become crucial for the growth and expansion of various
businesses. Add to it the domain
names and you cover the cyberspace and techno
legal areas as well.
Intellectual property (IP) disputes have increased
tremendously. As more and more individuals and organisations have
started asserting their IP claims, the litigation and court cases
have also increased.
At the international level, the international trade
commission (ITC) has recently held that Apple
and Microsoft
did not violate the patent rights of Google. Kim Dotcom has accused
Google, Facebook, Twitter etc of violating his two step
authentication patent.
Mozilla has also issues a cease and desist notice to
Gamma
International for maliciously using its brand and
reputation. The Japanese Company Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has
also accused
Chinese Company CSR Sifang of stealing its Shinkansen Bullet Trains.
The U.K. Supreme Court has also decided
that storing of cache on a users computer of the copyright protected
work is not copyright infringement. Similarly, the supreme court of
India also held that Novartis has no
patent rights in its product Glivec. U.S. Pharmaceutical
Company Merck Sharp and Dohme’s (MSD) has also appealed
before Division Bench of Delhi High Court.
On the Trademark and Domain Name fronts, India
has submitted Instrument of Accession to the Madrid Protocol for
International Registration of Marks. In a domain squatting
case, Tata Sons And Tata Infotech won
domain name lawsuit against Arno Palmen. The objection
and dispute resolution for ICANN’s new GTLDs registrations
is also in full swing. The Financial Times and Times of India are
also fighting
trademark battle in Supreme Court of India.
On the legislation front, the recent Indian
Copyright Amendment Act, 2012 (CAA 2012) has incorporated provisions
related to digital
rights management. These include protection of
technological measures used by copyright owners and making their
unauthorised circumventions punishable under the Copyright Act.
Similarly, the proposed
U.S. legislation would target companies using stolen
intellectual property of U.S.
This trend of protection of IP is going to be more
severe in future. The IP
portfolio management in India and online
brand protection in India is going to be a trick issue and
individuals and companies must keep this trend in mind.
