Weekly Wrap (December Week 1)

The week began with Swaraj’s post on the lack of transparency surrounding the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) being held from Dec 3rd to 14th, 2012. An agency of the UN known as "International Telecommunication Union" (ITU) is hosting the WCIT to go over and revise the decades old International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) which govern standards and regulations for information and communication technologies. The preparatory documents to the meeting have been very secretive, with only member governments and a few other parties being given access rights. Some leaked documents have made their way out though and include proposals for restrictions on online privacy, free expression and access to information. The entire post can be accessed here. 

Delhi University’s (DU) appeal before the Division bench of the Delhi High Court consisting of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Manmohan Singh was set aside as infructuous.  The bench asked DU to return to the single judge and clarify the scope of their alleged admission/undertaking.  More on this order can be found here.

The Delhi High Court set aside the single judge bench judgment in Star India on the grounds of serious procedural flaws. The Division Bench restored the civil suits along with all the pending applications which included the application seeking interim injunction. The Division Bench observed that the Single Bench judgment was a “self-contradictory decision” on the ambit of broadcasting rights. The entire post is available here and our previous posts on the single judge bench decision are available here and here.

We launched our First SpicyIP Fellowship. The 2013-2014 fellowship is now open and carries a stipend of Rs. 15,000. Details on eligibility, procedure for applying, evaluation criteria, terms and conditions etc can be found here.

FICCI announced its online certificate course on Intellectual Property which will run from January-March 2013. Registration for it closes on 25 December 2012. More details can be found here.

And finally the NLSIR Public Law Symposium on "Delimiting Media Freedoms: Discovering the 'Delicate Balance' Between Article 19 and Article 21” will be held on December 22, 2012. This will be held in collaboration with the Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore. The symposium will be attended by renowned luminaries including Justice Muralidhar (Delhi High Court), Geeta Seshu (The Hoot), Apar Gupta (Partner, Advani & Co.), amongst others. More details can be found here.

In other news, the ‘Thanjavur Veena’ may get a Geographical Indication registration shortly, making it the first musical instrument to get such a registration in India. The application has been submitted to the Geographical Indications (GI) Registry. The Hindu carries a full report at

 http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/when-music-makes-a-mark/article4164584.ece

International Developments

The Second Intellectual Property forum was held in Hong Kong on the 7th of December. More than 1,400 intellectual property professionals and government officials from 21 countries and regions took part in today's Business of IP Asia Forum at the Hong Kong. More on it can be found at http://www.itnews.it/news/2012/1207113002440/second-intellectual-property-forum-held-today-in-hong-kong.html

Apple’s crucial multi touch patent (also known as the Steve Jobs patent) was ruled invalid by the USPTO. Samsung had earlier been found guilty of infringing this patent by an International Trade Commission (ITC) judge in October. However, this is only a temporary ruling, known as a first Office ruling. A full report is available at http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/crucial-apple-multitouch-patent-temporarily-ruled-invalid-1117986

The European Commission held a special meeting to discuss whether the current copyright framework remains fit for purpose in the digital context. An interesting blog post on it can be found at http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/12/european-commission-meeting-on-copyright/index.htm.

Richard O’Dwyer the student who was extradited to the US for running a website where users could stream pirated films has settled his case after paying £20,000 to US authorities. The money will be distributed among victims whose copyrights were infringed. A full report can be found at http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/sheffield-student-settles-copyright-case-and-avoids-extradition-1-5205157

A court in Beijing disallowed a clothing manufacturer, from using “Haager-Dasz” as a trademark for clothing items as it would mislead the public and create confusion with the well-known Haagen-Dazs ice cream. This ruling overturned a decision of the trade appeal board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce which had earlier granted the Haager-Dasz registration and had ruled that the materials provided by General Mills (owners of the Haagen-Dazs trademark) had failed to prove that it was well-known and enjoyed high reputation. More can be read at http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-12/03/content_15981876.htm.

And finally with effect from 10 December 2012 New Zealand accedes to the Madrid Protocol. New Zealand businesses can utilise an international trade mark registration system to protect their brands in over 85 countries in a more efficient and cost effective manner. A full report can be found at http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=8d1015eb-06ab-48fd-ab54-f12d84ade34c and http://www.managingip.com/Article/3128573/Latest-News-Magazine/Madrid-Protocol-takes-effect.html.