Contents

• Page 2
  The Issues of Royalty in the Entertainment Industry
• Page 5
  The Mesh between Trade Mark Law and Keyword Linked Advertising
• Page 7
  Indian IP Offices Up for Maximizing Efficiency
• Page 9
  Interim Injunction Jurisprudence Delved in the Roche-Cipla Litigation
• Page 10
  Marching Forth with Madrid Protocol
• Page 11
  In the Courts

Editorial

The Intellectual Property space has been particularly active in the past one year, witnessing action in nearly every sphere of its operation. With significant decisions being rendered by courts in various areas, proposed amendments to legislations as well as administrative over-hauling at the Patent office, the year that went by has been eventful.

The potency and confidence in an IP system springs from the efficient functioning of its offices. The modernization drive in the Indian IP offices has been a welcome change and more transparency is expected to come out of their functioning. The ongoing patent litigation of Roche v. Cipla was deliberated upon by the Division Bench of Delhi High Court, wherein a movement from the grounds adopted by the Single judge for the findings was observed. The Division Bench found the balance of convenience in favour of Cipla, albeit by reason of lack of prima facie case on the part of Roche. In Bayer v. Union of India, the Delhi High Court refused to derive ‘patent linkage’ from the existing provisions of law, opining that the legislature intended to keep the legislative scheme of the Patents Act as distinct from the Drug Regulatory process. There have also been significant decisions in the copyright arena delving upon issues relating to royalty, fair use, copying of contents on the digital medium and enforcement of rights in performance. The courts yet again extrapolated trademark jurisprudence to the domain of internet, in granting injunction in the Google-BharatMatrimony case.

The US 301 report in 2009 showered praises on the Indian attempts to contain piracy and counterfeit goods, while the WHO’s definition of ‘counterfeit drugs’ saw the Indian generic pharma industry crying foul against the blindfold measures to snub proliferation of spurious drugs. On the legislative front, the proposed amendments in the Trade Marks Act, 1999 to bring it in line with the Madrid Protocol have been in the spotlight. The amendments provide for a single window application to register the trademark internationally. The Trade Marks Amendment Bill 2009 giving effect to these changes was reintroduced in the Parliament in and the same has been passed by the Lok Sabha in the month of December. It now remains to be passed by the Rajya Sabha before the President can give his assent to tangibalise it into law. Another milestone achieved by India in the pursuit to protect her traditional treasures has been the completion of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, access to which has been granted to EPO as well as USPTO to establish prior art while examining patents.

In the current issue, we take you through some of these aspects and issues, providing an insight into the IP temper developing in the country. As always, we hope that this edition interests you and we welcome your feedback and comments.