International Law

Patent Office Publishes New Manual of Patent Office Practice and Procedure

Posted on March 27, 2011
The patent office published the latest Manual of Patent Office Practice and Procedure (accessible here and at the link below). For those who are unaware about patenting procedures, all major patent offices across the globe maintain a patent practice manual that details various practices to be followed by the patent office staff (examiners) at various [...

Restriction on bloggers features in Rajya Sabha

Posted on March 23, 2011
Rajeev Chandrashekhar a MP with prior experience in the telephony and mobile industry made a statement yesterday in the Rajya Sabha during the zero hour on the restrictions being placed on bloggers. Mr. Chandrashekhar highlighted concern over the imposition of these unnecessary restrictions on bloggers through proxy  of private internet intermediaries...

Consultation on Draft Rules under IT Act

Posted on March 21, 2011
The latest Press Information Bureu release clarifies the status of the draft rules by saying essentially stating that they are drafts and nothing more than them. In a lot of ways it also recognizes the adverse media reports which have raised concerns as to the draft rules impacting free speech rights...

The Bangalore Cyber Security Summit 2011

Posted on March 21, 2011
As a panelist at the Bangalore Cyber Security Summit, I recently shared my take on the 2008 amendments to the Information Technology act. The session which was titled as a SWOT Analysis of the IT Amendment Act, 2008 saw a confluence of expert speakers such as Mr...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, 2011

Posted on March 16, 2011
In the gathering storm about the draft rules on internet content another proposed government measure in the domain has been largely ignored. Late last month the Ministry of Information Technology released a draft of the Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, 2011 aiming to speed up the transition towards the online delivery of government services...

why book banning is better than website blocking

Posted on March 06, 2011
In the last week, there was a lot of attention focused on the ostensible blocking of three domains (one of which was a blogging platform ?read here 1-kafila 2-medianama).  I say ostensible because no one is sure what happened.  Depending on the ISP through which the connection was sought to be made, either the webpage [...

Tale of Unforgiving Procedural Formalities at Our PO

Posted on March 02, 2011
It is sometimes amazing to note how unforgiving the procedural formalities at the Indian patent office are? Some say that the Indian patent system, which was formally instituted to serve the purpose of encouraging R&D, inventions and innovation by monopolizing intellectual property of creators, has been reduced to a maze of formalities...

Comments on Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Information (Draft) Rules, 2011

Posted on February 28, 2011
Comments on Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Information (Draft) Rules, 2011 1. DEFINITIONS 1.1. The Draft Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Information Rules, 2011 which are sought to be formed under Section 43A seek to further augment the prohibition against the negligent disclosure of sensitive personal data or information...

Comments on Draft Cyber Cafe Rules

Posted on February 28, 2011
Comments on the Information Technology (Guidelines for Cyber Cafe) Rules, 2011 1. Licensing vis-à-vis Registration 1.1. The Information Technology (Guidelines for Cyber Cafe) Rules, 2011 (hereinafter Draft Cyber Cafe Rules, 2011) which are sought to be formed contemplate for the mandatory registration of Cyber Cafes when they provide for in Rule 2(h) a ?licensing authority? [...

Comments on Draft Intermediaries Guidelines, 2011

Posted on February 28, 2011
Comments on Information Technology (Due diligence observed by Intermediaries Guidelines) (Draft) Rules, 2011 1. PREMISE OF THE GUIDLINES 1.1. The Information Technology (Due diligence observed by Intermediaries Guidelines) (Draft) Rules, 2011 (hereinafter Draft Intermediary Rules, 2011) which are sought to be formed under Section 79 seek to draw brightline rules for internet intermediaries to avail [...

Call for Papers, World Jurist Association : Law and Technology Journal

Posted on February 26, 2011
Please find pasted below a call for papers by the World Jurists Association for its law and technology journal. The World Jurist Association’s Law/Technology Journal is currently accepting submissions for its upcoming issues. This is an excellent opportunity for professionals and students to share their expertise and information on the interaction of law and technology...

Tata v. Turtle: Injunctions in cases of Internet Defamation

Posted on February 25, 2011
The Delhi High Court has by a recent ruling touched upon the difference in legal treatment between different communication mediums. This is in specific reference to the pleas of cyber libel raised by the TATA group against Greenpeace for designing and publishing, the ?TATA v...

Draft rules on Intermediary Liability released by the Ministry of IT

Posted on February 24, 2011
As alluded to in the 100 day roadmap announced by the Minister for the Telecom and IT, draft rules on intermediary liability have been released by the Ministry of Information Technology and are open for public comment. There are three sets of rules which seek to flesh out the legal requirements under sections 43A and [...

Section 39 of the Indian Patents

Posted on February 07, 2011
Section 39 of the Indian Patents Act as amended requires an applicant to obtain a Foreign Filing License (FFL) before applying for a patent for a technology abroad without applying for a corresponding patent in India. The implications of the violation of the section are very harsh, and may include even criminal liabilities on the [...

Utilising the internet to improve the image of Indian Lawyers

Posted on January 26, 2011
I have recently authored an article on the stereotypes of lawyers in Bollywood movies and the effects of them on flesh and blood lawyers. The article is presently under the editorial review of the Journal of Indian Law and Society run by the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata...

Dodging the Constant Lobbying

Posted on January 21, 2011
After resisting constant American lobbying for amending India?s patent laws (blogged by us here), the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) has recently thwarted efforts of lobbying by another foreign agency for amending the Indian patent laws and policies...

Patents and Trademarks ? The true distinction

Posted on January 18, 2011
I picked up today?s Economic Times to get quite a shock. On the second page of the India?s leading business newspaper was a piece of article highlighting the recent decision of Ministry of Commerce to open the entire trademark database for public, thereby effectively annulling the prior practice, wherein applicants were optionally required to apply [...

Online Copyright Violation ? Rap Their Knuckles, and Rap Em? Hard

Posted on January 13, 2011
With an explosion in the number of blogs and publisher websites on the internet, there has been a rampant increase in problem of online copyright infringement. It won?t be uncommon, if one fine day you find your blog posts, or articles plagiarized by someone on his/her blog or website...

Protecting Our Software Exports

Posted on January 09, 2011
India’s technology exports have grown considerably over the years. Software exports constitute a lion?s share of these exports. According to recent NASSCOM reports, the software product exports have grown by 14.4 percent in the current fiscal year, touching about USD 7...

Press Statement given by Shri Kapil Sibal on 2G Spectrum Issues

Posted on January 08, 2011
Image by JonJon2k8 via Flickr Questioning the very basis of the specter of corruption raised around the last round of 2G licenses, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Communications and Technology has termed the CAG loss “erroneous”. The press release states that, “the criticism of large revenue loss has received a great deal of attention [...

Setback for Abbot ? IPO rejects patent application for HIV

Posted on January 07, 2011
The trend of rejecting patent applications, made by multinational pharma companies, continues at the Indian Patent Office. As reported here and here, the Indian patent authorities have rejected Abbot?s patent application for its HIV drug, sold under the brand name ?Kaletra?...

telecom and IT, the next 100 days

Posted on January 07, 2011
Image via Wikipedia Mr. Kapil Sibal who has recently taken charge as the Minister of Communications and Information Technology has on the 1st of January, 2010 released an ambitious 100 day roadmap for the Telecom and IT sector. The key highlights of the action plan are given below...

Patent and Take Notice

Posted on January 06, 2011
It seems Kunnath Pharma, manufacturer of anti impotency drug Musli Power Xtra, has invested quite a lot on advertising the drug. Musli advertisements can be seen everywhere these days: on electronic displays at metro stations, huge billboards, and hoardings in sporting events...

Delhi HC Stays Websites Distributing News Content

Posted on January 06, 2011
In a recent decision that has ramifications on free distribution of online content, the Delhi High court has passed an ex-parte interim injunction against two websites for carrying and forwarding articles published by Hindustan Times (HT) Media Group...

Book Review: Resolving Disputes in Telecommunications

Posted on December 22, 2010
The recently published book, “Resolving Disputes in Telecommunications: Global Practices and Challenges” by R.U.S. Prasad could not have come at a more appropriate time. Recent press on the 2G Scam has generated tremendous public interest in policy formation in the telecom sector...

Shift from www.iltb.apargupta.com to www.iltb.net

Posted on December 16, 2010
Dear Readers/Lurkers, We are shifting from www.iltb.apargupta.com to www.iltb.net in the last week of December. This blog started out more like a personal writing project, I remember titling it as “Apar gupta’s blog on law and technology” when it first started out in 2007...

Shift from www.iltb.apargupta.com to www.iltb.net

Posted on December 16, 2010
Dear Readers/Lurkers, We have permanently shifted from www.iltb.apargupta.com to www.iltb.net. This blog started out more like a personal writing project, I remember titling it as ?Apar gupta?s blog on law and technology? when it first started out in 2007...

Tape but don?t Tell

Posted on December 11, 2010
Having studied the tardy enforcement of privacy laws it did not shock or surprise me that several taped conversations of Ms. Nira Radia found their way into two recent issues of Open and Outlook magazines. These conversations are in reference to various political and corporate disputes and raise issues of public importance such as media [...

The show must go on

Posted on December 10, 2010
Image via Wikipedia A recent post titled as ?who?s the boss??, discussed the petition filed by Viacom challenging the Order issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) which demanded that the show, Big Boss be shifted from the prime time viewing slot of 9 p...

Approach Paper on Privacy Legislation

Posted on December 02, 2010
As widely reported a draft privacy law in India is in the works. It is being overseen curiously by the Department of Personnel & Training (DPT) which falls under the Ministry for Personnel, PG and Pensions. I will be posting my thoughts on this during the weekend...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.