How to protect your Intellectual Properties in Local as well as Foreign Markets

The licensing of intellectual property has become a multi-billion dollar industry. As a result, business owners and individuals are looking for ways to preserve and maximize the value of their ideas inventions, artistic creations and other forms of intellectual property. The term Intellectual Property provides protection for creations of the mind. More specifically, they grant the creators, owner's exclusive rights to artistic and industrial creations. Industrial Intellectual Property rights are protected by Patents, Trademarks, and Designs while Artistic Intellectual Property rights are protected by Copyrights. Your Intellectual Property is all information, resorts you have used and all the products of your work. Intellectual property serves to protect company assets and prevent exploitation by others. Knowledge about intellectual property rights and an understanding of the fundamentals of copyrights, trademarks and patents is vital in today's global market. Many companies, however, fail to take the steps necessary to fully protect their valuable intellectual property assets. According to government agencies, more than $500 billion in legitimate global sales is lost each year to counterfeit goods.

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A trademark right lasts indefinitely as long as the owner continues to use the trademark. Periodic renewal is required. A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor. The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention or "importing" the invention. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others for 20 years from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. A copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the authors of "original works of authorship" such as literary, dramatic, musical and artistic both written and unwritten, sound recordings and cinematograph films. A copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing or the ideas. There are several rules for how long a copyright lasts. The duration of copyright protection in India is the life time of the author plus 60 years after his death.

 These are some of the important points to be kept in mind by the IP right holders to avoid possible infringement of their rights.

1.    Regular monitoring

Right holders should always keep sufficient, historical documents that undoubtedly establish their entitlement to those rights; it provides better chance to prevail in a future dispute over intellectual properties. If they have adequate proof of their rights, government agencies will help them to enforce their rights in accordance with law.

It is also advised that they must record copies of license agreements with administrative bodies, at national and local levels, since in most of the countries these administrative agencies have the authority to protect these rights and confiscate, destroy counterfeit good and also can impose fines.

 There is a legal difference if any organization create know-how, copyright works, confidential information or if it creates registrable IP such as patents, designs or trade marks.

2.    Having a defined organizational IP policy

A general IP policy, including guidelines regarding IP disclosure and ownership of IP by contractors; pro-forma confidentiality agreements, R&D agreements and collaboration agreements; and appropriate IP ownership clauses in contracts, including employee contracts, manufacturing/sales agreements. You should treat your employees and consultants as potential inventors and keep abreast of their creative input. It is crucial that  your company has a contracts which guarantee that all IP they create in connection with their employment or engagement stays in the company and they can not take it or spread it outside of the firm. Both employer and employee must understand the conditions under which they work and create within the company.

Copyright law, however, provides that freelancers and independent contractors automatically retain the copyright to any original work they create in absence of a written agreement to the contrary. Therefore, business owners should make sure that sensitive information wouldn't be any kind of misused.

3.    Possible Protection available in Foreign countries

Once company is familiar with available options to protect its intellectual property, it might consider conducting due diligence of potential foreign partners and determine where companies similar to its have experienced intellectual property problems.

If company intends to do, business in foreign countries, company should strongly consider filing its patents and trademarks and its relevant translations with the appropriate government agency in each country where protection is sought.

In some countries, the first party to file an application can prevent others from registering and obtaining legal protections for the same patent or trademark. Most countries do not require that you register your copyrights before enforcing them, but registration with the appropriate government agency is strongly recommended because it provides several benefits such as proof of ownership.

--
Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.site.technolexindia.com
Blog: http://tabrezahmad.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blogs: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Blog: http://drtabrez.wordpress.com
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281

Intellectual Property Protection of Fashion Designs is a big challenge

Indian fashion design industry is set to grow much faster than projected and likely to touch Rs.750 cr. by 2012  because Indian companies heavily investing big sums in the industry, consumer increasingly shifting focus towards designer wear, exposure to western media and readily available of designer wear in the shopping malls. The Indian fashion market is growing better than ever. The numbers of "Fashion Weeks" in a year are growing in the country. Latest designs by Indian fashion houses have done well abroad. Since fashion is not just restricted to apparel but also extends to luxury goods, better standards of living in the country have meant a greater demand for the luxury goods. But, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) have been a burning a issue in this sector. Fashion designers have frequently complained about their designs being copied without their permission. Such so-called piracy must be stopped as it is plaguing the growth of this industry.

Applying IPRs is tricky when it comes to fashion. Generally speaking, IPRs are granted to the author or creator of a work to reward investment and encourage creativity with a monopoly right. But IPRs mustn't unreasonably restrict the ability of others to develop new ideas and produce new works, so the scope of the monopoly is limited in some way, usually by time. The scope of copyright protection depends on the depth of originality of the work, while the scope of design rights depends on how novel the design is compared to the "state of art." But because many fashion items have certain fixed parameters — a dress must fit the body, a bag must have handles — there are substantial limits on the legal protections available to designers. But the trickier issue is how to deal with what the fashion industry calls 'inspiration.'However, one could reasonably argue that this simply gives affluent consumers more reason to buy new and different things, which puts more pressure on fashion houses to innovate, driving the industry forward. Certainly, this system of inspiration can be seen as a positive even inherent part of the fashion industry. But it should operate on fair terms.

Fashion is an extremely fast-paced business, with very short periods for recouping costs. At first, this would seem to bolster the case for stronger, short-term legal protections against stolen 'inspiration.' But on closer inspection, these kinds of copycats can actually contribute to the creativity and innovation that drives the industry.

In the fashion industry, the copycatting of designs is a not a simple issue. Accusations fly in all directions: luxury houses accuse high-street brands; artisans accuse fashion houses; and fashion houses accuse other fashion houses.

This is not a new problem. Since their inception, houses have struggled with fashion espionage. In the past, fashion companies tried to maintain strict control over their intellectual property, not through an assertion of legal rights, but by physically hiding their designs from competitors. Today's fashion world is faster and more transparent than ever, blurring the line between what is 'copying' and what is 'inspiration' and putting new pressure on fashion houses to protect their intellectual property.

Furthermore, it can be difficult to prove claims of copying in court, because the legal process involves a subjective comparison of the copy and the original by a judge trying to put himself in the shoes of a typical customer. Indeed, the majority of cases are settled out of court, leaving the industry with little precedent on which to build legal certainty.

Just as design patterns form the foundation of good fashion design, IPR frameworks enable fashion businesses to defend their financial interests and protect their designs. Copying is wide spread in the industry with many designers thinking it is ok, as long as you change the item a certain percentage.

Design registration should be sought by designers wishing to mass produce or make multiple copies of products. A designer must not disclose their design prior to lodging a design application, as disclosure may prevent registerability. 

Trade Marks Designers can use trade mark law to protect not only logos and brand names, but also other distinct features of a product. For example, Bettina Liano has registered the distinctive pocket stitching on her garments as a trade mark, while British fashion house Burberry holds trade mark rights in both the trade mark "Burberry" and the Burberry check pattern. Burberry has enforced its trade marks in many jurisdictions against counterfeits including a recent action in the US District Court.

Copyright law provides limited protection for a designer's designs. Copyright does not encompass ideas, information, styles, techniques and names; it may however include original artistic works such as sketches and patterns. However, this protection is limited as copyright law will not protect the "reverse engineering" of a garment. 

One-off fashion designs, such as an haut couture item and jewellery items may be protected as copyright works if they can be shown to be "works of artistic craftsmanship. However, if you intend to mass-produce, make multiple copies of the items or use the items on a commercial scale, you should rely on design law rather than copyright law. 

Copyright And Designs overlap between copyright and registered design protection. This is a complicated principle which reflects the policy behind the legal regime which establishes registered designs. Copyright in a paper pattern for a design; say a bikini design, may be lost once bikinis are made to that design unless the relevant bikini design is the subject of a registered design. In other words, unless a clothing pattern is the subject of a registered design, third parties may be able to copy that pattern without infringing the designer's IP rights. Patents Designers may be able to patent new, inventive and useful devices. Artistic creations cannot be patented and therefore patents are not widely adopted by designers.

International Protection The publication of the guide corresponds with the push by designers' internationally for a more uniform approach to IP in order to protect designers' rights. There is no blanket method currently for the world-wide protection of designs despite the existence of an International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property which currently has 100 signatories.

Here, perhaps fashion can learn a thing or two from the music industry. With music, 'collecting societies' ensure that artists and rights owners are fairly remunerated when their works are played or more relevant to fashion sampled. The "sampling" of a fashion design could go through a society that's specifically set up to collect and distribute remuneration. Such an approach would not grant a right of reproduction, but allow designers, fashion houses, artisans, and others to draw inspiration from each other on fair terms.

Furthermore, why not recognize "moral rights" for fashion designs? As well as economic rights, copyright law grants something called a "moral right." This is essentially the creator's right to attribution by name when his work is copied.

Moral rights are not currently granted by design right law, but in the world of computer software development, "open source" licenses often contain attribution of authorship. Adopting a similar concept for the fashion industry would obligate "samplers" to not only pay a fee, but give fair attribution to the original designer, channeling potential customers towards the source of the design. If last century's strategy of strict controls on fashion IP is failing, perhaps an "open source" system that acknowledges and promotes the sampling of inspiration based on fair remuneration and attribution could be the answer for the new century.

--
Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.site.technolexindia.com
Blog: http://tabrezahmad.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blogs: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Blog: http://drtabrez.wordpress.com
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281

E-Courts in Indian Perspective

Judiciary is vital for any organized society. Otherwise, there will be only a law of the jungle where might is right. Indian judiciary has maintained its independence guaranteed in the Constitution and also by its action and healthy traditions, which have been set up. Nevertheless, there is a negative aspect of the Indian judiciary. This is related to the enormous delay in disposing of cases. One estimate is that if the Indian courts were not to take more cases from today and dispose off the cases at the present rate, then, it may take nearly 300 years to clear the present back log of around 30 million cases pending in the various courts of India. It is in this context that e-courts offer a ray of hope.

The extent to which IT is used in the judiciary can be looked at from two angles. One is the use of information technology to improve the present paper based system by bringing in the advantage of IT to increase the speed enormously and also bring greater transparency. More extensive use of IT can definitely improve the system so far as speed is concerned. Another area where IT can be used is in the form of video conferencing to examine under trial prisoners in the courts. Recently, the courts have taken the issue of video conferencing as a means of saving time and a matter of security.The Indian Information Technology Act visualizes the extension of Indian court's jurisdiction outside the country though I wonder whether this principle has been tested. Broadly, it is the international nature of the cyber space and cyber crime as brought about the need for an international convention and principles. It becomes very necessary for the judiciary particularly the law enforcing forces like the police as well as the judges and the lower judiciary to become up-to-date in these aspects of information technology. It is estimated massively about more than 200 thousand police personnel and the judiciary at the district level onwards will have to be trained. This is a major challenge facing the government in preparing the country for more effective e-governance particularly enforcing the laws to e-courts.

Ultimately, e-courts will have to deal with the crimes in cyber space and for this three aspects have to be borne in mind. It is necessary to study the criminal mind in the cyber space and design system so that the crimes are checked with the maximum extent possible. This means that for bringing criminal in cyber space to justice, the police and the law investigating agencies as well as judiciary will have to be trained and the conventions will have to be established about bringing the guilty to book. International cooperation becomes very vital. In this context, the role of international bodies will become significant, especially, when it comes to drafting of the cyber laws and their implementation in order to evolve right standards and practices in the emerging area of e-courts.

Keeping in mind the importance of e-governance department of Information Technology and Telecommunication is already working on the important projects to make e-governance a success in India. These are the following items which are already in progress under Mission Mode Projects (MMPs), which have identified on the basis of high citizen/ business interface, Integrated e-BIZ, EDI, India Portal, Common Service Centers, EG Gateway, E Courts, E-Office, E Procurement.

Central Govt. is working on e-Income Tax, e-Central Excise, e-Passports/Visa &, Immigration, MCA 21, National ID / UID, e-Pensions. States are also working on the following projects: e-Agriculture, e-Land Records, e-Transport, e-Treasuries, e-Commercial Taxes, e-Gram Panchayats, e-Municipalities, e-Registration, e-Police, Employment, e-Exchange and e-District. By Industry Initiative, e-Banking, e-Insurance are already in progress while States can add up to 5, state specific e-Projects

Under NeGP as a MMP, it is proposed to implement ICT in Indian judiciary in three phases over a period of five years. The project scope is to develop, deliver, install and implement automated decision making and decision support system in 700 courts of Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata & Chennai; 900 courts in the 29 capital city courts of states and UTs and 13000 district and subordinate courts.

The objectives of the project are: to help judicial administrations of the courts in streamlining their day-to-day activities; to assist judicial administration in reducing the pendency of cases; to provide transparency of information to the litigants; to provide access to legal and judicial databases to the judges.        

The project has been devised following the report submitted by the E-committee on national policy & technology in the Indian judiciary. The project will be implemented in 3 phases spread over a period of 5 years at a cost of Rs.854 crores. In the first phase, computer rooms & judicial service centres would set up in all 2500 court complexes. About 15,000 judicial officers would be provided with laptops. Digital inter-connectivity would be established between all courts from the taluk level to the apex court. The project also aims at creation of e-filing facility in the Supreme Court & high courts. The first phase also envisages development of comprehensive & integrated customised software application for the entire judicial system with regional languages support. in the second phase, it would be possible to provide ICT coverage of judicial process from filing to execution level & also of all administrative activities. In third phase, it would be creating of information gateways between courts & public agencies & departments. The project is expected to lead to complete demystification of the adjudicatory process thereby ensuring transparency, accountability & cost-effectiveness

In the backdrop of Indian scenario the steps taken by Delhi High Court is highly appreciable which is going to establish the first e-court of India.

The same would be operational by December 8, 2009 in the court of Justice S Ravindra Bhat. It intends to provide SMS alerts about court hearings to advocates and litigants, summons sent through emails, e-stamps instead of stamp paper, recording of evidence through video-conferencing, virtual tour of court premises, etc. Being in the initial phase, other crucial aspects of e-courts would be taken up in the due course of time. 'The necessity of e-courts has arisen due to shortcomings of a paper-based system like storage, maintenance and wastage of a lot of paper.

Delhi High Court is also working on the project in which live court proceedings would also be seen on the website. The project will be first started in one court and will soon be started in all other courts, including the five district courts in Delhi.

For lawyers and litigants, the e-courts will be a great help as it would enable them to stop carrying bulky files to the court and just a USB device or the CD of their case.

'Recording of evidence in any case will be done electronically. Court is also planning to have centres at various places in Delhi from where the person can record his statement and the court can see it via video-conferencing. With the help of e-courts, warrants, court notices and other documents can be sent via e-mail to the party or the post office concerned from where a service slip will be sent back confirming the receipt and court fees can be paid online so that entire work is done at a click of mouse. Courts will provide adequate facility to the lawyers while they argue their case using the laptops. Judges will also be given a touch screen handbook which will be like their computer screen and they can read it like a file. E-courts will definitely enhance transparency, accountability and accessibility for a litigant.

 

Source: http://ecourts.nic.in/admin1/Informatics.pdf visited on 29th November, 2009, 9.15 PM IST.

--
Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.site.technolexindia.com
Blog: http://tabrezahmad.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blogs: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Blog: http://drtabrez.wordpress.com
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281

Cybertort slides are uploaded

Hello everyone the cybertort slides are uploaded to internet. You can
download from the following link.

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/tabrezahmad-278577-cybertort-cybersquating-cyberlibel-tradesecrets-softwarepiracy-spamming-cyberstalking-imp-slides-pub-internet-education-ppt-powerpoint/

Wish you all the best . Bye take care.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Technolex" group.
To post to this group, send email to technolex@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to technolex+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/technolex?hl=en.

Legal Education in Indian Perspective

Abstract

Spiritually, it is believed that the life on the earth is regulated by the laws of the Lord or the Divinity. It is 'rule of law', that draws the essential difference between human society and animal world. It is the legal education that plays an important role in promoting social justice. Law professionals are characterised as 'Social engineers'. Law as a profession and legal education as a discipline was not a popular choice of the students in India prior to the introduction of five year law course, most of the students who performed well in their Intermediate Education aspired to study medicine, engineering, computers, business management and accounting. Unlike India, the situation prevalent in England, America and in many other developed countries is convincingly different. The admissions to law schools in these parts of the world are highly competitive. In the present era of information capitalism, economic liberalization and WTO, legal profession in India has to cater to the needs of a new brand of legal consumer/client namely the foreign companies or collaborations. In the changed scenario, the additional roles by law professionals to play are that of policy planner, business advisor, negotiator among interest groups, experts in articulation and communication of ideas, mediator, lobbyist, law reformer etc. Due to expanding role of law professionals our curriculum should be enriched with all interdisciplinary courses which are must to produce the competent law professionals of 4^th generation.

Full paper is available at the following link.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1513826

--
Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.site.technolexindia.com
Blog: http://tabrezahmad.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blogs: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Blog: http://drtabrez.wordpress.com
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281

Digital Economy Bill regarding File sharing laws to hit websites and newsgroups

The UK Govt. is planning to award itself powers to change copyright law almost at will, in expectation that new anti-peer-to-peer laws will drive infringement to other services such as Rapidshare and newsgroups.

The measure, which is the most severe contained in the Digital Economy Bill published yesterday, will be interpreted as a major victory for rights holder organisations. It will grant the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and his successor's undprecedented control over civil enforcement of copyright.

--
Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.site.technolexindia.com
Blog: http://tabrezahmad.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blogs: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Blog: http://drtabrez.wordpress.com
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281

The Indian Law Institute offers courses on IPR and Cyberlaw

The Indian Law Institute Invited applications for admission to the following online certificate courses. Intellectual Property Rights and Information Technology in the Internet Age & Cyber Laws courses. 

Duration : Three Months (14th December, 2009 to 14th March, 2010)

Last date of submission of Forms : 11th December, 2009.

Courses offered in this University :
Ph.D. programmein
LL.B. Degree
LL.M. Degree
P.G. Diploma Courses 2009-2010
Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADRs)
Corporate Laws & Management
Cyber Law
Drafting of Legislation, Treaties and Agreements
Human Rights Law
Intellectual Property Rights Laws
International Trade Law
Labour Law
Securities & Banking Laws
Tax Law
Online Course in (1) Intellectual Property Rights and Information Technology in the Internet Age
(2) Cyber Laws

Contact Details :
THE INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE
(Deemed University)
Bhagwandas Road, New Delhi - 110001
Phone Office: 23387526, 23389429, 23388849, 23386321, 23387873 Library: 23389849
Fax : 91-11-23782140 email: ili@ilidelhi.org, ili@nde.vsnl.net.in

Website : www.ilidelhi.org

--
Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.site.technolexindia.com
Blog: http://tabrezahmad.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blogs: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Blog: http://drtabrez.wordpress.com
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281