Search Results for: data protection

The Concept of a Software Patent in India

Posted on by Shantanu Mathur

Image Source (9 to 5 Mac, available at http://goo.gl/igU7Bd)

A new challenge to the legal profession, particularly in the domain of intellectual property rights, has been that of examining the idea of a software. New software, with varying levels of originality or innovation is created every day. If you made one unlike anybody else ever had before, would you patent it or copyright it? What would be the extent of protection granted by whichever one that you (or the law in your jurisdiction) choose? Should such a right even be given to the innovators? This piece will take a look at the Indian law, establish a position and also discuss changes that can be made to it.

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Facebook, 'Internet.org' and the Ignored Questions of Civil Liberties

Posted on by Kartik Chawla

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 Earlier yesterday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg met with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad (who curiously also holds the Ministry of Law and Justice portfolio). The Facebook CEO was in New Delhi on the 9th and 10th of October for the Internet.org summit.

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The “Bang Bang” Order: ‘Likely’ Copyright Infringement Trumps Intermediary Immunity

Posted on by Veera Mahuli

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This post examines the order given by the Delhi High Court (DHC), which is the third in a series of worrying orders by the DHC, from the perspective of Intermediary Liability.

In order to ensure no possible online access to Bollywood film “Bang Bang” which released on Oct 2, the Delhi High Court on Sep 30 directed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to around 90 websites which could have streamed, broadcasted or provided online access to the film. The restraint order was passed by the Court on a suit filed by Fox Star Studios, one of the producers of the film. A separate list of 72 websites was submitted to the High Court by the producer, contending that the movie should be unable to be watched on the internet without its permission and 18 other websites were made parties to the suit by the producers. While the order mentioned 90 websites specifically, it brings ‘other websites as subsequently notified by the producers’ within its purview, thereby making it extremely likely for websites beyond those specifically mentioned to be blocked.  Further hearing on this matter will take place on Nov 21, 2014.

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A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Posted on by Jitesh Anand

[Image Source: http://flic.kr/p/osRzan]

After the scrapping of the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA) and the ‘Protect IP Act’ (PIPA) in the U.S., one could have been under the impression that the Internet would be free from unadulterated interference by the government. SOPA and PIPA basically gave the government unprecedented powers to shut down any website/blog at will. Be that as it may, few know about the presence of an equally perilous agreement called the ‘Trans-Pacific Partnership’. U.S. is a key member of this partnership bolstered by corporate lobbyists and this will ultimately be pushed down on all countries around the world by means of trade deals. WikiLeaks in recent times has released some draft chapters of the TPP. In this blog post, I will try to analyze some contentious provisions of the TPP from the viewpoint of an Indian internet user.

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Internet Rights in Africa: A Comment

Posted on by Jitesh Anand

(Image Source: owni.fr)

The Internet is an enabling space. It provides us with the realization of our basic human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, opinion, thought and belief. In this blog post, I have tried to give an overview of the recent developments with regard to the Internet rights in Africa.

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