Kartik Chawla, Author at Tech Law Forum @ NALSAR

[SpicyIP Cross-Post] Innovation in the time of SEPs & FRAND licensing

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Kartik Chawla

This post first appeared on SpicyIP, here. (Image Source: https://flic.kr/p/hoAtp)

In the last few years, smartphone manufacturers have seemingly been as popular for their patent-wars as they are for their phones. And these famed patent wars have recently come to India. Of specific note in this regard is the Xiaomi-Ericsson dispute. The main issues in this dispute, as Prof Shamnad Basheer has explained here, are the Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) owned by Ericsson, who licenses them out to smartphone manufacturers. Ericsson also brought cases against Intex, Micromax and Gionee, on similar grounds and perhaps even the same patents.

Indian Convergence Law – Forever 'in the Pipelines'?

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Kartik Chawla

(Image Source: https://flic.kr/p/pVxM7q)

Back in the year 2001, when the same government was in power, it tried to pass a bill called the Communication Convergence Bill, 2001. The Bill failed, due to reasons mentioned later in the post, but apparently it isn’t quite ready to die yet. The Bill has now been revived as the Communication Convergence Bill, 2014, with news reports indicating that the Telecom Minister is quite definitely going to push for it.

Editors' Picks (14/12/2014)

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Kartik Chawla

1. Cases that will define the contours of Free Speech over the Internet in India, CCG NLU-D,

2. Government admits that S. 66 A is prone to abuse, Supreme Court says the Section lacks guidelines, by Gaurav Pathak, LiveLaw.

Digital India: the Draft Internet of Things Policy (and an aside on the NOFN)

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Kartik Chawla

(Image Source: https://flic.kr/p/8RU8QS)

In October this year, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) of the Ministry of Communications and IT quietly released a Draft Internet of Things (IoT) Policy, the feedback period for which closed on the 31st of October. The Policy is a part of the current government’s Digital India initiative, focusing on developing the academic, infrastructural and regulatory capacities of the country in the IoT sector. The draft policy is available here. This post is a short summary of the report, a sort of TL;DR. If you don’t want to read the details, just read the first section, Wrap-Up, which also has an interesting side note on the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN). (Anything which I found personally interesting has been marked bold).

Editors' Picks (30/11/2014)

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Kartik Chawla

1. Should digital monopolies be broken up?, The Economist.

2. The Snowden effect, quantified, Alex Wilhelm, TechCrunch.

Editors' Picks (23/11/14)

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Kartik Chawla

1. Cyberwar is bullshit, by Russell Brandon, the Verge.

2. Microsoft now has robot security guards, by Imad Khan, the Daily Dot.

Google’s Commercial Dominance – the Problem of a ‘Free’ Economy

Posted on November 22, 2014July 7, 2024 by Kartik Chawla

(Image Source: https://flic.kr/p/oHcd72)

Just yesterday, the internet became abuzz with the news that the European Parliament (‘EP’) is pressurising the European Union (‘EU’) to break Google Search away from the rest of its services (such as Android, et al). We’ve covered Google’s antitrust woes with the EU on the TLF earlier. According to this Techdirt article here, the EP hasn’t really given any reasons for breaking up Google other than the fact that ‘it’s very big and very European’. (Of course, its powers to even take such actions are themselves quite suspect.)

Editors' Picks (16/11/14)

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Kartik Chawla

1. It Looks Like India’s Going to get a Web Filter, by Nikhil Pahwa, Medianama.

2. Up-vote all you want, but the Internet isn’t a democracy, by Caitlin Dewey, The Washington Post.

Announcement: New Guest Editor, giving us the perspective of an Engineer!

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Kartik Chawla

It is my great pleasure to announce our new Guest Editor, Sahebjot Singh. Sahebjot is currently a computer science major at the Manipal Institute of Technology, and is an avid programmer and web developer, who also enjoys dabbling in physics. He has worked earlier at a few startups, including Fracktal Works, a 3D Printing startup, and WLS Global, a Web Consultancy service, and is currently working on a few separate projects of his own. He’s also a Counter Strike dilettante, and a connoisseur, if you can call it that, of mangas and animes.

Saheb will be bringing to the TechLawForum@NALSAR the perspective of an engineering student on issues related to technology and law, both, and would also be writing a series of 101s on technological topics. His first post on Machine learning is available here.

Techlawtopia – on the intersection of Technology, Law, and Society

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Kartik Chawla

Amlan Mohanty, an NLSIU-grad currently working at Trilegal and an all round Technology Law scholar (read: stud), has launched a new project – Techlawtopia. Techlawtopia is a non-profit website exploring the intersection of technology, law and society, and has blog posts, legal resources, and primers (which, personally, I found extremely interesting) on technology law-related topics.

The website already looks quite interesting, and I’m sure it’ll only get more so. Do check it out!