The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has published the seventh edition of its quinquennial UNESCO Science Report on June 11, 2021, titled ‘The race against time for smarter development’. The Report analyses steps taken by various countries to promote scientific development and innovation, and the results thereof, over the period of five years from its previous 2015 edition. It has a dedicated Chapter on India, authored by Professor Sunil Mani, Director and Professor of the RBI Chair at the Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum, Kerala.

The said Chapter on India, while discussing India’s technological response to Covid-19, mentions international rules pertaining to intellectual property rights as a key impediment. It states that India needs to address and change these rules in order to facilitate the development of technologies domestically.

Taking a look at the trends in innovation in India, the Chapter highlights increased investment in intellectual property as a key trend fostering the country’s economic growth. It traces the investment in intellectual property products as a share of India’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP] and Gross Fixed Capital Formation [GFCF] from 2012 to 2017. The same has witnessed an increase over the years with 13.6% of the GFCF and 3.9% of the GDP being invested in 2017, as compared to 8.6% and 2.9%, respectively, in 2012. This investment is done majorly at the level of firms, but it has a positive spillover effect into other companies in the same industry. Thereby, leading to an increase in productivity and promoting economic growth.

Further, the Paper draws attention to the fact that trade in intellectual property products has also increased, but most of it comes from software services. If trade in software services is excluded, India has a trade deficit with respect to the trade in intellectual property products. This trade deficit is concentrated in the areas of royalties and license fees for the use of trademarks, franchises and similar rights, and other royalties comprising the license fee for patents.

According to the Chapter, the National Intellectual Property Policy developed by India in 2016 does not introduce any fundamental shift in the policies the country has been following under the TRIPS since 2005. The Chapter mentions that the lack of requirements for the domestic use of intellectual property created from research and development financed via tax concessions is noteworthy as well, considering the subsidies and concessions granted by the Government for research and development has increased over the years.  

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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The concept of ‘Work from home’ has become commonplace and the pandemic has compelled even those industries/offices to work from remote locations that would normally not allow employees to access any work-related content outside of the traditional work space. The prevailing circumstances certainly, in my view, pose a greater risk to the effective protection of trade secrets than ever before.

The secrecy of such trade secrets can be of high commercial value to its owners. Offices and work locations have had, however, to suddenly accommodate access to and handling of trade secrets from homes of employees and consultants. Procedures and technologies to guard against abuse have been slower to devise and install. 

The reason why I think the Work from Home set up poses a particularly hard challenge over breach of trade secrets is that the monitoring of day-to-day activities carried on by employees is extremely difficult in a Work from Home setup as compared to a traditional work environment. Moreover, the crippled economy and the increased number of termination of employees, even from the highest rungs of position has further led to an increase in the number of disgruntled employees who are more susceptible to influence by third parties and might collude with them for personal gains. In the absence of a proper mechanism, it is not possible to monitor all employees actively as in a Work from Home set up. Vulnerability to hacks and data breaches has also increased. 

In light of the virtual work mode scenario, it can be easy to blame accidental breaches or hacks upon third parties and attempt to get away from facing accountability for such unethical and illegal actions. In such scenarios, innocence and mala fide intentions are not easily discernible from each other and identifying the source of the hack is a challenge. 

The solution to combat these problems could be to have a Non-Disclosure Agreement in place and the repercussions for any breaches should be clearly stated in such agreements. A well equipped cyber security and IT department should be involved to manage the information stored over the servers even if in encrypted formats and stringent security protocols should be in place. Further, each person involved in the management of or having access to trade secrets should be made aware of the consequences in case of misappropriation. 

Source: Free copyright licence as may be verified at URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/superamit/113580444/

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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The Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2021 (“Amendment Rules”) came into effect on June 17, 2021 with the notification in the Official Gazette by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Amendment Rules provides a three-tier statutory grievance redressal mechanism viz. self-regulation by broadcasters, self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of broadcasters and an oversight mechanism by the Government of India. The structure provided is as explained below:

Level I: Self-Regulation by broadcasters

Rule 17 of the Amendment Rules provides that each broadcaster is required to set in place a grievance/complaint redressal mechanism and to appoint an officer to deal with the complaints. The broadcaster is also required to display the contact details related to its grievance redressal mechanism and grievance officer on its website. Also, the officer shall respond to all complaints within 15 days from date of receipt of it.

Level II: Self-regulation by the self-regulating body of broadcasters

Rule 18 of the Amendment Rules provides for constitution of the independent self-regulatory bodies (each by minimum of 40 broadcasters), such bodies must be headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge/High Court Judge/ an independent eminent person belonging to the field of media, broadcasting, entertainment, child rights, human rights or other relevant fields. The Rule further provides that such self-regulating body must register itself with the Central Government.

Further, such self-regulating body shall ensure the adherence of the Programme Code and the Advertising Code by the broadcasters and also act as an appellate body for the appeals arising against the decision of the broadcaster. The self-regulating shall dispose of the appeal within 60 days from the receipt of the appeal and such body shall also have the power to dispose-off the complaints which has not been resolved by the broadcaster within the stipulated time period of 15 days.

Level III: Oversight Mechanism by the Central Government

Rule 19 of the Amendment Rules provide that the Central Government shall facilitate the adherence to the Programme Code and the Advertising Code by the broadcasters and develop an oversight mechanism. Further, Rule 20 provides for constitution of an interdepartmental committee, chaired by the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and containing representatives from various ministries such as Ministry of Woman and Child Development and Ministry of Home Affairs. This interdepartmental committee shall devise its own grievance redressal procedure for complaints arising out of Level I and Level II mechanisms.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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India has evolved as a robust financial market and there now exists a comprehensive IPR regime here. It may be credited for considerable economic development. For understanding, IP rights are a set of private rights through which corporations and individuals gain comprehensive control over intangible creations where certain limitations define rights. India, member of WTO, made sweeping changes in its IP law to meet standards of TRIPS within reasonable limits.

Under its patent regime, India has developed cost-effective processes for life-saving drugs. This not only benefits India, but numerous third-world countries. Research and innovation leads to technical prowess which in turn has improved the affordability. The industry has now transformed into a net foreign exchange earner. Author believes that Trademark has transformed the attitude of companies towards their “Brands”. Instead of a lackadaisical approach, anyone with trademark, now seeks to create a brand to capture imagination and draw consumers. The companies have now started investing heavily in protecting their Trademarks and prevent counterfeiting. In India, since sales of these goods occurs in informal markets, it often fails to generate income tax and corporate income. This not only negatively effects consumers but growth of the Indian economy too. Hence, it becomes all the more important to prevent illegal copying, counterfeiting and generate growth. With respect to Copyrights, publishing industry and media industry engage the most with this concept and contribute considerably towards the economic growth. Also, GI is one such type of IPR which has safeguarded the livelihoods of hundreds of indigenous and traditional communities in India. Since the ‘knowledge’ remains in community, there is no monopolistic control. Feni, an alcohol produced by locals in Goa has this tag and ensures their income which the author thinks is excellent.

It is now evident that IPR regime has been a blessing for start-ups and MSMEs as an IP creates excellent value, acts as a USP, rewards creativity and risk-taking among entrepreneurs. Companies like Flipkart, Oyo, Zomato etc. were once start-ups who successfully took advantage of regime. Furthermore, by strengthening the IPR regime, the country has attracted inflows of technology through channels like FDI within multinational enterprises, contractual licensing and trade in goods.

Tangible assets such as land, labour and capital were once considered the only yardsticks to showcase economic health. The author is of the opinion that this is no longer the unique case. Instead, knowledge-based assets part of IPR are now the front-runners that create wealth in almost all industries in India.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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Moral Right is the right of the author to protect the ownership and integrity of its creative work against any perpetrator who would try to modify, distort, mutilate, his or her work in such a way which would be prejudicial to the author’s honour or reputation.

Moral Rights have legal recognition under Article 6bis of the Berne Convention and Section 57 of The Copyright Act, 1957. As per Article 6bis “rights granted to the author …shall, after his death, be maintained, at least until the expiry of the economic rights…”. Many countries such as China provide an unlimited term for Moral Rights. The Copyright Act, 1957 does not shed light on the duration of validity of Moral Rights. None of the provisions make it clear if Moral Rights can exist independent of the copyright term itself. However, the general belief is that Moral Rights expire as soon as copyright in a creative work ceases to exist.

Many, including myself, consider Moral Rights as a Natural Right. The reason is that it has all the characteristics of Natural Rights. Moral Right of an author is as much a Natural Right as a Legal Right. One of the key features of Natural Rights is that these rights are inalienable by human society and government – they cannot be repealed by human laws, though such laws can have the consequence that one can be made to forfeit their enjoyment. The very idea of expiration of Moral Rights goes against this important feature of Natural Rights.

Unlimited term for Moral Rights does not prevent the creative work to come in the public domain for free use after the expiry of the copyright period. It only helps the legal representative of the author to take appropriate actions against any perpetrator whose action would be detrimental to the reputation of the author and its work. These rights are not dependent upon any legal validation, and clearly not dependent upon the copyright protection per se. Moral Rights, being a Natural Right, pertain to the integrity of the author. They should subsist beyond the copyright term to protect the legacy and natural rights of the author. 

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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