From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Sat Feb  2 13:10:21 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 13:10:21 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] OpenJudis
Message-ID: <908adbd0802012340w1a9f756bhcfbafe0f11129ea0@mail.gmail.com>

Dear All,
A while ago I had posted on this list about my free online database of
Indian Supreme Court cases (http://judis.openarchive.in). I am happy
to inform you that a Windows software version of this database has
been included in the February 2008 edition of Digit Magazine
(www.thinkdigit.com). A screenshot can be seen at
http://openarchive.in/Openjudis.gif. The software contains over 23000
decisions of the Indian Supreme Court and occupies about 700 Mb of
hard disk space after full installation. Although it has been
available for download since October, its huge size made it difficult
for the average user to digest.
Also included on their DVD is the Right to Information cases variant
of the database with about 4000 cases of the Central Information
Commission.
The magazine costs Rs. 125 and is available at most newspaper vendors.
Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested.
Thanks,
Prashant

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Mon Feb  4 10:59:44 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 10:59:44 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Legal row over Oriya lexicon ends
Message-ID: <908adbd0802032129m7bdab41emf76ed3dbeafa5d9d@mail.gmail.com>

Date:04/02/2008 URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/04/stories/2008020451930300.htm Back

Other States - Orissa

Legal row over Oriya lexicon ends

Correspondent

CUTTACK: A lower court here has settled the row over the publishing
rights of the 76-year-old Oriya lexicon and allowed Lark Books
publisher Mahendra Mishra to go ahead with reproduction of the
encyclopaedia.

The copyright controversy over 'Purnachandra Bhasakosha' entered into
a legal storm in October 2006 when the district court here slapped an
interim stay over the reproduction and sale of the reproduced copies
of the dictionary that was originally published by late Gopal Chandra
Praharaj, a Cuttack-based lawyer and journalist who died in May 1945.

Praharaj's granddaughter Girija Nandini Praharaj had challenged the
reproduction of the lexicon republished by the Bhubaneswar-based
publisher.

Accusing the publishing house of violating the Copyright Act by
reproducing the lexicon, the petition had alleged that the publisher
had used some 'derogatory' words against Praharaj family in the
preface of the new book. The petition had alleged that the publisher
had reproduced the dictionary only for his own business purpose and
did not bother to inform the family members of the original writer.

It may be mentioned here that the original lexicon, a voluminous
9000-page dictionary, has around 1.85 lakh words, their meanings in
Hindi, Bengali and English with special usage of all words and their
pronunciations in English was first published in 1931. But the
proprietor of Lark Publishers Mahendra Mishra came out with the
reproduction of the lexicon early last month stirring up a major
copyright controversy in the State.

While the family members of the original writer claimed that they were
on the job of coming out with the revised edition of it, Mishra
asserted that the Praharaj family no longer enjoy the sole right over
the book as it has ended in January 2006 as per the Copyright Act.

The legal battle had shifted to Orissa High Court when the owner of
Lark Books, Mahendra Mishra, challenged the interim stay order passed
by the lower court. The High Court, however, had remitted the matter
to the district court with a direction for the early disposal of the
case "in view of the importance" of the litigation.
Plea rejected

District sessions judge Mukunda Prasad Mishra last month rejected the
plea of the Praharaj family saying, "the suit is not maintainable".
"The claim raised by the Praharaj family that they have proprietary
right by way of succession was rejected in view of the provision under
Section 22 of the India Copyright Act-1957, the district judge said.

(c) Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Mon Feb  4 11:03:41 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:03:41 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Dedicated documentary channel in 11th Plan
Message-ID: <908adbd0802032133w7ed8a736q134b67d1dbad55ae@mail.gmail.com>

Date:04/02/2008 URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/04/stories/2008020459121300.htm Back

National

Dedicated documentary channel in 11th Plan

Special Correspondent

The challenge is to get the funds to keep it running, says Union Minister

MUMBAI: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan
Dasmunsi on Sunday gladdened the hearts of documentary filmmakers by
announcing that a dedicated channel for short films in the Eleventh
Plan was already under consideration .

Mr. Dasmunsi was speaking at the inauguration of the tenth Mumbai
International film Festival (MIFF) for documentary, short and
animation films here at the National Centre for Performing Arts
(NCPA). Before him veteran film maker and president of the Indian
Documentary Producers Association (IDPA) Jahnu Barua had spoken
bitterly on "why no one gave a damn about documentary films in India."

Mr. Barua lamented the lack of a dedicated channel to air
documentaries and he said he was angry and ashamed that filmmakers had
to beg for space.

He said documentaries were important public documents that must reach
the people. "We deserve to be recognised and cherished for our
important contribution," Mr. Barua said.

In response, Mr, Dasmunsi said he understood the creative frustration
of documentary film makers and the main question is who will watch
their films.

He said he was willing to approve a proposal within seven days for a
documentary film channel but the challenge is to get the funds to keep
it running. He said even dedicated news channels are fitting in more
entertainment components to survive. However, the Minister told
documentary film makers who had gathered in the packed theatre that he
would support any plans for such a channel. He also called on the
private industry to come forward and help.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh inaugurated the festival
and announced that the V. Shantaram award for lifetime achievement was
given to Harivansh Shyam Sharma, veteran film maker.

MIFF is being organised by the Films Division of the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting, in collaboration with the government of
Maharashtra. It is expected to be attended by more than 5,000
delegates from various parts of the world.
Highlight

One of the highlights of MIFF this time is a special package of films
on the Second World War. It comprises rare film records of Indian
troops in action in various parts of the world including Britain and
Russia.

The films were lying in Shimla, the then capital of British India, and
later procured by the Armed Forces Film and Photo Division, New Delhi.

(c) Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Mon Feb  4 11:19:31 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:19:31 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Novartis wins Thai battle, setback for Indian firms
Message-ID: <908adbd0802032149u74b5d418xefc00e9baf790cbf@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/268596/

Novartis wins Thai battle, setback for Indian firms
Reghu Balakrishnan
Posted online: Sunday , February 03, 2008 at 2256 hrs

Mumbai, Feb 3Even as the patent row between Indian generic firms and
Novartis over anti-cancer drug Glivec (imatinib mesylate) is still
raging on, the Swiss pharmaceutical major has won a government
decision in its favour in Thailand for the drug. The Thai government
has decided not to invoke a compulsory licence (CL) for imatinb,
denying Indian companies an opportunity to sell the drug in that
country at rates a tenth lower than the Swiss company's drug prices
globally.

The Thai government, on January 31, decided in favour of Novartis,
after the drug major agreed to provide free Glivec to patients having
a household income of less than 1.7 million baht ($51,515) a year. The
patented version of imatinib costs 3,600 Thai baht ($109) for a 400-mg
pill. Usually a patient requires a pill a day, which costs about 1.31
million baht ($39,800) a year, while the generic versions from India
will cost 150 baht ($4.50) a pill.

Veenat, Natco Pharma's cheaper version of imatinib, costs about Rs
10,000 per month. Last year, Pune-based Emcure Pharma had bagged the
order for supplying clopidogrel, the generic version of cardiac drug
Plavix, following the government's decision to invoke CL.

Experts are of the view that this strategy of MNCs will hit Indian
firms badly. An intellectual property expert said, "The case in
Thailand is more like differential pricing of the drug. People who
cannot afford the drug can get it cheaper or free of cost, while those
who can afford will get it at the market price. This will not
particularly hurt Novartis, as the drug patent is still enforced and
not overridden by compulsory licence." If research based-companies
start agreeing with differential pricing, it's likely that the CL will
not be invoked. And no generic company will want to sell cheaper drugs
for free, as it wants to recover at least a part of manufacturing and
shipping costs. Generic players, thus, stood to lose the game in such
cases, he added.

It is learnt that the Thai government has decided to issue a CL for
three more cancer drugs: docetaxel for treating lungs and breast
cancer, which is marketed by Sanofi-Aventis as Taxotere; letrozole for
breast cancer and marketed by Novartis as Femara; and erlotinib for
lungs cancer and marketed by Roche as Tarceva.

From the.solipsist at gmail.com  Tue Feb  5 11:52:37 2008
From: the.solipsist at gmail.com (Pranesh Prakash)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 11:52:37 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Valuing the Mahatma's Words
Message-ID: <4785f1e20802042222n69cf53e5xe279744fccdf0bc5@mail.gmail.com>

Dear All,
Does anyone know more about the mutual trade in copyright that this article
talks about?  And does anyone have any guesses as to why don't we hear about
copyright auctions?  I'm sure it will be more efficient than current
practices of negotiating individually with a number of different publishers.

Regards,
Pranesh

>From Daily News & Analysis:
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1149013

*Valuing the Mahatma's Words*
Puneet Nicholas Yadav
Monday, February 04, 2008  10:21 IST

NEW DELHI: Sixty years after his death, the Mahatma's philosophies and works
continue to evoke interest and spell big business too. So much so that
there's a 'copyright exhibition' of works on and by Gandhi at the Annual
World Book Fair in the Capital.

Organised by the National Book Trust (NBT), the exhibition titled 'Gandhi —
in words and deeds' will give publishers from across the world an
opportunity to buy and sell the copyrights of their titles on Gandhi.

The exhibition showcases nearly 1,200 books on Bapu, besides books authored
by Gandhi himself, and compilations of his letters and other works.

The exhibition also has on display books published by the Navjivan Trust
which currently owns the copyright for all the 194 books and compilations by
the Mahatma.

The trust also has rights over several other books on him including the
10-part biography written by Mahatma's secretary of 28 years, Pyarelal and
his sister Sushila Nayyar. But the copyright will expire this year, and this
has brought Navjivan to the exhibition.

"We constantly get queries about the works written by Bapu and the other
books published by us on him. As our copyright expires this year, we thought
the exhibition could give us a good platform to showcase the work to
publishers from across the world. They can see the books and contact us for
the copyright," said managing trustee Jitendra Desai.
Nearly 160 publishers are participating in the exhibition and the NBT has
catalogued about 700 books, which feature in the expo. The catalogue will
enable publishers to continue the copyright sale and purchase process even
after the exhibition ends on February 10.

Many of the books, including a rare five-part biography of the Mahatma in
Urdu, have not yet been translated. The NBT hopes the exhibition will create
an awareness and publishers from across the globe will show an interest in
translating the works as well as buying the copyright.

"We have been receiving tremendous response ever since we charted out the
proposal for this expo. Many international publishers have shown interest in
exchange of copyrights of their works. The catalogue will help these
publishers to mutually trade in copyright," said NBT director Prof Nuzhat
Hasan.

And Gandhi's works would also spell big bucks for publishers. If more than
one publisher bids for the copyright of a particular book, the publisher can
trade with the highest bidder.
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From the.solipsist at gmail.com  Tue Feb  5 15:18:50 2008
From: the.solipsist at gmail.com (Pranesh Prakash)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:18:50 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Legal row over Oriya lexicon ends
Message-ID: <4785f1e20802050148ybf599d3o4e3ce4c4c0ec62e7@mail.gmail.com>

Dear All,
There is no concept of automatic renewal of copyright in India, nor by
application, nor succession.  Copyright term here lasts for sixty years,
depending on the type of work, either from the date of publication or the
date of death of the author.  In the case reported below, the author died in
May 1945.  Thus (counting from the "beginning of the calendar year next
following the year in which the author dies") the term of copyright should
have gotten over in January 2006.  It is good to read of a copyright case
that is decided correctly by the lower courts.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008020451930300.htm&date=2008/02/04/&prd=th&

*Legal row over Oriya lexicon ends *
Correspondent

CUTTACK: A lower court here has settled the row over the publishing rights
of the 76-year-old Oriya lexicon and allowed Lark Books publisher Mahendra
Mishra to go ahead with reproduction of the encyclopaedia.

The copyright controversy over 'Purnachandra Bhasakosha' entered into a
legal storm in October 2006 when the district court here slapped an interim
stay over the reproduction and sale of the reproduced copies of the
dictionary that was originally published by late Gopal Chandra Praharaj, a
Cuttack-based lawyer and journalist who died in May 1945.

Praharaj's granddaughter Girija Nandini Praharaj had challenged the
reproduction of the lexicon republished by the Bhubaneswar-based publisher.

Accusing the publishing house of violating the Copyright Act by reproducing
the lexicon, the petition had alleged that the publisher had used some
'derogatory' words against Praharaj family in the preface of the new book.
The petition had alleged that the publisher had reproduced the dictionary
only for his own business purpose and did not bother to inform the family
members of the original writer.

It may be mentioned here that the original lexicon, a voluminous 9000-page
dictionary, has around 1.85 lakh words, their meanings in Hindi, Bengali and
English with special usage of all words and their pronunciations in English
was first published in 1931. But the proprietor of Lark Publishers Mahendra
Mishra came out with the reproduction of the lexicon early last month
stirring up a major copyright controversy in the State.

While the family members of the original writer claimed that they were on
the job of coming out with the revised edition of it, Mishra asserted that
the Praharaj family no longer enjoy the sole right over the book as it has
ended in January 2006 as per the Copyright Act.

The legal battle had shifted to Orissa High Court when the owner of Lark
Books, Mahendra Mishra, challenged the interim stay order passed by the
lower court. The High Court, however, had remitted the matter to the
district court with a direction for the early disposal of the case "in view
of the importance" of the litigation.
* Plea rejected*

District sessions judge Mukunda Prasad Mishra last month rejected the plea
of the Praharaj family saying, "the suit is not maintainable". "The claim
raised by the Praharaj family that they have proprietary right by way of
succession was rejected in view of the provision under Section 22 of the
India Copyright Act-1957, the district judge said.
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From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Thu Feb  7 11:42:32 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:42:32 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Lucknow chikan to get patented
Message-ID: <908adbd0802062212q42eb320dq7beb963b5c010c28@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=312883

Lucknow chikan to get patented
Pallavi Bisaria / Lucknow February 07, 2008
The Uttar Pradesh Export Corporation Limited (UPECL), a state
government undertaking engaged in the development and marketing of
handicrafts and handloom items produced in Uttar Pradesh, is set to
apply for patenting of Lucknow chikan.

Once the office of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) gives its
certificate, chikan would exclusively be linked with Lucknow city.

UPECL, along with the textile committee, Ministry of Textiles,
Government of India, has applied for the registration of chikan
handicraft products under the Geographical Indication category of
intellectual property rights scheme.

"UPECL has signed an MoU with the textile committee, which has filed
the application of chikan handicrafts with the Geographical
Indications Registry at Chennai with Controller of Patents, Designs
and Trademark," Markandey Singh, managing director, UPECL, told
Business Standard.

According to estimates, the total export of handicrafts last year from
India accounted for Rs 17,288 crore, out of which, the share of Uttar
Pradesh is Rs. 9,700 crores. The state contributes about 56 per cent
of the total handicraft exports of the country.

"Only 5 per cent of our total chikan produce is exported. Once it
becomes our monopoly, this figure would soar," Singh added.

Geographical Indication (GIs) means an indication, which identifies
goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as
originating or manufactured in the territory of a country or a region
where a given quality is essentially attributed to its geographical
origin.

"Once the patent certificate is awarded, Lucknow's chikan would enjoy
monopoly in the market worldwide. Chikan craftwork would become the
exclusive copyright of the city.

It would give a boost to the state's economy," Singh added. Around
100,000 artisans are engaged in chikan embroidery in and around the
city of Lucknow.

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Thu Feb  7 12:33:56 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 12:33:56 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Health Ministry launches ERMED
Message-ID: <908adbd0802062303rdd38310mef57b1317fb207b4@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/269948.html

Health Ministry launches ERMED

Express news service

Posted online: Thursday, February 07, 2008 at 0005 hrs IST

New Delhi, February 6
Medical research in the country just got a boost in the virtual world.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) and the Directorate
General of Health Services on Tuesday launched Electronic Resources in
Medicine Consortium (ERMED) that would not only provide easy access to
1,600 medical journals from across the world but also make online
journal literature available to medical scholars working in the
country through electronic media.

The project developed by National Medical Library will help develop
nationwide electronic information resources in the field of medicine
for delivering effective health care. Around 39 Centrally-funded
government institutions, including 10 DGHS libraries and 28 ICMR
libraries, are selected at the initial stage as its core members. The
All India Institute of Medical Sciences library in New Delhi is also a
member.

The MOHFW will provide the fund required for the purchase of
electronic journals under the consortium project for the year 2008.
Payment for next year would depend on utilisation of resources by each
member, officials said.

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Sat Feb  9 11:13:47 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 11:13:47 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Govt may not provide five-yr data protection to
	traditional medicines
Message-ID: <908adbd0802082143p35bd751fka864e7bcf061c4b0@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=313109

Govt may not provide five-yr data protection to traditional medicines
Joe C Mathew / New Delhi February 09, 2008
The government may take back its earlier plan to provide five-year
data protection to traditional systems of medicine.

The change has been triggered by the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga,
Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) taking the view that such a
protection will lead to similar demands from the allopathic segment.

While the government has been supporting the move to introduce data
protection for traditional medicines, it has been reluctant to offer
similar protection to the pharmaceutical sector in general due to the
concerns of the domestic drug industry.

Domestic manufacturers say "data protection", which results in
"non-reliance" of data generated by the patent-holding company, will
increase the cost of drug production and delay the entry of generic
drugs into the domestic market.

Incidentally, it was the Department of AYUSH that initially proposed
such a protection to encourage generation of data for scientific
validation of traditional medicines.

The government's plans for data protection began after a high-level
inter-ministerial committee, set up by the Department of Chemicals and
Petrochemicals in 2004, favoured such protection for traditional
medicines and agro-chemicals.

Though the committee's mandate was to examine whether the current laws
of the country were adequate to meet the obligations for "data
protection" under the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO, the issue of
providing data protection for traditional or herbal products, as
distinct from other pharmaceuticals, came up before the committee
through a submission by the Department of AYUSH in September 2006.

After considering the Department of AYUSH's submission, the committee,
in its report submitted in May 2007, recommended that irrespective of
the nature or the period of data protection granted to pharmaceuticals
in general, a five-year data protection should be provided for
traditional medicines.

It also wanted the health ministry to make amendments to the Drugs and
Cosmetics Rules, 1945, to effect the change.

The chemicals ministry has now found that the Department of AYUSH has
sought a review of the decision as it may have led to demand for data
protection for pharmaceutical products in general.

"There are serious concerns relating to the ever-greening of patents
under the guise of data protection and the need for providing
affordable drugs to people," it had reasoned.

Data protection to pharmaceuticals has been one of the most debated
issues due to the strong reservations expressed by the domestic drug
industry against such a move.

On the other hand, multinational drug majors have been saying that
data protection is a prerequisite for foreign investments in drug
research in India.

While the committee recommended a five-year data protection for
traditional medicines, it refrained from making such a recommendation
for other pharmaceutical products.

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Mon Feb 11 11:11:27 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:11:27 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Net telephony stays free as law ministry rejects Trai
	proposal
Message-ID: <908adbd0802102141k6de08edby5bf041504a051fb8@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/271538/

Net telephony stays free as law ministry rejects Trai proposal
Rishi Raj
Posted online: Monday , February 11, 2008 at 0034 hrs

New Delhi, Feb 10You can keep using the likes of Skype, Yahoo and MSN
to make free international calls as the law ministry has rejected a
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) proposal that foreign
Internet telephony firms be made to register in India, seek permission
from the department of telecommunications (DoT) and host their
websites in the country.

Trai's proposal last year was aimed at bringing these companies in the
ambit of the country's licensing framework and monitoring their
activities. These recommendations were guided by the fact that foreign
Internet firms did not pay any licence fee to the government like the
licensed Internet service providers (ISPs) do.

The DoT subsequently sought the law ministry's opinion whether mere
registration could bring such companies under a licensing framework
provided by the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The DoT had asked whether
overseas companies could be subjected to Indian laws for various
purposes, including the licence fee.

According to sources, the law ministry had said registration of any
company was not envisaged by the Indian Telegraph Act for operating
telecom services.

Sources listed reasons why this could not be done. First, the statute
does not envisage registration for the purpose of bringing such
companies within a licensing framework as the regulation provides for
only a grant of licence with certain riders. Second, these Internet
firms are governed by Companies Acts in their respective countries.
Indian laws are not applicable to such companies and, therefore, no
action can be taken under the provisions of the Company's Act of
India, 1956. Third, such companies are foreign entities and have
invested 100%. But the present guidelines say Internet and Internet
telephony companies can have 74% FDI. So, the proposed move will not
be in consonance with the norms.

From the.solipsist at gmail.com  Wed Feb 13 15:15:06 2008
From: the.solipsist at gmail.com (Pranesh Prakash)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:15:06 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Lazy hack syndrome: Evidence from the Times of India
Message-ID: <4785f1e20802130145u6ca64812w5b20618e05c51ed4@mail.gmail.com>

Dear All,
A headline in today's Times of India reads: *Is 'Indian' copyright of govt
institutes?*, with the follow-on questions being,
Does the government hold absolute copyright over appellations "Indian" and
"National" when it comes to using them for educational institutions?

It continues:
The issue has been thrown up by a fiat by the All India Council of Technical
Education (AICTE), the apex regulatory body for engineering and technical
education in India, prohibiting private institutions from using these two
words.
Worse, AICTE wanted all institutions having names containing "Indian" and
"National" to drop these to comply with its directive. Many, fearing
de-recognition, fell in line and got their signboards repainted.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2777749,prtpage-1.cms
---------------

Obviously, it is not an issue of copyright.  Copyright (in India) is a
statutory right granted under the Copyright Act, 1957.  That, and only
that.  This, on the other hand, is an issue of a rule granting exclusive
right over usage of some words.  It does not involve the Copyright Act at
all.  Furthermore, viewed correctly, it is more an issue about policy rather
than legality.

(For much better reporting of this issue when it first cropped up in 2005,
see: http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=153525 ; and for an
economic perspective:
http://indianeconomy.org/2005/10/19/balancing-the-regulation-of-private-education/).

Journalists need to learn that not every exclusive right over an intangible
good is a "copyright".  Not knowing such things while covering the law beat
(which is what Dhananjay Mahapatra, writer of the above ToI piece, seems to
be covering) is unpardonable.  It is a sign of extremely lazy hackwork.
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From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Fri Feb 15 11:28:11 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:28:11 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] US generics case puts Ranbaxy under spotlight
Message-ID: <908adbd0802142158n233787c1wc438c21399d6fbfe@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=313828

BS Reporter / New Delhi February 15, 2008
Ranbaxy, India's largest drug maker, figures among the list of four
low-cost medicine makers that were allegedly paid $200 million by US
drug firm Cephalon to delay the entry of cheap generic medicines into
the US market till 2012.

The US anti-competitive practices watch dog Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) has sued US drug firm Cephalon for unlawfully blocking sale of
cheap generic versions of branded sleep-disorder drug Provigil.

In a release issued on February 13, FTC alleged that Cephalon's
'anti-competitive' scheme denies patients access to lower cost,
generic versions of Provigil (modafinil) and forces consumers and
other purchasers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year more
for Provigil.

With US sales of Provigil totalling over $800 million in 2007 and
accounting for more than 40 percent of Cephalon's total sales, the
prospect of generic competition was a major financial threat to the
company, the complaint states.

According to FTC's complaint, filed in the US District Court for the
District of Columbia, Cephalon entered into agreements with generic
drug manufacturers Teva, Mylan, Barr and Ranbaxy and was able to
induce each of the generic companies to abandon its patent challenge
and agree to refrain from selling a generic version of Provigil until
2012 by agreeing to pay the companies a total amount in excess of $200
million.

"Today's suit against Cephalon seeks to undo a course of
anti-competitive conduct which is harming American consumers by
depriving them of access to cheaper generic alternatives to an
important branded drug," said FTC Bureau of Competition Director
Jeffrey Schmidt.

"Cephalon prevented competition to Provigil by agreeing to share its
future monopoly profits with generic drug makers poised to enter the
market in exchange for delayed generic entry. Such conduct is at the
core of what the antitrust laws proscribe."

In filing its complaint, FTC is seeking a permanent injunction against
Cephalon that would allow the entry of generic versions of Provigil
before 2012.

Further, it is seeking a final court judgment against Cephalon
declaring that its course of conduct, including its agreements with
Teva, Ranbaxy, Mylan, and Barr, violates Section 5(a) of the FTC Act
and barring the company from engaging in similar or related conduct in
the future.

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Fri Feb 15 11:30:55 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:30:55 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] `Open source drug discovery will lower costs
	dramatically`:CSIR Chief
Message-ID: <908adbd0802142200v427ffb3fr2aec125c95f7023e@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=313758

`Open source drug discovery will lower costs dramatically`
Q&A/ Samir K Brahmachari
Joe Mathew / New Delhi February 15, 2008

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) links 37
constituent laboratories with diverse research portfolios as varied as
drug discovery to oceanography. The agency, which had a budgetary
assistance worth Rs 1,861 crore for 2007-08, links academia, research
organisations and the industry. It is a part of the Global Research
Alliance (GRA) — a nine-member alliance of knowledge-intensive
technology organisations from around the world — that explores ways of
exploiting their cumulative knowledge and expertise for the larger
good in the context of globalisation. The latest initiative of CSIR
has been the launch of an Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) Programme
aimed at providing affordable health to all, especially to the
underprivileged. Samir K Brahmachari who took over as director general
of CSIR three months ago, spoke to Joe Mathew on the current status of
CSIR, the immediate tasks before him and, more importantly, on his pet
OSDD Programme. Excerpts:

What are the immediate tasks before you?

I have inherited a CSIR that has been led by illustrious scientists
for the last 65 years. The organisation has given the country an
extraordinary asset which empowers today's new India. As DG, CSIR, my
role is similar to that of Zubin Mehta and I am here to create a
symphony out of a network of 37 fairly autonomous laboratories with
diverse interests. What I had been experimenting on a lab scale during
my previous job as head of a constituent institution of CSIR
(Institute of Genomics and Integrated Biology) will have to be scaled
up 100 times if I have to drive CSIR in the same fashion. With the
economy getting globalised, the aspirations of our people have
suddenly increased. The government, the planners and the national
leaders are visualising an India that will lead. So it needs a CSIR
which is appropriate to fulfil its dreams.

What are the focus areas for CSIR?

Of the 4,500 CSIR scientists, one-third focus on high science. In
2007, we published 3,700 scientific papers and created 400 PHDs. These
institutions are doing world-class research. Another one- third is
dedicated to technology development and patents. CSIR holds 60 per
cent of international patents given to India covering all
technologies. Right from tractors to water pumps to
environment-friendly technology to the leather industry, we develop
everything. CSIR's contribution in helping the Indian pharma industry
develop low-cost drugs has been remarkable.

The third focus area is the social and strategic sector, which
includes water purification methods to various aspects of rocket
technology. CSIR labs, for instance, in collaboration with the earth
science ministry, played a critical role in expanding India's
exclusive economic zone in the sea by 50 per cent through a successful
deep ocean bed survey. Whether it is the development of low-cost
vaccines or environment-friendly technologies, we have always been a
solution provider for the country. CSIR will continue to do that.

Almost one-third of CSIR institutions are headless. There are also
reports of the fast migration of scientists from public research
institutions to private research organisations.

There are 10 institutions where the appointment of directors has to
take place. CSIR and the ministry have finalised the new procedures
for appointment of directors in all these labs. It will happen without
further delay. However, I am not worried about CSIR's performance as
all acting directors in these institutions are doing well. I have no
concerns as this proves that even the second-level leadership is very
capable.

On attracting and retaining talent, the ministry is working out a
fresh package for scientists. One should understand that Indian
scientists have never been in so much demand in India before. They are
of very high value today. I consider that I have only one job and that
is to have excellent scientists who are happy and highly motivated in
the organisation. We are working out the possibility of revised
packages to make CSIR jobs attractive.

Is there a need for more resources? What are the immediate needs of CSIR?

Money will not bring in good science. What we need is a team of
scientists that will bring in value to the organisation through
knowledge generation for the public good. I am completing 100 working
days on April 2. Currently I am undertaking preliminary interactions
with the directors of all constituent institutions to understand the
ground situation.

You are known as the proponent of the Open Source Drug Discovery
Programme. What is its current status?

Most of the drug discoveries are made in a closed door environment,
where the highest degree of secrecy is maintained resulting in the
lack of open participation of the entire academic world. The Open
Source Drug Discovery Programme aims to address the issue by
attempting to capture the youngest and brightest minds around the
globe to be a part of discovery of therapeutics for infectious
diseases.

Also, to apply the knowledge of pharmacogenomics to keep the cost of
patent drugs, especially for chronic diseases requiring long-term
treatment, low. It aims to establish a novel web-enabled open source
platform — both computational and experimental — to make drug
discovery cost effective and affordable by utilising the creative
potential of college and university students along with senior
scientists, a collective approach to drug development. The students
and scientists, in turn, would also be rewarded with incentives for
developing novel algorithms, finding drug targets, leading
identification and other novel contributions.

From prabhuram at gmail.com  Mon Feb 18 15:48:56 2008
From: prabhuram at gmail.com (Prabhu Ram)
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:48:56 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] April 13-16,
	2008: International Conference on Intellectual Property and
	Technology Transfer, Ooty, India
In-Reply-To: <68752c9f0802180218kb41e873oa1e5e19ddf5d8fc4@mail.gmail.com>
References: <68752c9f0802180218kb41e873oa1e5e19ddf5d8fc4@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <68752c9f0802180218l3f6968faw4ff53d59800c3961@mail.gmail.com>

Dear all,

Greetings from the Society for Technology Management (STEM)!

In today's networked economy, successful companies are those that are truly
creative and perpetually create new knowledge. With the realization that
knowledge is the new engine of corporate success, companies are depending on
measuring, managing and developing their knowledge assets. Technology-driven
companies need to leverage their intellectual assets to retain their
competitive edge. Intellectual Property Asset Management and Technology
Transfer are the keys to achieve success in today's changing policy and
complex business environment.

It is in this background that the Society for Technology Management (STEM),
India's premier and pioneering technology transfer forum, will be hosting
its flagship international program, the Graduate Course in IPR and
Technology Transfer at Hotel Sullivan Court, Ooty, India from April 13-16,
2008.

The four-day program will examine the role of Intellectual Property (IP) as
a strategic technology transfer tool using case studies, best practices, and
interactive discussions. The world-class faculty for the program comprises
of senior IP practitioners, decision makers, academicians, drawn from the
US, EU and Asia. All the faculty members are senior professionals having
years of experience and expertise in intellectual property management and
technology transfer.

This program is aimed at research heads, technology transfer officers, IP
managers, technology managers, regulatory affairs specialists, and senior
policy makers engaged in IP policy development. Participants will be able to
learn current best practices in IP and innovation management; accelerating
commercialization through technology licensing and developing a policy
framework to manage their intellectual assets.

Details on the previous 2007 STEM IP program, including faculty profiles,
participant profiles and comments on the program, are available online at
http://www.stemglobal.org.

Attractive early bird registrations are available till *February 29, 2008*.
If you are interested in participating in this residential program, and wish
to avail the discounted rates, you need to become a STEM member. Till *March
15, 2008*, nominations will be accepted. However, the STEM discounted rates
for non-STEM members will not be applicable anymore.

We look forward to hearing from you, and having you with us at Ooty.

With best wishes,

Prabhu





_______________________________________________________
Prabhu Ram
Program Manager
Society for Technology Management (STEM), STEM Secretariat,
Plot No. 15, Hindi Nagar, Punjagutta,
Hyderabad, A.P- 500 034
Ph: (040) 23356975, 23356507, 23350586,
66612352, 66786148, 66662190
Ext: 240
Mobile: (0) 9966253908
Fax: (040) 23354042
Web: www.stemglobal.org
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From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Tue Feb 19 11:47:35 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:47:35 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] HC breather for channels on cricket footage
Message-ID: <908adbd0802182217x268b8b4t601b7769c88c7f4b@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=314275

HC breather for channels on cricket footage
Ashish Sinha / New Delhi February 19, 2008
News channels may now be able to telecast footage of international
cricket matches for longer durations, following the Delhi High Court's
dismissal of a petition by sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports in this
matter.

ESPN Star had sought the court's direction to restrain various
television news channels from airing footage of the ongoing
India-Australia series without its permission, specially the footage
of the second Test match that was mired by allegations of racism
against cricketer Harbhajan Singh.

ESPN alleged that the news channels were running special shows on the
cricket matches with excessive use of their footage and running
commercials on these shows, thus earning considerable revenue.

The news channels, including CNN-IBN, IBN7, Aaj Tak, Star News, Zee
News and NDTV 24X7, that were made a party in the case, contested that
reporting on news events emerging out of cricket was the
responsibility of news channels.

"The Copyright Act itself provides that reporting of current events
does not constitute copyright infringement. The law therefore clearly
grants a right to report current events even if rights to such events
are vested with some one else," the news channels said in their
defense.

According to the terms and conditions of ESPN, news channels are
allowed to telecast cricket footage for only 30 seconds in a scheduled
news bulletins and a total of 120 seconds of such footage a day. Any
additional airing of the footage will not be without the consent of
the sports broadcaster.

This move is likely to help news channels to show footage of
international cricket matches for more than two minutes a day and run
news stories on events involving cricketers in these matches.

When contacted, a senior ESPN executive said that the company was
studying the Delhi High Court order and had no further comments to
make in matter.

A senior Zee TV official who was representing Zee News in the case
said, "Our case held on two accounts. One, the Harbhajan issue was a
national issue and extended coverage of this was out of mass news
interest. Second, Channel 9 of Australia is the producer of all
cricket telecasts in Australia, and therefore should be made a party
to the case. In the absence of their involvement, there was not much
in the case."

ESPN had cited the example of Zee News which generated a programme
titled 'Bucknor Tune Kya Kiya'. According to ESPN, the show
unauthorisedly utilised 18 minutes 37 seconds of footage of the Test
matches.

Other channels also aired similar programmes and ran advertisements
during the programmes, which was a clear violation of ESPN's terms and
conditions, the sports broadcaster said in its petition.

From oishiksircar at gmail.com  Tue Feb 19 23:33:53 2008
From: oishiksircar at gmail.com (OISHIK SIRCAR)
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:03:53 -0600
Subject: [Commons-Law] Human rights software given prestigious award at
	French Senate
Message-ID: <62cba67a0802191003i6d33819cid956ce018c96bef6@mail.gmail.com>

UofT Human rights software given prestigious award at French Senate U of T's
Citizen Lab lauded
Feb 14/08
 by News Staff

Psiphon, an Internet censorship evading software project developed by the
University of Toronto's Citizen Lab has been deemed "the world's most
original, significant and exemplary Net and Digital Initiative" by a panel
of French and international government, media and business experts. Psiphon
was chosen first among 100 technology projects from around the world that
were nominated for the Netxplorateur of the Year Grand Prix award.
 "Psiphon (http://psiphon.civisec.org/ <http://http//psiphon.civisec.org/>)
aims to restore the original promise the Internet once held out as a forum
for free expression and access to information," said Professor Ron Deibert,
director of the Citizen Lab
(http://www.citizenlab.org/<http://http//www.citizenlab.org/>)and
the psiphon project. "We are honoured to receive such a prestigious award.
Internet censorship has become a major global problem, with dozens of
governments blocking access to news, human rights, and political opposition
websites as well as new media of self expression, such as blogs and
streaming video."

Psiphon works by leveraging the Internet and social networks of trust that
span censored and uncensored jurisdictions. Those with friends, family or
colleagues in censored countries download the small psiphon application on
their home computers and then give the unique connection information to
their psiphon node to those living behind firewalled jurisdictions. Instead
of attempting to access banned content directly, users of psiphon connect to
the psiphon nodes over an encrypted channel and use them to surf the Web
instead. As each psiphon node is private, encrypted, and separate from each
other, the system as a whole is virtually impossible for authorities to
discover and block.

While the psiphon software is free and open source, the Citizen Lab's
developers have recently launched a start-up company, called Psiphon Inc.,
to provide professional services for businesses, media, and organizations
that face increasingly difficult challenges operating in a carved up
Internet environment.

Of special note in this respect is the upcoming Olympic Games in China -- a
country that operates one of the world's most pervasive Internet censorship
regimes.

"Thousands of journalists are going to descend on China and into a tightly
controlled and heavily filtered Internet environment," remarked Michael
Hull, chief of Psiphon Inc. "We are working with a number of major media
organizations to provide solutions for their journalists, who will need a
secure, reliable way to access an unfettered web."

The Netxplorateur Grand Prix Award is the latest in a series of awards the
psiphon project and the Citizen Lab have received. Psiphon was named one of
the Six Ideas to Change the World by Esquire Magazine in its December "Best
and Brightest of 2007" issue, and one of the 50 companies to watch for in
2007 by Fast Company Magazine.

Deibert will be accepting the award from the former prime pinster of France,
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, at the Netxplorateur Forum. The event, sponsored by
HEC business school, Microsoft and TBWA takes place at a ceremony at the
Senate in Paris Feb. 14 and 15.
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/080214-3622.asp


-- 
OISHIK SIRCAR

Scholar in Women's Rights
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

60 Harbord Street
Room 016 B
Toronto, ON M5S 3L1

oishiksircar at gmail.com
oishik.sircar at utoronto.ca

416.876.7926
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From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Wed Feb 20 13:02:12 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:02:12 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] moser baer
Message-ID: <908adbd0802192332r5aa27a2q59029b4b5fde3238@mail.gmail.com>

>From the company's latest quarterly results
<Snip>
In the entertainment space, customer response has been overwhelming. In six
months since inception, the company has been instrumental in *expanding the
perceived size of the legitimate domestic market by 8-9 times *through its
disruptive pricing strategy. With the acquisition of 900 titles from Ultra
Video, Moser Baer has acquired more than 9500 titles in all major Indian
languages constituting over 45% of mainstream cinema in India.
</snip>

Elsewhere, it is reported that while the original home video volume is
around 25 million per annum, pirated home video is close to 250 million.
Moser Baer's aim is to convert 50% of the "pirated home video market". "Ours
is not a price war but a war against piracy and the slow growth of the
market".
http://www.moserbaer.in/buy_fantasia_business_conomy10jan08.pdf

So Moser Baer is experimenting with this ridiculously radical notion that
market sizes could be determined by price, and that piracy and "original
home video" cater to different markets.
I think this is the first I've ever heard of any industry dignifying piracy
with the status of a "home video market"!

Prashant




*Date:20/02/2008* *URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/20/stories/2008022060050200.htm*
------------------------------
Back <javascript:history.go(-1)>

Karnataka <http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/20/22hdline.htm> - Bangalore

* It's a bonanza for movie buffs *
Swathi Shivanand * A brand is trying to break the stranglehold of pirated
CDs *

* Goodbye to piracy: Video stores report a shift of loyalties from pirated
versions to originals *

BANGALORE: While prices of essential commodities are hitting the roof, that
of another commodity — the compact disc and the digital versatile disc —
continues to spiral downwards. Hitting the piracy industry where it hurts —
the pricing — a big company (it's always the big companies) has brought in a
mini revolution of sorts in movie watching.

Moser Baer has brought to the market old classics on CDs for as low as Rs.
30 and on DVDs for Rs. 39. The new releases are Rs. 34 for CDs and Rs. 49
for DVDs. So films such as the classic *Kora Kaagaz* starring Sanjeev Kumar
Jaya Bhaduri and recent hits such as *Jab We Met* featuring Shahid Kapoor
and Kareena Kapoor are flying off shelves like never before.

Hasan M., manager of the Crossword store on Residency Road, says: "For the
past five or six months since it was brought to the market, we have been
selling at least about 200 Moser Baer CDs and DVDs a day. Most people buy
these discs in bulk not only because of its low pricing but also because it
offers a wide collection."

Radhika K., a cine buff, says that it is a boon for people like her who can
barely make the time to go to theatres. "Besides, where will I get a ticket
for such low prices?" she asks.

Video stores in the city also report a large scale shift of loyalties from
pirated versions to originals. "While pirated versions cost Rs. 80, the
originals with guaranteed good quality are only Rs. 30. All my customers are
asking for these CDs and DVDs," says Suresh Kumar of Disc World on
Commercial Street.

It is not a trend that video stores owner are quite in favour of. On Kamaraj
Road, a video store owner, requesting anonymity in case of police raids,
says: "We used to get a lot more margin with pirated versions. Because of
that, we could lower prices to attract customers. With Moser Baer, the
margin we get is barely Rs. 2 or Rs. 3, so there is not much price slashing
we can do."
 Windfall

For Kannada movie buffs, films old and new, even in pirated forms, have
never been in circulation. Filling this void, Moser Baer has acquired rights
for old gems like *Kasturi Nivasa* and *Bandhana*, apart from 18 movies of
our Annavaru Dr. Rajkumar. "From 1950s to present day, we have the rights of
hundreds of movies in our kitty," says Mohan Kumar S., Moser Baer consultant
in the city.

Increasing its already impressive regional collection is one of Moser Baer's
targets for the recent future. "After a massive response for movies like *
Malla* and *Duniya*, we are planning to buy rights for many more new
releases," says G. Dhananjayan, Chief Operating Officer, Moser Baer.
* *

(c) Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu
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From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Wed Feb 20 15:05:53 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:05:53 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Gates woos schools with free software
Message-ID: <908adbd0802200135jdeba8a6l530917cd8fbcae87@mail.gmail.com>

 Gates woos schools with free software
Richard Waters / London February 20, 2008


Bid to attract future developers is the latest extension of Microsoft's
long-running battle.  Microsoft is to give away some of its core software to
university and high school students around the world in an effort to win
over the next generation of software developers to its technology.  The bid
to attract future developers is the latest extension of Microsoft's
long-running battle to keep open-source software at bay, while also fending
off advances by companies like IBM and Adobe, both of which have seen some
of their technologies make inroads in university computer science
departments.  The free software plan is due to be spelled out by Bill Gates,
the company's chairman, in a speech on Tuesday at Stanford University.  As
many as 40million students around the world who study maths or
science-related subjects will eventually have access to the software,
Microsoft executives estimated.  In an interview with the Financial Times,
Gates said the aim was to help draw the next generation of developers to
Microsoft technology "and to drive up the rate of innovation in software
running on PCs and on Windows servers".  Microsoft is to release its
software tools for software development and design free of charge to
registered students, starting in the US, China and eight European countries,
including the UK.  The offer includes the full professional versions of
Visual Studio, which developers use to create programmes that run on
Windows, and Expressions, a set of design tools.  Microsoft's base of
independent developers has long been seen as its most important competitive
weapon, reinforcing Windows' position as the dominant desktop computing
platform and its expanding use on servers.  However, Gates played down the
threat to Microsoft of losing ground if other software development tools
make inroads in universities, and he maintained that Windows had benefited
as Unix had diminished in importance in academia.  While Microsoft's set of
tools is more complete than rivals, it faces competition on a number of
different fronts from Eclipse, a set of open source development tools
supported by IBM, and Flash, the popular software for multimedia web
applications created by Adobe.  New lightweight tools designed to make it
easier to write applications for the web, such as Ruby on Rails, have also
won a following in academia.  Reflecting the importance of this group to the
big tech companies, Google has also made a bid for the hearts and minds of
university students, although its efforts are focused on giving free access
to its online applications rather than the sort of developer tools being
offered by Microsoft.
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From fred at bytesforall.org  Fri Feb 22 02:51:44 2008
From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:51:44 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Gandhi ... and copyright
In-Reply-To: <8ea78e010802211320g76e88bb2ub21d20d5677ddd29@mail.gmail.com>
References: <8ea78e010802211320g76e88bb2ub21d20d5677ddd29@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8ea78e010802211321n72c53500he74728c56b8c8c96@mail.gmail.com>

What I found strange about the post below was, why would any publisher
 want to buy the copyright if it's going to expire in a year's time in
 any case?

 On an unrelated note, a Gandhian friend of mine was very upset that
 some of the Gandhi copyrights had been bought up and were being
 controlled from abroad. (If I recall right, it was about
 Gandhi-related photographs.)

 Lastly, this report makes it seem as if the Navajivan Press is earning
 significantly from copyrights:
 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/212347.cms
 Wonder what would be the Gandhian approach towards copyright (if
 discussed) and are the claims of significant earnings from copyright
 realistic, given the low cost at which Gandhi-related publications are
 usually priced? (I could be wrong in some of the assumptions I make.)
 FN


 [Commons-Law] Valuing the Mahatma's Words
 Pranesh Prakash the.solipsist at gmail.com
 Tue Feb 5 11:52:37 IST 2008

 Dear All,
 Does anyone know more about the mutual trade in copyright that this article
 talks about?  And does anyone have any guesses as to why don't we hear about
 copyright auctions?  I'm sure it will be more efficient than current
 practices of negotiating individually with a number of different publishers.

 Regards,
 Pranesh

 >From Daily News & Analysis:
 http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1149013

 *Valuing the Mahatma's Words*
 Puneet Nicholas Yadav
 Monday, February 04, 2008  10:21 IST

 NEW DELHI: Sixty years after his death, the Mahatma's philosophies and works
 continue to evoke interest and spell big business too. So much so that
 there's a 'copyright exhibition' of works on and by Gandhi at the Annual
 World Book Fair in the Capital.

 Organised by the National Book Trust (NBT), the exhibition titled 'Gandhi —
 in words and deeds' will give publishers from across the world an
 opportunity to buy and sell the copyrights of their titles on Gandhi.

 The exhibition showcases nearly 1,200 books on Bapu, besides books authored
 by Gandhi himself, and compilations of his letters and other works.

 The exhibition also has on display books published by the Navjivan Trust
 which currently owns the copyright for all the 194 books and compilations by
 the Mahatma.

 The trust also has rights over several other books on him including the
 10-part biography written by Mahatma's secretary of 28 years, Pyarelal and
 his sister Sushila Nayyar. But the copyright will expire this year, and this
 has brought Navjivan to the exhibition.

 "We constantly get queries about the works written by Bapu and the other
 books published by us on him. As our copyright expires this year, we thought
 the exhibition could give us a good platform to showcase the work to
 publishers from across the world. They can see the books and contact us for
 the copyright," said managing trustee Jitendra Desai.
 Nearly 160 publishers are participating in the exhibition and the NBT has
 catalogued about 700 books, which feature in the expo. The catalogue will
 enable publishers to continue the copyright sale and purchase process even
 after the exhibition ends on February 10.

 Many of the books, including a rare five-part biography of the Mahatma in
 Urdu, have not yet been translated. The NBT hopes the exhibition will create
 an awareness and publishers from across the globe will show an interest in
 translating the works as well as buying the copyright.

 "We have been receiving tremendous response ever since we charted out the
 proposal for this expo. Many international publishers have shown interest in
 exchange of copyrights of their works. The catalogue will help these
 publishers to mutually trade in copyright," said NBT director Prof Nuzhat
 Hasan.

 And Gandhi's works would also spell big bucks for publishers. If more than
 one publisher bids for the copyright of a particular book, the publisher can
 trade with the highest bidder.

--
 Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
 The Goa books blog: http://goabooks.wordpress.com
 Goa1556 (alt.publishing.goa): http://goa1556.goa-india.org

From fred at bytesforall.org  Fri Feb 22 02:56:35 2008
From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:56:35 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Auction of Gandhi's letters no big deal: historian
Message-ID: <8ea78e010802211326i5c4b82bfnfdb6feb4480eb5e5@mail.gmail.com>

Saw this a few months late. FN

http://blogs.ibibo.com/ViewComments.aspx?blogid=c64aff7f-3964-4c4c-a873-4dbd903d6a38&mid=6a14bd39-f456-4afa-bff7-ed067f9daa67

Auction of Gandhi's letters no big deal: historian
Posted by Madhu Vamsi in Its my life on June 28, 2007 5:07:00 PM

Auction of Gandhi's letters no big deal: historians

Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi and Dilip Patel in Ahmedabad

The Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi has stepped up efforts
through official channels to acquire the letters and manuscript
written and signed by Mahatma Gandhi [Images] just before his
assassination and which are coming up for auction in London [Images]
on July 3.

Christie's has fixed the opening bid for the draft at 12,000 pounds
(app Rs 9,80,000). The issue came up when Satya Paul, senior member of
Servants of the People Society drew the government's attention to the
sale.

However, many Gandhians and historians have expressed scepticism over the issue.

Many, including historian Ramchandra Guha, are of the view that the
issue will only benefit Christie's, the renowned auction house.

According to Christie's web site, a manuscript written by Gandhi just
19 days before his assassination in 1948 is part of a collection
titled 'The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters', a personal
and private collection assembled over a period of 30 years by Albin
Schram, a Switzerland-based collector.

However, Gandhi had bequeathed all the rights to his books, writings
and letters to Navjivan Trust, which he had set up in Ahmedabad.

Jitendra Desai, managing trustee of Navjivan, says, "I find this
controversy quite unnecessary. In the past too, similar issues have
come up. We are not sure about the legalities. Gandhi has written
thousands of letters to many individuals. Who owns those letters?
Gandhiji or the people who has been addressed in those letters? This
has to be resolved first."

He claimed that there have been earlier instances as well of people
selling Gandhi's letters in other parts of Europe. Desai said the
Navjivan Trust doesn't plan any proactive action in this regard.

For foreigners Mahatma Gandhi is merely M K Gandhi and there have been
instances when public auctions may not have drawn much attention in
India, said a retired teacher in Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad.

Gandhians in India feel that obviously, Christie's does not understand
what Gandhiji stands for.

Talking to an Indian television channel Thomas Venning of Christie's
said, 'The Gandhi letter is great. It was written very shortly before
he died -- and it's about the issue effectively that killed him. He
was killed by a Hindu fanatic because he urged a moderate policy
toward Muslims.'

The Christie's web site claims that the manuscript signed 'M K Gandhi'
dated January 11, 1948, contains a 7-page draft written for Urdu
Harijan. In the article Gandhiji announces his regret at having to
discontinue the publication of his mouthpiece Harijan in Urdu script.
He writes: 'The dwindle (in demand) was to me a sign of resentment
against its publication. My view remains unalterable especially at
this critical juncture in our history. It is wrong to ruffle Muslim or
any other person's feelings when there is no question of ethics.'

Gandhi urges the advantages of learning Urdu script: 'The limitations
of this script in terms of perfection are many. But for elegance and
grace it will equal any script in the world'. He considers the
potential of Urdu for shorthand, and for the transcription of Sanskrit
verses; any suggestion of a boycott on Urdu script is 'a wanton
affront upon the Muslims of the Union who in the eyes of many Hindus
have become aliens in their own land. This is copying the bad manners
of Pakistan with a vengeance'. The address ends with a ringing call to
'Muslim friends' not only to support the Urdu edition but to learn the
Nagari script and thus 'enrich their intellectual capital'.

British High Commissioner Sir Michael Arthur told the media in New
Delhi on Wednesday that the Indian government hasn't spoken to him on
the issue so far. He admitted it would be difficult for the Indian
government to acquire the letter in the open market.

Desai is not impressed by Christie's attempts at marketing Gandhi's
writings. He says, "We should understand the philosophy of Gandhi.
It's more relevant now. The United Nations has just declared that
October 2 will be observed as non-violence day. After fighting so many
wars the world is coming back to the basics of his philosophy. The
world has lost its battles by resorting to violence."

Clearing the air about the Intellectual Property Rights over Gandhi's
writings Desai said that on February 20, 1940, Gandhi made a will in
favour of Navjivan Trust.

In it he had said, 'I do not believe that I have any property.
Nevertheless, anything which by social convention or in law is
considered mine: anything movable or immovable; books, articles etc
that I have written and may write hereafter, whether printed or not
printed and all their copyright; I endow as my heirs the Navjivan
Institution, whom I hereby declare as my heirs.'

He had also said at the time that Navjivan Trust will give to the
Harijan Sevak Sangh (founded by Gandhi) 25 per cent of the net profit
it earns from the sale of books and exercising its copyright.

Desai, who has been associated with Navjivan Mudranalaya for 50 years,
says Gandhiji's trust, currently headed by Biharibhai Shah, 94, sells
over Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore worth of books every year.

He says all the books are heavily subsidised by the trust's corpus.
Out of the 250 to 300 books in English, Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu
containing Gandhi's writings, columns and letters, the bestseller
remains his autobiography in 12 Indian languages.

The story of my experiments with truth, translated by Mahadev Desai,
is sold even now for Rs 30. The highest selling regional edition is
Malayalam, said Desai.

"You are talking about Christie's letters. Even 59 years after Bapu's
death Navjivan Trust receives letters, postcards and Bapu's belongings
from nooks and corners of India. Poor people without any expectation
of money or reward send us Bapu's writings," Desai said.

He says valuable items are sent to the Gandhi-founded Sabarmati Ashram
on the banks of the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad.

Far away from the world of Christie's, in this ashram, more than
34,011 letters written by Gandhi, all of them digitised, are stored.

In 1954-55, on a request from the government, people had donated
letters, writings and everything connected with Gandhi to the central
government.

With the help of that invaluable contribution around 100 volumes of
the Collected Works of Mahatama Gandhi were produced. Most of the
letters were returned to the senders after taking photocopies, Desai
pointed out.

He said, "Just a few days back I have received a letter written by
Gandhiji from an old man in Surat. He wanted to donate his priced
possession in his old age to the Gandhi Ashram. His letter has now
been sent to the Sabarmati Ashram."

-- 
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
The Goa books blog: http://goabooks.wordpress.com
Goa1556 (alt.publishing.goa): http://goa1556.goa-india.org

From fred at bytesforall.org  Fri Feb 22 03:03:26 2008
From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?=
	=?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:03:26 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Gandhi's copyright expiry ... debate on Wikisource
Message-ID: <8ea78e010802211333v18ace1bao469601979f27abd5@mail.gmail.com>

Oops... some more on the Gandhi copyright debate. This one from
Wikisource. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource_talk:WikiProject_The_Collected_Works_of_Mahatma_Gandhi
They're referring to http://copyright.gov.in/handbook.htm
Accessed on 22Feb2008. FN

* * *

Wikisource talk:WikiProject The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi
>From Wikisource
Jump to: navigation, search

The project page states: "Mahadev Desai who was the personal secretary
of Gandhi died in 1942, so his translations are in the domain public".
Are you sure about this? His translations are in the public domain in
India (unless the source material is not), but because the US doesn't
recogise the law of the shorter term, surely those dated 1923 or later
will not be in the public domain in the US (?) --82.69.202.14 14:10,
13 September 2007 (UTC)

    Your claim that the US would not recognise shorter term is purely
idle speculation. That alone is a very poor excuse for keeping
Gandhi's work from the public. Nevertheless, Gandhi died in 1948, and
his work would not normally go into the public domain in India until
the end of 2008. From what I have read before India does not give
additional rights for translations so we would only need to consider
Gandhi's death as relevant. Before singing the mantra that the US does
not recognize the shorter term, would it not be better to establish
that the estate has standing to make the claim in the U.S.
Eclecticology 16:53, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

        I agree that we should first follow Indian copyright law for
Indian documents. But India does recognize a translation as giving a
copyright, although it is rarely enforced. See [1]. Yann 17:06, 13
September 2007 (UTC)

    Thanks for the reference, but it still does not say that a
translator receives a new copyright. Notably: "Is translation of an
original work also protected by copyright? -- Yes. All the rights of
the original work apply to a translation also." (emphasis mine) would
suggest that Desai (translating with Gandhi's permission) would not
receive a new copyright, but would have his copyright protected under
the terms of Gandhi's own copyright. Where the translator predeceases
the original author the date of his death should have not bearing on
the expiry of the copyright. Eclecticology 17:25, 13 September 2007
(UTC)

        Oh oh, I didn't read it that way. That's very interesting and
it opens a whole lot of works. Obviously, Gandhi's copyright would
last longer than Mahadev Desai if that one exists. Yann 10:05, 14
September 2007 (UTC)



-- 
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
The Goa books blog: http://goabooks.wordpress.com
Goa1556 (alt.publishing.goa): http://goa1556.goa-india.org

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Fri Feb 22 10:46:22 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:46:22 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Folk Medicine Institute
In-Reply-To: <908adbd0802212057p5be73b1bs1e711492930c5699@mail.gmail.com>
References: <908adbd0802212057p5be73b1bs1e711492930c5699@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908adbd0802212116x2e652745u85fe26b32f83b041@mail.gmail.com>

*Date:22/02/2008* *URL:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/02/22/stories/2008022252791200.htm

*Folk Medicine Institute

The Cabinet gave its nod for establishment of the North Eastern Institute of
Folk Medicine at Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, at a cost of Rs 32.88 crore as
an autonomous institute under the Department of Ayush. This decision will
facilitate systematic and comprehensive documentation, presentation and
validation of the folk medicine traditions of the North-Eastern region, an
official statement said.
* *

(c) Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu Business Line
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From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Fri Feb 22 10:47:24 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:47:24 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] India laggard in global patent filings
Message-ID: <908adbd0802212117o75edb7bu275ca9da40ecca8e@mail.gmail.com>

 http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=314652

India laggard in global patent filings

D Ravi Kanth / Geneva February 22, 2008



India has performed poorly in international patent filings last year
compared to its neighbour China, according to data released by the
Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Filing patent applications under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty
(PCT) enables companies to secure patent protection in various
countries.

It is a measure for a knowledge-based economy and a barometer of the
spread of innovation-based companies in each country.

In the global race for knowledge-based industries, WIPO's data clearly
suggest that India is far behind China.

India, for example, filed only 686 applications last year to secure
patent protection in countries that are members of the PCT compared to
831 in 2006.

In the same period China's patent applications grew 38.1 per cent to
reach an all-time high 5,456. China's impressive growth in its
innovation-based companies enabled the Middle Kingdom to occupy
seventh place in the world's top 15 countries.

"We expect India to grow rapidly in life-sciences research, but at
this juncture its considerable research and development activity has
not translated into patent filings,' said Francis Gurry,
deputy-director general at WIPO overseeing the PCT work.

The stark differences between these two big economies are due to the
underlying differences in their overall economic activity. While
software and services dominate the Indian economy, new manufacturing
activities are at the centre of the Chinese miracle, Gurry said.

Until now, the industrialised countries — the US, Germany, Japan,
France, Britain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Canada,
Australia, Finland, and Israel — dominated the global rankings in the
patent filings.

Although many of them continue to occupy leading positions, the
emergence of Korea and China as two leading innovation-driven
economies brought a change in the prevailing rankings.

From prashantiyengar at gmail.com  Fri Feb 22 10:59:23 2008
From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:59:23 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] After-hour relief in porn case
Message-ID: <908adbd0802212129l54c3439fg85991ed37355f8d8@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080222/jsp/bengal/story_8934038.jsp
After-hour relief in porn case
OUR LEGAL REPORTER

Calcutta, Feb. 21: Calcutta High Court today said what a government
employee does after work is his personal business, ordering the
reinstatement of a peon forced to retire for allegedly watching blue
films at home.

Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya also directed the state judicial
department to give Mentu Sheikh his salary arrears since 1992, the
year he was told to take compulsory retirement from the Midnapore
district judge's court.

The judge said Sheikh could not be penalised as "his offence, if any,
had been committed after office hours".

Appearing for the state, advocate Gouri Mukherjee argued that Sheikh
had violated Rule 8 of the Bengal Services (Classification, Control
and Appeal) Rules.

But Bhattacharya said the case would not come under the purview of the
rules as neither Sheikh's neighbours nor police had lodged any
complaint against him.

From neelabadami at gmail.com  Mon Feb 25 07:40:37 2008
From: neelabadami at gmail.com (Neela Badami)
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:10:37 -0800
Subject: [Commons-Law] The cellphone novel.
Message-ID: <809df90c0802241810i706327a3gb4af78ff902be15d@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2
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From the.solipsist at gmail.com  Mon Feb 25 19:24:47 2008
From: the.solipsist at gmail.com (Pranesh Prakash)
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:24:47 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Delicious ironies
Message-ID: <4785f1e20802250554x779099bfj7158a67c944a7173@mail.gmail.com>

Dear all,
The past few days have seen quite a few funny, idiotic, and scary happenings
in the world of copyright.  A few of them have been:

1. Wikileaks judge gets Pirate Bay
treatment<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/21/wikileaks_bulletproof_hosting/print.html>.
Same in the Wired blog Threat
Level<http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/cayman-island-b.html>
.
2. Conservative copyright minister accused of breaching copyright
law<http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hSnVNds9j2JFf98PnPbEoDf0Y6lA>
3. Sex, copyright, and videotape. Gene Simmons tries to stop a fake sex tape
by use of copyright law, from:
TMZ<http://wwww.tmz.com/2008/02/21/gene-simmons-to-sex-site-suck-my-copyright/>.,
TheCelebrityCafe.com <http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/14046.html>
Surprisingly enough, Edison Chen recently did the same thing in Hong Kong a
few days back (with the difference that his photos are real).  But the
Western press doesn't seem as interested in that story.

1. The whistle-blower website Wikileaks (which played host to the leaked
Gitmo manual) got dragged into a copyright controversy by Julius Baer Bank &
Trust, leading to a US judge passing an extremely broad *ex
parte*injunction<http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/Dynadot-injunction.pdf>against
it (and all people who provide it support).  The above story from
*The Register *makes clear just how out of date/tune judges (even those in
the US) are with the way the internet works.  Once again, it raises issues
of jurisdiction in this electronically-shrunk world, along with issues
(im)possibility of censorship and confidentiality on the internet.

So far all it has led to is the Wikileaks.org entry being removed from the
internet's virtual telephone directory (but the telephone itself is still
working: you just have to dial http://88.80.13.160/wiki/Wikileaks).  Mirrors
of the site at wikileaks.in, wikileaks.be, and a host of other places are
still active.

2. In some delicious irony, Jim Prentice, the copyright-expander-wannabe
Canadian minister recently showed just how easy it is to become a copyright
criminal.

---------------------
OTTAWA - Industry Minister Jim Prentice is pointing the finger at his party
after hosting a Conservative news conference that appears to have breached
the copyright law he is charged with rewriting.

When Prentice rolled out the Tories' latest media campaign last week
demonizing the Liberals for being spendthrifts, he did so to a party video
featuring the soundtrack to "For the Love of Money" - a 1974 hit by The
O'Jays.
One problem: the Conservatives didn't bother to get permission from the band
or from Warner/Chappell Music Inc., which holds the publishing rights to the
song.
Both the Washington-based lawyer for The O'Jays and Warner/Chappell have
contacted the Conservative party seeking redress.
Attorney Rosalind R. Ray, representing the soul group, has requested a copy
of the Tory video.
Warner/Chappell has also been in contact, said a representative.
The party is playing dumb.
"The Conservative party has not released any ads that contain the music in
question," was the only statement released Friday by spokesman Ryan Sparrow.
The party promotion received widespread Canadian media attention, complete
with O'Jays soundtrack, but does not appear on the Conservative website.
"I can confirm that we sent a letter to the Conservative party of Canada
confirming an unauthorized use of a song by one of our writers," said Amanda
Collins of Warner/Chappell Inc., in New York.
"We're looking forward to working with the party to resolve the matter."
The copyright infringement is particularly embarrassing given Prentice's
role as lead spokesman at the media event.
Prentice is responsible for Canada's copyright law, which merited its own
line in the governing Tories' throne speech, which lays out the government's
plans.
"Our government will improve the protection of cultural and intellectual
property rights in Canada, including copyright reform," said the document.
Prentice said the copyright issue must be dealt with by the party.
"I'm not going to comment," he said. "The party will respond to any
copyright issues that relate to what was being done. There was no ad that
was run, it was simply something that was used in a studio, but the party
will respond to that, not myself."
Prentice had been expected to introduce long-anticipated amendments to the
copyright act before Parliament's winter break in December. But fierce
lobbying from business and consumer groups for less restrictive copyright
rules appeared to back the government off.
Copyright expert Michael Geist from the University of Ottawa said the
apparent Tory party breach illustrates just how easy it is to break
copyright.
"It provides Prentice and the government with a perfect illustration of why
tens of thousands of Canadians, educators, and leading businesses are
calling for greater flexibility in the law and have been deeply troubled by
the rumours of a bill that would make things more restrictive," Geist said
in an e-mail.
"If an individual did something similar - and millions obviously do for
school projects, criticism, or free speech - they face the prospect of a
lawyer's letter that threatens liability for at least $20,000 per
infringement."
*The embarrassing incident, said Geist, should remind Prentice that
"Canadians do not have the kind of creative rights that his government
apparently takes for granted."*
Mark Lynch, a copyright specialist with Warner/Chappell in Los Angeles, said
a political party using a song has to obtain two sets of rights: the master
rights to the original recording and the publishing rights.
Without referring specifically to the Conservative party's infringement,
Lynch said the price of using a song is highly variable.
"Everything is negotiable," said Lynch. "It depends ultimately on if the
administrator thinks that is an appropriate use."

----------------------

Gene Simmons+ Sex Tape = Copyright Infringement?
22-Feb-2008
Written by: Mallory Groff

Gene Simmons may own the copyright to the sex tape that may or may not
actually have him in it.

A sex tape of Gene Simmons and a woman who is not his longtime female
companion or mother of his children has been released on the internet. So
Gene Simmons is doing what any self respecting rock star would, he is suing
for copyright infringement.

According to ABC News, Simmons posted this message on his website on
Wednesday, "You may have heard or seen garbage that has sprung up from my
past. Rest assured the proper legal team is looking at all ramifications and
options."

TMZ claims that Simmons' lawyers are claiming that the website selling the
sex video, genessecret.com, is using face make-up unlawfully. Apparently it
is a Kiss things and that is not involved in the video.

Many reports claim that male in the video may not actually be Simmons but
TMZ reports that Simmons actually has the copyright to the video. He got
wind of it a few years ago and bought the copyright. Simmons was recently
seen on Celebrity Apprentice.
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From k.ravisrinivas at gmail.com  Wed Feb 27 11:37:17 2008
From: k.ravisrinivas at gmail.com (ravi srinivas)
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:37:17 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Dance Ballet-Copyright
Message-ID: <eb75b7990802262207j73139da7o723377c30cc70ccc@mail.gmail.com>

Here is a news published in The Hindu. It is not clear as to whether the
authors had actually applied for and were granted the copyright. Have
copyrights on dance sequences/ dances/ ballets been granted in
India.
ravi srinivas

http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/27/stories/2008022759531000.htm

*Interim injunction on staging of dance ballet made absolute *

**
Special Correspondent

   *U.S. organisation claims ballet was production of the first defendant *

 ------------------------------
*

"Plaintiffs had a prima facie case to show that they were owners of
copyrights therein"

Copyright owner entitled to all remedies by way of injunction, damages and
accounts: judge
*
------------------------------

 CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday made absolute an interim
injunction restraining a U.S.-based cultural organisation and an individual
from staging in any manner a dance ballet "Jaya Jaya Devi."

Lalgudi G. Jayaraman (renowned Carnatic musician) of T. Nagar and Sujatha
Vijayaraghavan and Radha, both of Chennai, filed an application seeking an
interim order of injunction restraining the respondents Cleveland Cultural
Alliance, Ohio, U.S. and A. Lakshmanan of Annanagar here from staging the
dance ballet and infringing their copyrights.

In December last year, an ex parte interim order of injunction was granted.
The plaintiffs also filed an application seeking leave to omit to sue for
damages on the same cause of action. The court ordered notice on this. The
defendants filed an application for vacating the interim injunction.

The plaintiffs' case is that Lalgudi Jayaraman, Ms. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan,
a popular writer and Ms. Radha, a Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer,
joined together and produced the dance ballet in 1994 and performed it in
several centres in the U.S.

They owned the entire copyright over the ballet and they staged it in
several places in India.

The U.S.-based cultural organisation sought assignment of the copyright, but
no agreement could be reached.

In the organisation's website, in the first week of December last year, the
organisation's plans to stage a revival of the dance ballet were publicised.
Hence the plaintiffs' present suit.

The defendants claimed the plaintiffs had no *prima facie* case, since the
ballet was the production of the first defendant. They had paid the
plaintiffs for their services and also spent huge amounts in staging the
performances. The organisation claimed it was a non-profit one which was
interested only in promoting music and arts.

In his order, pending suit, Justice V. Ramasubramanian said a careful
perusal of all documents filed by both sides established that the first
defendant engaged the plaintiffs for creating and composing the operatic
ballet in 1994; that the cultural organisation paid a honorarium and also
reimbursed the expenses incurred by the plaintiffs for travelling and in
staging the performances and that both the parties did not reduce into
writing the terms and conditions, subject to which, they came together for
the ballet's production.

The Judge said it was clear that the plaintiffs were the artists who created
the ballet and that the first defendant paid an honorarium and reimbursed
the expenses for the creation.

But, there was no written agreement between the parties to spell out their
mutual rights and obligations.

The court said it was clear from the language of section 17 of the Copyright
Act that as a matter of general rule, the author of a work was the first
owner of the copyright therein.

The Judge said the plaintiffs, who were authors, had a prima facie case to
show that they were the owners of the copyrights therein.

The first defendant could not establish that the work was produced in the
course of the employment of plaintiffs with them.

Coming to balance of convenience, the Judge said that the copyright owner
was entitled to all remedies by way of injunction, damages and accounts.

The court allowed the plaintiffs' application. It dismissed the application
for vacating the interim injunction. It also allowed the plaintiff's
application seeking leave to omit to sue for damages on the same cause of
action.
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From kalakamra at gmail.com  Thu Feb 28 03:59:36 2008
From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a)
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:59:36 +0530
Subject: [Commons-Law] Announcement: Pad.ma video archive preview | Today
Message-ID: <33eee40c0802271429g4af3124fsce9defd0a737238c@mail.gmail.com>

Dear all, You are invited to:

A Preview of PAD.MA <http://pad.ma/>:
the public access digital media archive.

Thursday, 28th february 2008
6:00pm
Jnanapravaha,
3rd floor, Queen's Mansion,
(Opposite Gallery Chemould)
G.Talwatkar Marg,
Fort, Mumbai-1.
For directions, see:
http://camputer.org/images/jnanaMap.jpg


6:00 pm.
Introductions, and the Collaborative Project: Shaina Anand, Ashok Sukumaran.
The Dominant, the Residual and the Emergent in the Imagination of the
Archive:  Lawrence Liang.
Lost/Found/made Public, Images to Narratives:  Madhusree Dutta.
Introduction to a True History of Digital Video: Sebastian Luetgert,
and Unveiling of pad.ma website with Jan Gerber. 30 mins.

7:30 pm. Interval: Browse through the archive over tea and snacks.

Followed by presentations on:
Legal framework: Namita Malhotra
Practical FAQs, and on how you can contribute: Sanjay Bhangar
Q and A session,  moderated by Bishakha Dutta.


Pad.ma is an online archive of densely annotated video material,primarily
footage and not finished films. The entire collection is text-searchable and
viewable online, and is free to download for non-
commercial use.

We see  Pad.ma as a way of opening up a set of images, intentions and
effects present in video footage, resources that conventions of
video-making, editing and spectatorship have tended to suppress, or leave
behind. This expanded treatment then points to other, political potentials
for such material, and leads us into lesser-known territory for video-based
practices... beyond the finite documentary film or the video clip on
youtube.

The design of the archive makes possible various types of "viewing", and
contextualisation: from an overview of themes and timelines to much closer
readings of transcribed dialogue and geographical
locations, to layers of "writing" on top of the image material.
Descriptions, keywords and other annotations have been placed on timelines
by both archive contributors and users. At the moment,
<http://pad.ma/>Pad.ma has approximately 150 "events" on video, mostly from
Mumbai and Bangalore. This adds up to about 100 hours of fully transcribed
video footage, which we expect to grow to more than 400 hours by early 2009.

The PAD.MA <http://pad.ma/> project is initiated by a group consisting
of oil21.org
from Berlin, the Alternative Law Forum <http://www.altlawforum.org/> from
Bangalore, and three organisations from Mumbai:
Majlis,<http://www.majlisbombay.org/>
Point of View <http://www.pointofview.org/> and chitrakarkhana.net
/CAMP<http://camputer.org/>.


<http://chitrakarkhana.net/>
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