[The Post has been authored by SpicyIP Intern Suhani Chhaperwal. Suhani is a third-year law student at NLSIU who loves to write on IP and tech issues. Her previous post can be accessed here.] In an age where delivery apps have taken over the world, quick commerce apps like ZEPTO have set new standards for convenience by delivering groceries in minutes, much like Gen Z’s patience for waiting. Like their app ZEPTO, Kiranakart Tech doesn’t seem to believe in delay ..read more

[This post is authored by SpicyIP intern Anushka Dhankar. Anushka is a third-year student at the National Law School of India University. She is interested in the AI/copyright interface and hopes to pursue a career in IP litigation, with a dash of AI policy on the side. Long post ahead.] As many of you may have read, last December, we saw the first instance of AI hallucination issues assailing administrative orders! The Bengaluru bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ..read more

[This post is authored by SpicyIP intern Anushka Dhankar. Anushka is a third-year student at the National Law School of India University. She is interested in the AI/copyright interface and hopes to pursue a career in IP litigation, with a dash of AI policy on the side.] Recently, a Division Bench (“DB”) of the Delhi High Court (“DHC”) clarified the evolving jurisprudence on ex-parte interim injunctions in ITC v. Adyar Gate Hotels. Hearing an appeal against an injunction against passing ..read more

The Delhi High Court on March 3 granted an interim injunction to PPL against Azure, restraining the latter from playing PPL’s sound recordings in their restaurants. Highlighting Azure’s argument that PPL is not a copyright society and thus, cannot license out these recordings, SpicyIP intern Anushka Dhankar argues that the judgement fails to substantively engage with previous interpretations of different courts on this issue and thus leaves the controversy still unaddressed. Anushka is a third-year student at the National Law ..read more

Benefit sharing of DSI (Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources) has been a long-standing controversial issue between parties of the Biodiversity Convention. After years of negotiations, the 2024-25 Conference of Parties (COP) marked a significant step by establishing a multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism (MLS) in the form of the Cali fund. While there are still questions about the exact scope of DSI, it is generally understood to mean genetic sequences and other related molecular biological data. Achyuth B. Nandan explains the ..read more

Keep up with the ever changing world of IP with SpicyIP’s Weekly Review! A quick glance at last week – finding the real “Burger King” saga continues now at the Supreme Court, ED’s involvement in the Shankar-Tamilnandan copyright case, right to health and compulsory licensing for rare disease medicine Risdiplam. This and much more in this week’s SpicyIP Weekly Review. Anything we are missing out on? Drop a comment below to let us know. Highlights Finding the Real “Burger King ..read more

Who doesn’t love burgers? While burgers in the trademark case Burger King Co. v Anahita & Shapoor Irani excite us for the spicy IP discussions involved, courts in India also seem to express their love for whoppers by taking more than 14 years to settle the dispute. Last week, the Supreme Court bench comprising Hon’ble Justices BV Nagarathna and SC Sharma stayed an order of the Bombay High Court restraining a Pune-based eatery named “Burger King” (“petitioner”) from using its ..read more

The Dhanush – Nayanthara copyright dispute is a gift that keeps giving, with its twists and turns and every development meriting a separate post. To quickly recap, in the first post, we discussed the substantial questions in Copyright law that the litigation raises. In the second post, I covered the order which dealt with jurisdiction and the question of urgent interim relief. This post will cover another fresh procedural development that was reported in the news. Wunderbar, co-owned by Dhanush ..read more

The Supreme Court recently stayed a Kerala High Court DB order directing the Central Government to bear the expenses of one month’s treatment of an SMA patient. Remarkably this is the second such order by the Supreme Court wherein it has stayed a High Court decision asking the government to take positive steps to ensure accessibility of a treatment to patients suffering from rare diseases. Looking at different flexibilities under the Patent Act, like compulsory licensing, government use etc., it ..read more

[This post has been co-authored with Anjali Tripathi. Anjali is a fourth-year law student at JGLS with an interest in IP rights, access to education, and the creative arts. Her previous post can be accessed here.] In a big relief to movie director Shankar, the Madras High Court today stayed the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s decision to provisionally attach his assets worth ₹10.11 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (“PMLA”), 2002. On February 20, the ED released a press ..read more