From the archives- Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co Patent Dispute
ROTTEN APPLE SUES JUICY PEAR
THE INNOVATORS
Welcome AI! - The Indian Government’s Ambitious Policy Proposal
Healthcare, Education, Smart Cities and Transportation Identified as Key Sectors
Visit to Asian Law School
On Thursday, 23 November 2017, Biju K. Nair (Executive Director) and Sukarn Singh Maini (Counsel) visited Asian Law School to teach law students about practical aspects of being a lawyer and our work on protecting your digital freedoms.
Revised CRI Guidelines – Ambiguity replaces certainty
The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks has published the modified Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions (CRIs) by office order dated 30-6-2017. The revised Guidelines have done away with the three-stage test to determine patentability of CRIs. This section was intended to provide the examiners a clear method to examine patent applications.
SFLC.in at FSMK Camp 2016
Free Software Movement of Karantaka (FSMK) organizes annual week long technical camps for students, with a special emphasis on Free & Open Source Software (FOSS), its significance, benefits, and contribution towards an internet ecosystem that is free (as in Freedom) and accessible to all. SFLC.in was a proud co-organizer of the FSMK Camp, 2016 held from 18th to 24th July, 2016 and had the opportunity to conduct workshops with the young students on the broad themes of privacy, creative commons, and software patents.
Don't listen to the IT giants: Eben Moglen
The Indian government has rightly rested its Digital India initiative on a series of measures to liberalise the economy. One of those measures of free-market wisdom, however, the usual government-cheering section suddenly seems to be irrationally against.
Comments on DIPP Discussion Paper on Standard Essential Patents and Their Availability on FRAND Terms
Following a sudden surge in IPR litigation surrounding Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) in the last year, (around eight suits were filed by Swedish multi-national Ericsson alone, another three by Vringo Infrastructure. Read more here) the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) recently released a "Discussion Paper on Standard Essential Patents and Their Availability on FRAND Terms".
Joint letter to the Department of Commerce expressing concerns over software-patent-friendly clauses in the RCEP
Indian law on patentability of computer programmes is abundantly clear in that Section 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970 explicitly excludes computer programmesper se, mathematical methods and algorithms from patent protection. Moreover the recent Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions released by the Patent Office on February 19, 2016 ensure that patents are granted only to those inventions where a computer programme is claimed in conjunction with novel hardware. This eliminates the possibility of frivolous patents being granted in the field of software in India.
A quick history of CRI Guidelines in India
On February 19 2016 the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade marks (Indian Patent Office or IPO) issued a revised set of Guidelines for Examination of Computer-Related Inventions ('CRI Guidelines)'. The Guidelines come two months after the previous CRI Guidelines, released on 21 August 2015, were put in abeyance following severe criticism from various stakeholders.
Press Release: Indian Patent Office Says No to Software Patents
The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks has issued an order dated February 19, 2016 publishing the revised Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions. The current guidelines are in tune with the provisions in the Patents Act, 1970 (as amended).
