National Conference on Building Next Practices on Intellectual Property (IP) Management, 15-16 July 2010, Hotel Taj Krishna, Hyderabad

A national conference on IP is being held at Hotel Taj Krishna, Hyderabad, India in the month of July. Below is the information about the conference:-

Overview:

The national conference on building next practices on Intellectual Property (IP) management organized by The confederation of Indian Industry and Andhra Pradesh technology Development and Promotion Centre(APTDC) aims to take stock of the current scenario and adopt the next practices of IP management around the world, build an national and international network of professionals interested in the development of the nascent field of IP management as well as propose strategies for fostering the development of IP management best practices in India.

Background:
Intellectual Property has become a key consideration in day to day business decisions. IPR is an essential tool for achieving competitiveness in today’s business environment.

Many new products and services developed by companies and organizations embody different types of Intellectual Property (Patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights, trade secrets etc.). Companies need to dedicate resources and time for Creation, Protection and Management of Intellectual Property in order to achieve & sustain competitiveness at the market place.

While acquiring IP protection is an important initial step, effective Intellectual Property management means more than protecting a company’s Intellectual Property. It actually involves, in addition to protecting companies’ inventions, a company’s ability to commercialize its inventions, market its brands, license the know-hows, transfer technologies, conclude JVs and monitor & enforce IPRs. Leading companies and organizations increasingly consider Intellectual Property management as part of overall business plan and use it effectively in driving the business strategies.

The Need:

To be Competitive in Global environment, especially as the business is becoming Technology focused, it is necessary for the Corporates to align IPR and IP management in their business strategy so that they are under no threat of “Litigation “or “Infringement” Issues.

Creativity & Innovation are the essential ingredients to be nurtured if we plan to create more wealth out of Intellectual Property. It is important that there are proper mechanisms to identify invention to finally convert them into tangible assets for Corporate. This Mechanism can be triggered if the environment is conducive for IP Promotion, Identification & Protection. These three steps of channelising IP into Business is IP management.

IP has emerged as a key driver for building and sustaining competitive advantage in the contemporary knowledge economy. Policy advisors and decision makers regard IP as a means for promoting creativity and innovation and economic development. Firms view IP as a valuable corporate asset and a strategic business tool. Recent research indicates that over 50% of the value of many business organizations is attributed to IP. Increasing significance of IP is forcing business organizations to actively manage IP.

IP management education and research is in a nascent phase. Most business schools and faculties of management science have no IP management education and research programs. Furthermore, there is presently an acute shortage of resources (text books and case studies) and resource persons (lecturers and professors) on this subject. Although the number of research papers presented at the Academy of Management and similar meetings have been steadily increasing over the past years there is still much work to be done to integrate IP as part of mainstream management discipline.

What should be the research agenda in the field of IP management? How should academics and managers deal with the ever changing world of IP including ongoing developments at the national and international level? How do we bring together the disciplines of IP and management in a coherent manner which meets the test of rigor and relevance?

IP management has emerged as a major area of business competence. It has become as important as understanding innovation, technology, marketing, finance, corporate governance, industrial economics and strategy.

A level Playing field has to be set to channelise IP management for Wealth Creation Opportunities. In the same context Confederation of Indian Industry and APTDC is organising this National conference with an objective to :

Objectives of the National Conference:

• Develop an understanding of the basic concepts of IP management and learn about recent developments and next best practices in this field.
• Shape the future of IP management in India among Industry and Academia
• To provide a forum to learn implications of various important tools of Management of Intellectual Property Rights for enhancing competitiveness.
• Create a platform for Industry and Institutes to collaborate in this important Mission
• To share best Practices through case studies from leading corporates and Institutions.
• Establish linkages and partnerships with IP management professionals, teachers and researchers in the Country.

Important Technical Sessions to be covered:

• IPR’s and their strategic relevance: an overview
• Integrating IP with Management
• Role of IP Management in Enhancing Business Competitiveness
• Managing IPRs: Internal Assessment of Technology
• IPR’s Valuation, licensing and strategic alliances
• Management of IP : inter and intra-organizational issues
• Issues Relating to Commercialisation of IPRs
• Managing IPRs: Role of Networks and Strategic Alliances
• Developing a Road Map for the next best practices on IP Management

Who can Partner/Sponsor with us:

Law firms, Industry, Academic and Research Insitutions, Corporates, Government Agencies.

Who Should Atttend?

This conference will be beneficial to IP managers; consultants and professional who wish to shape the future of IP management Representatives from government agencies, including IP offices, business associations, chambers of commerce and other bodies with an interest in the subject of IP management education and research will also find the program useful.

This conference is also designed for professors, researchers and administrators and faculties of management science who seek a working knowledge of IP management with a view to launching educational and research programs in this emerging field.

Faculty:

Eminent IPR experts from the country and abroad, Policy makers and Practitioners will be invited to make presentations and share their experiences.

PROGRAMME CALENDER:

Date: 15-16 July 2010

Venue: Hotel Taj Krishna, Hyderabad
Timings: 9 AM - 6 PM (Both days)

Contact:

Kamaraju Chitrapu: 98492 39783(M), c.kamaraju@cii.in

Subhajit Saha: 98483 04423, s.saha@cii.in

Confederation of Indian Industry Andhra Pradesh Technology Development & Promotion Centre

I-II-252/9. Plot No.7, II Floor, Regal House, Motilal Nehru Nagar,

Begumpet, Hyderabad – 500 016, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Tel: 91 40 27765837/835/832, Fax: 91 40 27765836

The event information and reply form can be downloaded here

Call for Papers: RDI-NALSAR Conference On Legal Aid to Secure Land Rights to the Rural Poor: Role of Government, NGOs and Paralegals

In keeping with one of the objectives so stated in the concept note, Rural Development Institute in collaboration with NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad is going to organize a National Conference on “Land, Poverty and Legal Aid Ensuring Secured Land Rights to the Rural Poor: The Role of Paralegals and Legal Aid” on April 10th & 11th, 2010 at NALSAR campus. As far as the rationale behind this conference is concerned, the discerning individuals are hereby requested to refer to the “Concept note”.

For participating or presenting papers in the conference, participants would have to fill in the registration form available at www.nalsarlawuniv.ac.in. If you wish to present a research paper in the conference, do kindly submit your abstract along with the registration form. The criterion for presenting the paper in the conference would be based on short-listing of selective abstracts by the selection committee and only the authors of the selected abstracts would be allowed to present the same in the conference. Thereafter, a month’s time will be given to the author for submitting the full-length paper and the papers so presented may be published in the form of a Book in due course of time.

For Event Webpage Click here

For details of the Call for Papers, Click here

For Registration form of the Conference, Click here

Draft Press Note 2010

Department of Industrial Policy and Procedures, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India has issued a 66 page draft Press Note of 2010 on the subject “FDI Regulatory Framework”. The press note was posted on the DIPP’s website and comments were invited on the same. The draft press note can be found here

By: Manish Sharma, LL.M. (International Trade and Business Laws), NALSAR.

E-mail: msharma28@gmail.com

One Day National Workshop on ‘SAARC Trade Relations: Legal Issues and Challenges’

South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in 1985 by the Seven Member Countries of South Asia. In 2007, the membership increased to 8 with Afghanistan joining in. The M.K. Nambyar SAARCLAW Centre at NALSAR University of Law, established in 2003 is one of its kinds in the entire country in terms of its objectives. It has its own well equipped building for conducting lectures, conferences, meetings, moot courts, research and other activities. It has credible Fellowship Programmes with special emphasis on Post Graduate education and also Training Programmes for Law Teachers/Law Officials/Judges of SAARCLAW Region. One of the primary objectives of the Centre is to hold annual SAARCLAW conferences and conduct Research Projects on various legal issues concerning the SAARC region.

In furtherance of its mandate objective, the M.K. Nambyar SAARCLAW Centre has planned a one day national workshop on “SAARC Trade Relations: Legal Issues and Challenges”. The Workshop will be held on Saturday, 20th February, 2010 at the M. K. Nambyar SAARCLAW Centre, NALSAR University of Law, Justice City, Hyderabad.

The workshop is for a healthy discussion and debate on steps that need to be undertaken strengthening the economic cooperation within the region also focusing on SAARC’s role in the development of International Trade. The tentative themes of the Workshop shall be:

1. Rules of Origin (RoO) in the SAARC Region
2. Trade Barriers
3. Most Favoured Nations Treatment within the SAARC Region
4. Dispute Settlement Mechanism under SAPTA/SAFTA
5. SAARC’s Approach Towards WTO Issues
6. Informal Trade in the SAARC Region
7. Principle of Reciprocity and Non-reciprocity in SAPTA/SAFTA

This Workshop will explore the legal-cum-economic aspects of the SAARC and will provide a platform for discussion and aims to point towards possible outcomes to strengthen the legal cooperation and capacity building among the Member Countries.

Contact to participate: saarclawcentre@gmail.com

Website: www.saarclawcentre.org

India and Anti-dumping Laws : General-1

It is a matter of fact that India was a founding member of GATT 1947 and is also a founding member of WTO that came into existence on 1^st January, 1995. Under the WTO regime the GATT 1994 has been recognized as one of the important agreements on trade in goods which is more or less similar to GATT 1947 with few necessary amendments. WTO Member States concluded other separate agreements also which were the part of GATT 1947. ‘Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994’, commonly known as the ‘Agreement on Anti-Dumping’ is one such agreement.

India had committed to implement this agreement into its domestic law as part of a single undertaking. Sections 9A, 9B and 9C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 as amended in 1995 and the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995 framed there under, form the legal basis for anti-dumping investigations and for the levy of anti-dumping duties. These laws are based on the Agreement on Anti-Dumping which is in pursuance of Article VI of GATT 1994.

Section 9A (1) says that where any article is exported from any country or territory to India at less than its normal value, then, upon the importation of such article into India, the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, impose an anti-dumping duty not exceeding the margin of dumping in relation to such article.

Further it states that margin of dumping is the difference between the product’s export price and its normal value. The normal value is the comparable price at which the goods under complaint are sold, in the ordinary course of trade, in the domestic market of the exporting country or territory. The export price of goods imported into India is the price paid or payable for the goods by the first independent buyer.

Paragraph 2.1 of Article 2 of the Agreement on Anti-dumping says, “For the purpose of this Agreement, a product is to be considered as being dumped, i.e. introduced into the commerce of another country at less than its normal value, if the export price of the product exported from one country to another is less than the comparable price, in the ordinary course of trade, for the like product when destined for consumption in the exporting country.”

In both the definitions following are the essential factors:

1. Export price less than Normal Value
2. Like Product
3. Material Injury to the Domestic Industry or Producers
4. Dumping Margin

If all the above factors exist then it is directly a case of dumping. And against that dumping, the Government of India can impose or levy anti-dumping duties to mitigate the material injury but to the extent of dumping margin or injury margin.

To be continued...

For an interpretation of the Anti-Dumping Agreement, kindly visit: WTO's website

By: Manish Sharma, LL.M. (International Trade and Business Laws), NALSAR.

Contract of Sale of Goods

The United Nations Convention for Contract of Sale of Goods (CISG); and Indian Sales of Goods Act, 1930

The Convention of International Sale of Goods, 1980 does not apply to India since it is not a signatory to the same. Therefore, by the virtue of it, the rules of this international convention, do not apply in case of a purchase or a sale agreement with an Indian entity. And thereby, the domestic laws of the country (India) will have applicability to such agreements
The Sale of Goods Act, 1930 applies in such a case and therefore, the seller as well as the purchaser would be governed by the provisions of the Act.

A. Common Features

	Convention on Contract of International Sale of Goods (CISG, 1980)	Indian Sales of Goods Act, 1930
Rights, Duties, liabilities and Obligations of Buyer and Seller	Provisions for seller are given in chapter II of the part III from articles 30 – 44. With regard to buyer, chapter III of part III from articles 53-60 is relevant.	Rights and Duties of the seller and buyer are given in chapter IV performance of contract. They are more or less same as given in the UN Convention. And further chapter V states about the rights of unpaid seller against the goods
Suit for Breach	In both the cases it will depend on the agreement between the parties that any dispute they refer to the court of law or the arbitration
Remedies in case of Breach	In case of breach by the seller, articles 45 -52 are relevant and in case of breach by the buyer articles 61 - 65 are relevant.	Remedies in case of breach are available for the parties in chapter VI of the Act. One party can sue another for the damages in case of breach by latter.
Indemnity	In both the cases it shall depend on the nature of the agreement and the intention of the parties to the contract. And in case of the transaction includes transportation also
Fixation of price of the goods	In both the document the, provisions for determination or fixation of price are wide in nature. Parties can fix it according to their interest and the nature of the goods in question by the contract or it may be determined in the course of dealing in future.	Sections 9 & 10

B. Provisions that make difference

	CISG, 1980	Indian sales of Goods Act, 1930
Third party claim	Articles 41-44 deals with third party claim. It says that the seller must not deliver the goods over which any third party is having any right or claim.	The Indian Act, is silent about this kind of provision
Auction Sale	Article 2 excludes the sale by auction from the applicability of the Convention	Whereas Indian Act provides the Auction Sale in section 64.
Agreement	The CISG provides only general contractual terms in relation to Contract of Sale of Goods	Whereas the Act clearly gives the meaning of Contract of Sale of Goods and Agreement to Sell and the future or contingent conditions
Damages	Damages have been given in Articles 74-77 of the Convention which are somehow fix in nature and according to the value of the goods in question or dispute	The aggrieved party may sue for the damages and in that case the court or the tribunal shall decide the amount of damages
Exemption	The Convention provides exemptions in case of any circumstances beyond the parties’ control

C. Provisions about which both the documents are silent

The provisions about which both the documents are silent are:

1. Mistake
2. Misrepresentation
3. Fraud

In case where Indian Law is the applicable law, the above three provisions, about which the International Convention is silent, will be dealt by the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

But if the International Convention is the Governing Law of the Agreement or Contract, the land law of the particular country will be applicable, wherein the proceedings of the court or arbitration are going to be held.

In certain cases, the applicable law shall be the law of the land according to the interest of the parties or the law of the land with that the parties and the agreement is having closest connection.

Continued in the second issue…

Contributed by:- Manish Sharma, LL.M. II year, NALSAR, Hyderabad.

Email: msharma28@gmail.com

'Softwares':Things to know

Difference between the Box Packed Software and Software Downloaded directly from Internet
With Internet becoming a necessity, softwares have also become inevitable. Everybody of us use or have used some kind of software. A Software is a program designed to perform some specific task in a computer; for example: Operating system (Windows XP, Windows Vista), Document processing (MS Words), Database Management – DBMS – (MS Excel, MS Access, Oracle), Presentation (MS PowerPoint), Photo Editing (Adobe Photoshop), Document Reader (Adobe Acrobat Reader), Antivirus and Firewall and so on. It is a help to the hardware and without softwares, hardware cannot perform the essential functions.

Software usually comes in two forms:
1. Type 1 Software: Software available in a shop or a Mall or from a vendor or from a reseller, which comes in a “Box Packed Type” and usually such softwares are written/burned on a CD/DVD. But these can be stored in a Flash/Pen Drive or on a media which the purchaser obtains in a “Hard Copy Format” i.e. on a CD/DVD, Flash/Pen Drive or on Floppy/Hard Drive, etc.

2. Type 2 Software: Softwares available on the internet fall in this category. Such Softwares can be obtained by downloading it directly from the internet. The seller or the reseller in this case had uploaded that software on his FTP server, which can be located anywhere in the world. There can be a plethora of FTP Servers and the same software can be available on different “Mirror” FTP Servers at different places all over the world. Such software does not come in a “Hard Copy” format and the user downloads such software directly on to his computer Hard Drives.

We use a plenty of softwares without even realising the difference between the above stated two different types. We think that software which is available in the shop (in Hard Copy Format) is the same as the software which is available over the internet and can be downloaded directly from the internet. However, there is a great difference between the Type 1 and Type 2 Software in both commercial and legal sense.

The Type 1 Softwares are generally categorised as “Products” or “Goods” and the Type 2 Software are generally categorised as “Services” in Commercial and legal sense.

The Type 1 Software is traded as “Goods” and follows all the principles and laws relating to “Sale of Goods” in legal and commercial sense.

The Type 2 Software is traded as “Services” and follows the principles and laws relating to “Trade in Services” in legal and commercial sense. The “Services” also includes the Software “Updates” and “Upgrades”.

The “Updates” available on the internet are those softwares which come in “Patches” and are meant only to update the existing software which a user has already installed in his system. By updating, the version of the software does not change, but it becomes “up-to-date”. These upgrade the existing software to a higher version. The user has a choice of buying a new version of software directly from market or “upgrading” the existing software to the latest version of that software. The version of the software changes while upgrading. For Example: “Norton Antivirus 2006” is “updated” to achieve the latest definition of virus databases, the version is not changed, while “Norton Antivirus 2006” can be “upgraded” to achieve “Norton Antivirus 2008”. The user has a choice that he can buy a new and fresh “Norton Antivirus 2008” from market/internet or he shall “upgrade” it from existing “Norton Antivirus 2006” to achieve the “Norton Antivirus 2008”. Usually the Upgrade options are preferred by the users as the costs of the upgrades are always less than the fresh and new software.

The License Agreement (LA) Factor
Every genuine software comes with a License Agreement (LA). Though the software works in almost similar way, even then the Licence Agreement pertaining to Type 1 and LA pertaining to Type 2 is totally different. It can be observed by reading the License Agreement or the “Digital Contract” attached with both types of software. “Digital Contract” is the Contract of use of software which is in digital form. Almost all of us have seen such “Digital Contract” while installing the software, where a dialogue box opens and the user has to “read” it and “print” it and the software can only be installed if the user selects “I Agree” or “Accept”, but if the user selects “I Disagree” or “Reject”, the installation of the software fails. Such types of “Digital Contracts” or “Licence Agreement” are normally known as “End User Licence Agreement” (EULA).

The EULA pertaining to Type 1 software are related to softwares termed as “Goods” and the EULA pertaining to Type 2 are related to softwares termed as “Services”.
For Type 1 Software, the Digital Contract or EULA as it being a Standard Contract comes with a print outside the package or the box of the software. The reason for this is that, the EULA being in digital form, the user must read and know about it at the time he purchases it and not at the time he starts using it. After he buys the software and uses it for the first time, even if he disagrees with the EULA clause which is usually asked from the user when using it for the very first time, then he cannot return the purchased ‘Box’ Software, because he has already opened the Box or the packing material containing the software and only after agreeing to the License Agreement. Therefore, the EULA has to be printed on the outmost covering of the box software, for the purpose that the customer can read the EULA in printed form and can decide whether he agrees or disagrees with the EULA, thereby making his decision whether to purchase the software or not.

Whereas, for a Type 2 Software, the EULA is digitally available just before/near the “Download Link/Button”, from where the downloading can be started. Because of this, the customer who intends to purchase and download the software can read and understand the EULA, thereafter making his decision whether to purchase or not accordingly.

The Taxation and Other Factors
In India, Type 1 and Type 2 softwares are taxed in different ways. Type 1 is taxed as Goods and all taxes, direct or indirect, are levied on Type 1 as Goods i.e. customs, excise, octroi, VAT, etc. are all levied on Type 1 considering it as “Goods”. While Type 2 are taxed as Services and the “Service Tax” as and when applicable is levied.
Some other factors like the Warranty issues pertaining to the two classified softwares are also different. Type 1 softwares being “Goods”, such software carries a warranty with all the terms and condition of warranty. Type 2 softwares being “Services”, such softwares do not have any warranty because warranty is a virtue of “Goods” and not of “Services”.

The above difference is made clear under the UNCTRAL Model law relating to Digital Contract and e-commerce whereby the effort has been made to make e-commerce between countries and individuals easy and less complicated in terms of Taxation, Warranty and Licence Agreement.

Contributed By: Rameet Verma, LL.M., International Trade and Business Laws, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
Email: verma.ramit@gmail.com