21st September, 2011

Kutchi shawls to get GI status soon

The colorful Kutchi shawls, woven with motifs by artisan communities for past several generations in the Kutch district of Gujarat, is in the process of getting the geographical indication (GI) status.

The Kutch Weavers’ Association (KWA) has filed an application for grant of GI with the Registrar in Chennai, claiming a 500-year-old history associated with the weaving of Kutchi shawls in Gujarat, though they are originally from Rajasthan.

Around 210 villages of Kutch, with nearly 1,200 weavers are involved in the making of these shawls, which are made in acrylic wool, having one bright colour throughout the fabric without any tie-dye and are usually worn in winters. The Kutchi shawls are sold in the domestic markets and are also exported to countries like the US and Europe.


Google acquires 1,023 patents from IBM

Google has acquired 1,023 patents from IBM in an attempt to keep away legal attacks by competitors like Apple and Microsoft. The acquisitions which ranged from mobile software to computer hardware and processes add to the 1,000 patents acquired by the California-based Internet firm from IBM in July this year.

The financial terms of the deal were not made known.

Google has fortified its patent portfolio to counter lawsuits claiming infringement of patented technology in the smart phone market. It recently transferred some patents to Taiwan-based HTC, the Android smart phone maker to facilitate it to pursue patent litigation against iPhone maker- Apple in the United States. HTC has accused Apple of violating three HTC-held patents in its Macintosh computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads and other products.

PGI status for Lough Neagh Eels in EU

Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh Eels, the best eels in the world as considered by the traders and chefs have been granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status under EU law. The European Union has officially accepted the regional importance of the Lough Neagh Eel.

The PGI legislation which offers protection of food names on the basis of a geographical or traditional recipe came into force in 1993. The scheme emphasizes on regional and traditional foods whose authenticity and origin can be guaranteed. A food or drink registered at the European level will be given legal protection against imitation throughout the EU.

The Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Co-operative Society Ltd has achieved this EC approved quality mark for their product. Lough Neagh Eel is the first product from the north of Ireland to be conferred this status. Lough Neagh Eel Fishery is the largest commercial wild eel fishery in Europe.

The fishermen around the Lough maintain the age old practice of rearing fish using traditional methods passed down from previous generations. A PGI would help Lough Neagh Eels in fetching a good price in the European market and get protection against imitators.

Research In Motion and Dolby settle patent lawsuits

Research In Motion, the Canadian smartphones and tablets company has agreed to license audio technologies that were at the core of two lawsuits filed by Dolby Laboratories against the Canadian smartphones company.

Dolby has withdrawn the patent infringement suit against RIM and a license agreement was signed between the two parties. The licensing agreement covers the implementation of the HE AAC (High Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding) standard, including use of Dolby's audio compression technologies in RIM's smartphone and tablet devices. HE AAC, used in smartphones, portable music players, tablets, and PCs, provides digital audio compression, using limited amounts of transmission and storage space.

Via Licensing, a subsidiary of Dolby that licenses patents essential to the HE AAC international standard on behalf of multiple essential patent owners signed the deal. Dolby is anticipating about US$15 million as royalties from RIM, as a result of a licensing agreement between Via and RIM.


Twitter fights for “tweet” trademark

Twitter is suing Twittad one of its third-party developers in its fight to win trademark registration of the term “tweet.”

Twittad, an online advertising service had filed a trademark application for "tweet" as part of the line “Let Your Ad Meet Tweets,” in 2008. Twitter filed a lawsuit last week in a California court seeking cancelation of that trademark, claiming that the phrase would block Twitter from its registration and rightful use of its own mark. Twitter owns the trademarks “retweet” and “cotweet,” but not “tweet.” Several third-party developers have registered the trademark first, though Twitter has been claiming to be the rightful owner of the term.

Twitter manages relationships with developers who own important trademarks and have numerous Twitter users through unique tools, like the Tweetie iPhone app or the TweetDeck message organizer. Twitter has already acquired those companies.

The term 'tweet' relates to a birdsong and has no connection what so ever with web-based social networking and communications services.

EU extends music copyright protection to 70 years

The Council of the European Union has extended the term of protection of the rights of performers and phonogram producers on music recordings within the EU from 50 to 70 years, which means that music performers in Europe will be guaranteed a steady income for their performances during their entire lifetime.

The current term of protection of 50 years does not protect the performances of artists for their entire lifetime and they encounter a gap in earnings.

The new EU directive is set to increase the level of protection of performers by acknowledging their creative contributions. The directive also anticipates measures to ensure that artists who transferred their exclusive rights to phonogram producers benefit from the term extension. The term of protection will expire 70 years after the death of the last person to survive: the author of the lyrics or the composer of the music. This move has been welcomed by the music industry.

The member states of the EU will have to include the new provisions into their national legislations within two years.