GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION

GI TAG FOR SURAT'S ZARI CRAFT

The centuries-old 'Zari' making craft of Surat district in Gujarat has been granted Geographical Indication (GI) status by the Geographical Indication Registry in Chennai. A GI tag guarantees that no person or entity other than those registered as authorized users would be allowed to use that particular product name for their product.

The grant of GI to one of the oldest industry dating back to the 16th century in Surat - Zari craft would prevent others from duplicating this craft linked to the fluctuating prices of gold and silver from which it is made.

'Zari' mostly used in traditional Indian garments, is a thread made of fine gold or silver wire which is woven into fabrics, mostly made of silk to create elaborate designs.

The Textile Committee of FICCI and the Surat 'Zari' industry in their effort to protect this craft from infringement had filed an application to obtain GI status in 2009. The 'Zari' produced in Surat goes to Varanasi and other places in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and is used to manufacture the world famous 'Banarasi sarees' and 'Kanjivaram' sarees.

GI STATUS FOR SCOTCH WHISKY IN PANAMA

Scotch whisky has been granted geographical indication (GI) protection status by the government in Panama, to safeguard against illegal labeling of other alcoholic beverages as Scotch whisky. The GI status would provide legal protection to Scotch whisky distillers against any imitation.

A British trade association, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) had applied for 'Scotch Whisky' to be registered and protected as a 'geographical indication of origin' (GI) in May 2010.

This registration guarantees protection by the local enforcement authorities, supporting the integrity of Scotch whisky as a product made in Scotland according to traditional practice.

Panama is Scotch whisky's 20th largest export market, with consignments amounting to nearly £42 million in customs value in 2009. Recently the Chinese government had granted the same protection status to Scotch whisky.

PATENT

GOOGLE SIGNS DEAL TO TRANSLATE EUROPEAN PATENTS

Google Inc., the search engine giant has signed an agreement with the European Patent Office (EPO), to use its technology to translate about 1.5 million patent documents into 29 European languages. This deal would make way for a simplified European patent system making it easier and more accessible to inventors and researchers from across the continent. The EPO has 38 member countries. This agreement would cut the huge translation fees incurred by the Commission as it is 10 times more expensive to apply for a patent in Europe than in the United States.

Google would now have access to a large number of patents which have already been translated into different languages and help the company in improving its machine translation technology, which learns languages by comparing translations that have already been carried out by experts. The Google translation service will be featured on the EPO website.

TRADEMARK

CENTRAL PARK AND INDIABULLS FIGHT OVER TRADEMARK

Central Park, a Delhi-based real estate developer has filed a case against Indiabulls Real Estate in the Delhi High Court over trademark infringement for using the Centrum Park brand to promote its properties.

The developer claims that Indiabulls is using the ‘Centrum Park’ trademark in its projects under the 'Indiabulls Real Estate Central Park' brand name at Hyderabad, Indore, Madurai, Ahmedabad and Gurgaon, which is misleading and very similar to 'Central Park'.

The High Court had asked Indiabulls to file a reply by November 15, which Indiabulls failed. The court has set December 20 as the next date of hearing. Central Park has approached the Delhi High Court to restrain Indiabulls from developing, marketing and selling any housing and real estate project as Centrum Park or Central Park.

Gurgaon-based Sweta Estates, which owns and operates both commercial and residential projects under the 'Central Park' brand name, had registered the mark in 2005.

GENERAL IPR

THOMSON REUTERS ACQUIRES Pangea3

Thomson Reuters has acquired Pangea3, a legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider. Pangea3 headquartered in New York and Mumbai offers legal services for corporate and law firms worldwide, including some of the world's largest financial services, pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and beverage, technology and consumer goods companies.

This possession would support and add to the Thomson Reuters portfolio of specific information and workflow solutions, and in the process assist law firms and corporate legal departments by selling information, software and workflow solutions to legal professionals.

This is the second acquisition by Thomson Reuters in India in the legal arena. In 2009, a Delhi-based legal database firm IndLaw Communications was bought by Thomson. The global news and business information company already has a legal division called Reuters Westlaw.

COPYRIGHT

CANADIAN MUSICIANS REQUEST FOR PRIVATE COPYING LEVY ON MP3 PLAYERS

More than 350 Canadian musicians, including Marie Denise Pelletier, Divine Brown, Amy Sky, Jason McCoy, Farber Drive, and Carole Pope, are urging the Canadian government to impose a levy or tax on MP3 players.

The Toronto-based Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) seeks to extend the private copying levy applicable on blank CDs at present to music players. Canadians shell out 21 cents as a levy for each blank CD, 24 cents per audio cassette and 29 cents per recordable CD.

According to the CPCC nearly 1.3 billion songs are copied onto MP3 players in Canada each year and none of the Canadian artists get any returns for the infinite number of copies made of their music.

Canada's private copying levy charges the manufacturer of recording media an amount that is distributed 66% to authors and publishers, 18.9% to performers and 15.1% to record companies. A levy on MP3 players as sought by the artists amounts to $5 to $75 per unit.