GENERAL IPR
KOHINOOR FOODS SIGNS JV WITH MCCORMICK
Rice exporter Kohinoor Foods has signed a joint venture with McCormick, a US-based spice maker for marketing of 'Kohinoor' branded basmati rice and other food products in India.
McCormick would invest about Rs 516 crore (USD 115 million) for 85 per cent stake in the JV, named, Kohinoor Speciality Foods India Pvt. Ltd. Kohinoor Foods would have 15 per cent stake in the venture. A modern factory for packaged food products with 275 employees will function to source, process and package basmati rice and other food products.
This is McCormick's third investment in India aiming to accelerate growth of the US spice maker in the Asia/Pacific region. The completion of the agreement is expected later in 2011 subject to regulatory approvals in India.
BIODIVERSITY
HYDERABAD TO HOST UN CONVENTION ON BIODIVERSITY
Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh capital will host the 11th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the sixth meeting on the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety from 1-19 October 2012. Environment Ministers and Forests Ministers of about 194 countries International organizations like World Bank and ADB will be attending the Conference.
India will be hosting the largest international conference ever at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). This Conference would benefit the State by boosting tourism, providing an opportunity for exhibition of handicrafts and forest based products and it will put Hyderabad on the international map as the declarations from the conference would be known after the city.
The CBD is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and impartial sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is a subsidiary agreement to the Convention. It seeks to protect biological diversity from the impending risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. Till date, 159 countries plus the European Union have ratified the Cartagena Protocol.
The slogan for the CoP-11 is 'Prakruthi Rakshathi Rakshita', which means 'Nature protects if she is protected'.
COPYRIGHT
DELHI MAN HELD FOR COPYRIGHT VIOLATION
Vinod Kumar Sharma, a 51-year-old man was arrested in south Delhi’s Green Park for copyright violation. He was earlier allotted a contract for photocopy work at the AIIMS in the year 1992 and his contract expired in 1998.
This experience as a photocopy machine attendant at a hospital helped him to set-up a thriving business of copyright infringement. A search on his residence in Green Park’s X block yielded pirated medical books, both imported and Indian, and infringed material stored on CDs estimated to be worth more than Rs 10 lakh. He used to photocopy expensive original medical science books and sold them to medical students and doctors at relatively lower prices.
An attorney, specially-appointed by some Delhi-based publishing houses notified this matter to the police. Arrested under the copyright act, Sharma used to supply these books to several other adjacent states also.
TRADEMARK
GOOGLE SUED FOR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT
Google the search engine giant has been sued by Isys Technologies, a patent management firm claiming trademark infringement.
Isys Technologies claims that the terms Chromebook and Chromebox, the brand names of devices that use Google Chrome OS are copied from its Chromium PC brand.
The lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the District of Utah in Salt Lake City, sought a temporary restraining order that prevents Google from marketing devices based on Chrome OS as 'Chromebook' and 'Chromebox' that are to be launched on June 15.
ISYS said it holds patents for the Xi3 Chromium computer and filed a trademark registration for ChromiumPC with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last June. Isys which claims to have been using, marketing, promoting and selling ChromiumPC Modular Computers for more than 18 months, has also named Google's partners Amazon, Acer, Samsung and BestBuy, in the lawsuit.
ASIA PACIFIC AND TUI CLASH OVER ‘TUI’ TRADEMARK IN NEW ZEALAND
Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd.’s DB Breweries unit has requested New Zealand’s high court to permit the registration of its trademark for Tui beer in several categories.
Beer giant DB Breweries had approached to the High Court over a trademark dispute with Tui, a German tourism company with the same name as one of DB’s beers. DB produces and sells the popular Tui beer since 1889. The German company holds several trademark registrations under that same name.
The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) recently rejected DB’s application to register trademarks under the Tui name in several new categories and also rejected DB’s application to have four of Tui AG’s trademarks registrations revoked.
PATENT
SKYPE SUED FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT IN US
Skype Technologies, the Internet video phone company was sued by Via Vadis, a Luxembourg company alleging infringement of two patents for accessing and managing data in computer systems.
Via Vadis in the complaint filed in the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware has sought unspecified damages from Skype. It is claimed that Skype peer-to-peer VOIP communications systems, methods, products and services infringe Via Vadis’s patent rights. Earlier Skype was advised of infringement of Via Vadis’s patented technology.
Via Vadis had filed a similar lawsuit in Luxembourg in April after settlement talks with Skype failed. Via Vadis also sued Skype in Germany in January over a patent and filed a request with authorities in Luxembourg to inspect Skype’s offices. Skype’s request of the search order is still pending.
Microsoft has acquired Skype for $8.5 billion, which has 170 million active users, to connect the Internet calling service to its Outlook e-mail, Xbox game console, Windows mobile phone and corporate-phone software.
