Indian court uses blog reference
to solve TVS-Bajaj patent issue Soumya Shanker and Malathi Nayak New Delhi: A blog post by a student was instrumental in TVS Motor Co. Ltd’s victory over Bajaj Auto Ltd in their recent legal skirmish over patent infringement issues, setting a precedent for the use of blog content by the country’s courts. In order to understand the complex technologies under consideration, the judges curiously chose to rely heavily on a blog entry by J. Sai Deepak, a final year LLB student from the Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law in IIT Kharagpur. The blog, “Spicy IP India”, deals with issues of intellectual property law. Reliable information? The Spicy IP India blog entry by J. Sai Deepak that was cited by the Madras high court. Last week, the Madras high court allowed TVS to manufacture and sell vehicles with twin spark plug and triple valve engines. This judgement overturned a February 2008 decision by a single judge bench of the same court. The single judge had restricted TVS from producing the 125cc TVS Flame, after Bajaj alleged its patent on twin spark plug engines had been infringed by TVS. A division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyaya and justice Ibrahim Kalifula held that the technology used by TVS was considerably different from the twin spark plug technology patented by Bajaj. In order to establish this difference, the judgement quoted large sections of the blog to explain the distinctive features of both engines. “The distinction made out by the author of the said article is quite appealing and does not conflict with the facts pleaded by the parties before us,” the judgement said. What gave the case significance beyond being just another chapter in the Bajaj-TVS tussle was that it set a precedent for the future use of blogs in courts. Indian courts have traditionally relied only on books and journals whose reputation has been firmly established. Legal experts believe this is the first time a blog has been cited in a judgement by an Indian court. “It was bound to happen at some point. There are two interesting aspects here—one, the reliance in a judgement on an Internet source, and the other, the acknowledgement of the source by the judges,” says Sumeet Malik, associate editor at Lucknow-based Eastern Book Co. that publishes reports on Supreme Court cases. “There have been certain instances where print materials have been cited without acknowledging the authors.” _________________________________________________________________ More than messages–check out the rest of the Windows Live™. http://www.microsoft.com/india/windows/windowslive/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
