Overhauling Indian Intellectual Property Rights Regime With Special Reference To Compulsory Licensing

Intellectual Property Laws should be used as a tool to strike a balance between the interests of the creator or inventor and the interests of the public. However, after becoming a signatory to The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which demanded a drastic change in the Indian Patent Regime, and subsequently amending the Indian Patents Act, 1970 in accordance with the Agreement, India has rarely used patents as an interventionist tool for ensuring the welfare of its citizens as well as the citizens of its fellow Third-World Countries. This assertion holds much water regarding the issuance of compulsory licenses. Compulsory licenses are licenses given by a government authority to a third party to use intellectual properties including patents, inter alia, to ensure public welfare. They can be used as a crucial interventionist tool. Though there is a necessity for rendering a large number of compulsory licenses, in the Post-TRIPS era, India has issued only one compulsory license, so far. Hence, it becomes essential to diagnose the problem with the Indian Patent Law Regime pertaining to the issuance of compulsory licenses. Amid the pandemic, this diagnosis becomes more crucial. Keywords: TRIPS Agreement, Compulsory Licensing, Doha Declaration, Intellectual Properties, Patents.

Abortion Questions Answered Differently By Two Common Law Nations: A Comparative Study Of The Abortion Jurisprudence In India And USA

The present study aims to analyze, with the assistance of doctrinal method, the abortion policy of the two common law countries, i.e., USA and India, to identify and examine the points of convergence and divergence. Contrary to the popular presumption that two nations following the same legal tradition would have similar, if not identical, position on most of the matters. This study aims to illustrate how attitude of two nations with same legal tradition may vary depending on a plethora of factors and relate the same to the specific historical event or context that motivated such reformation. Abortion has always been one of the major political, thus very controversial, issue in USA , in the past few decades it has gone under fundamental reformation. Similarly, in India the recent 2021 amendment have brought substantial changes in Indian abortion jurisprudence and reconstructed the same to a towards a more progressive direction. While acknowledging the distinctions in law and its actual practical application, in the following research paper, the researchers will try to bring out distinctions between the abortion law in USA and India, by first briefly summarizing the said two nation's position on the matter and then undertake a comparative analysis of the two jurisdictions on issues like recognition of abortion as a right, decisional autonomy, mandatory counseling, and waiting period, minor consent, spouse consent, rape and incest exception, etc

Psychological Impact Of Domestic Violence On Children And Its Link With Further Victimization And Delinquency

Children raised by a single parent are nonetheless vulnerable to a number of serious and growing challenges. Children who grow up in single-parent households are more likely to drop out of school and become addicted to drugs. Single working parents may miss out on parent–child building since they don't have the time to assist their children. Single-parent children are more likely to have been exposed to a variety of crime-inspiring influences, such as parental conflict and coercion. Single working parents may miss out on parent–child bonding since they don't have enough time to help their children with the intervention of having only one parent there. The goal of this research is to examine the psychological effects of domestic violence on children, to comprehend the influence it has on them, and to determine how these implications lead to juvenile delinquency. Domestic violence is a worldwide epidemic that leads to deviant and delinquent conduct in children regardless of region, ethnicity, or socioeconomic class. This research intends to investigate the aforementioned phenomena in order to recognise child victimisation and hence prevent delinquent behaviour in order to avoid confrontation with the law and subsequent criminality

Restorative Justice as Opposed to Traditional Justice in Case of Children in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, it is seen that hundreds of children are involved in judicial proceedings every year as a victim of a crime or defenseless and in need of legal protection. We need to develop a justice system for children that will be child-friendly. Children are facing new problems in accessing and participating in the justice system due to lockdowns in the traditional justice system and suspension of courts in judicial processes. Confinement measures and rising levels of economic hardship may leave children more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. There should develop a system or process through which children's rights can be protected, the interests of children can be ensured, at the same time protection of children which will reduce the stress of children and they will grow smoothly in nature. But it is believed that restorative justice may reduce ferocity against children, re-oppress helplessness, and threaten the security of the affected child. Then again, restorative justice also may arrange to listen to the victim's story more carefully, through which the opportunity to make blame to victims is less created. This paper aims to test whether restorative justice can be used in the case of child victims or not? If yes, how to do it? Keywords: Restorative justice, children, traditional justice

An Evolution of International Criminal Law Towards Gradual Codification

The International Criminal Law has played a pivotal role in keeping a check on any type of criminal activities taking place on the international level. This paper discusses the evolution with respect to the codification of International Criminal Law. It first looks into the meaning and concept of the law, along with the sources through which it is adopted and codified. It is then followed by the establishment of different institutions with respect to the international criminal law, analysis of the codification of the law, and conclusion and suggestions from the side of the author. Keywords: Codification, Convention, Criminal, Genocide, Tribunal

A Research Study On Live-In Relationships In India

Live-in relationships reflect the choice of two individuals to live together like partners without engaging in the institution of marriage. Years after independence, it is not just the Indian society that discriminates against people entering into live-in relationships but also the Indian legal system, which systematically discriminates between the socially acceptable institution of marriage and the “taboo” practice of being in a live-in relationship. The legal stature of these live-in relationships is rather unsettled and ambiguous. At times, the mindset of the judges sitting on the bench becomes the sole decider of whether the court will grant protection and sanction to a couple living in a live-in relationship or not. Recent judgments delivered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court underscore this very fact. While in one case the Court refused to grant protection to a couple living in a live-in relationship, it granted protection in the other one by pronouncing that the courts should be guided by ‘constitutional morality and not merely by ‘morality’. The term “constitutional morality” was addressed in Manoj Narula vs. Union of India. These judgments prompt us to revisit the scope and extent of Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Furthermore, in K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India, it was held that it should be the discretion of individuals as to how they want to lead their lives and State is only required to guarantee protection to individuals’ autonomy rather than imposing restrictions. Privacy also incorporates the right to live with dignity to fulfil the objective of personal liberty and freedom which are the cornerstone of the Indian Constitution and democracy. This paper discusses the legal stature of live-in relationships, and the decisions of courts in this regard, and argues for a more liberal application of the fundamental right granted under Article 21 of the Indian constitution

Case Comment : D. VELUSAMY v. D. PATCHAIAMMAL, (2010)10 SCC 469

In a country like India where laws are biased towards the preservation of marriage, often at cost of women suffering, it is not surprising that the concept of ‘live-in relationship’ has been always considered unethical and immoral. However, moral policing cannot take away the fundamental rights sanctioned by the Constitution. The case of D. Velusamy v D. Patchaimal decided in 2010, generated a similar debate when the court through its ambiguous moral judgment, limited the scope of the expression ‘relationship in the nature of marriage’ under Section 2(f) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act and equated it with ‘common-law marriages. While the judgment appears to be progressive by recognizing the legality of certain live-in relationships, it ended up disadvantaging the women it seeks to protect. This comment attempts to critically analyse the Velusamy judgment and contends that by limiting the scope of the expression ‘relationship in the nature of marriage’, the court excluded women in a diverse range of cohabiting relationships, especially those who are in fraudulent marriages or are ‘second-wives’ from seeking legal remedies

Protection Of Privacy In A Digital World – Analysing The Right To Be Forgotten In The Context Of The EU

An average internet user in today's world, can search and find any information on the surface web with relative ease. The World Wide Web continues to grow and expand technologically and this has also seen an influx of users. Popular search engines like Google, Bing and, Yahoo! can be accessed across the world by billions of users who can search for any information. While the increasing access to the web is growing, there is also a growth of collection and processing of personal data of internet users who browse several websites. To put a curb on this collection and processing, the European Union (hereinafter, "the EU") had implemented the "Right to be Forgotten" which allows the citizens of the EU to ensure their information is delinked and delisted from websites and search engines respectively. This right however is not absolute in the sense that it does not protect users outside the borders of the EU

A Critical Assessment of India's FDI Policy in E-commerce Sector: Advantageous or Deleterious?

Abstract: The Indian government has followed a protectionist measure while devising FDI policies for the e-commerce sector. The recently launched Draft National E-commerce Policy, 2019, is another step in the same direction. The Research article attempts to lay down arguments for and against the question of whether an unqualified national treatment commitment by India in the FDI in the e-commerce sector is necessary? It attempts to analyze whether the current FDI regime on e-commerce acts like a non-tariff trade barrier, which, according to the WTO, should not be imposed unreasonably or arbitrarily. It also attempts to scrutinize the effects such protectionist measures would cause on the growth of the e-commerce sector of India. It also attempts to explore whether such policy hampers the process of Globalization. The literature currently available on the topic does not analyze all or any of the above-mentioned questions in detail. The conclusions drawn from the research are that though India is not legally bound by WTO to remove such discriminatory policies, and though India is at liberty to not treat foreign investments and domestic investors in the e-commerce sector on the same line, it would be beneficial for the national growth, GDP, Indian consumers and for the process of globalization if India gets rid of such non-tariff trade barriers. Keywords: FDI, E-commerce Sector, Non-tariff Trade Barriers, Globalization, WTO, Trade Principles, national treatment

A Re-consideration of Nationality Planning in Investment Treaty Arbitration: Challenging Fundamental Assumptions and Beyond

Pre-empting an examination of nationality to meet any challenges of jurisdiction ratione personae, multi-national corporations structure their operations in a manner that secures them access to a bi-lateral treaty. The possibilities afforded by the use of a corporate vehicle are distinct from those available to an individual investor and this is reflected in the divergent awards and jurisprudence that follow these claiming entities. The emphasis on the distinction between individuals and corporate bodies has precluded a broader recognition of the accepted principles and assumptions that are common to and should inform any examination of nationality. This observation forms the starting point of this paper. In relation to corporate structures specifically, through multiple awards, dissenting notes and scores of scholarly opinions, much ink has been spilled over nationality planning and yet no settled outcome emerges. The concerns of nationality planning are sometimes reflected in the very BIT under question, arguably ineffectively so, or often arise later before a tribunal that is faced with a specific factual oddity. Tribunals have then navigated through complex structures, and to uphold the purpose and objectives of international treaty arbitration as they define them, have creatively employed the use of doctrines such as the principle of abuse of rights and piercing the corporate veil. On that note, this paper takes a sharp deviation from the mainstream international practice to look at the outliers for a solution, drawing lessons from individual investor decisions and the ramifications of a corporate personality to offer a new approach to address the issue of nationality planning