A.Sinha & Associates, Advocates

  THE INTERNATIONAL GAMES & ESPORTS TRIBUNAL & RIOT GAMES DISPUTE RESOLUTION INITIATIVE   1.        Introduction The International Games and Esports Tribunal (IGET) is an independent, not-for-profit body that resolves disputes within the global video game and esports industries. Established by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), IGET offers mediation and arbitration services for issues related to contracts, intellectual property, economics, and competition. Its mission is to provide a transparent, fair, and accessible process for resolving conflicts while supporting industry growth.   2.       Purpose Mediation and arbitration in gaming and esports provide faster, cost-effective, and confidential alternatives to court, helping resolve disputes like commercial and IP issues through expert-led processes. IGET offers specialized services...

  In the recent trend of photos being transformed to Ghibli Art –  The United States Supreme Court's decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith , dated May 18, 2023 sheds important light on focusing on “fair-use” in copyright Case Background: Lynn Goldsmith took a copyrighted photograph of Prince in 1981. Vanity Fair obtained a one-time license to use the photograph as an artist reference for an illustration. Andy Warhol created the "Prince Series," including "Orange Prince," based on Goldsmith's photograph. In 2016, AWF licensed "Orange Prince" to Condé Nast for a magazine cover commemorating Prince. Goldsmith claimed copyright infringement, and AWF argued fair use. Legal Issue: Whether AWF's commercial licensing of "Orange Prince" to Condé Nast constituted fair use under the first factor of 17 U.S.C. §107: "the purpose a...

In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court quashed PMLA proceedings against D K Shivakumar relying on an earlier order passed in November 2023 in the case of Pavana Dibbur.  So what was the Pavana Dibbur Case :  CASE ANALYSIS PAVANA DIBBUR -Vs- DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 2779 OF 2023 Issues at hand: 1.   1.  Whether the name of the appellant not being included in the charge sheet make him a part of the offence under the Prevention of Money laundering Act? 2.   2.  Whether the properties purchased by the accused persons are covered under the definition of proceeds of crime? 3.  3.  Whether an offence under section 120B IPC can be treated as a scheduled o ffence even if the criminal conspiracy alleged is to commit an offence which is not a part of the schedule and whether section 3 of PMLA can be attracted after the commission of the schedule offence? FACTS OF THE CASE: The Appellant had been charged in a complaint filed by the ED ...

    The UK Supreme Court has held that for the purposes of the UK Patents Act, 1977 patent rights can be conferred only to a “natural person” and not to any machine as in the present case which is claimed to be the inventor by the name of “DABUS” acting autonomously and powered by Artificial Intelligence.    Case :  Thaler (Appellant)  - vs -  Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (Respondent)   Coram :  Lord Hodge Lord Kitchin Lord Hamblen Lord Leggatt Lord Richards   Brief Facts :   Dr Stephen Thaler filed two applications in October and November of 2018 (“The Applications”) to grant patents for what he claimed were inventions for “new and useful devices and methods”. The applications were filed under the 1977 Act (“The Patents Act”) and the grant forms (“The Grant Forms”) were attached to them. Dr Thaler stated that he was not an inventor and that he was the owner of a machine named DABUS (“DABUS”) which acted a...

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) notified the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023 on 30.11.2023 which aims to curb misleading practices that trick users into making choices they originally did not intend to make. The guidelines prohibit all platforms offering goods or services in India, advertisers, sellers to engage in any kind of dark pattern practice.   “ Dark Patterns ” have been broadly defined by the CCPA in the said guidelines as any practices or deceptive design patterns using user interface or user experience interactions on any platform; designed to mislead or trick users to do something they originally did not intend or want to do; by subverting or impairing the consumer autonomy, decision making or choice; amounting to misleading advertisement or unfair trade practice or violation of consumer rights. The following practices have been specified in the said guidelines to provide guidance and better understanding of the guidelin...

    REAL ESTATE UPDATE Issue: Whether stamp duty and registration fees payable on an immoveable property (purchased through court-sale) is required to be assessed on the purchase consideration as per the Sale Certificate issued by the Court or as per the basis of the market value assessed by Registering Officer independently?  Reply: The Supreme Court by a common Judgement in the matter of :  (i) Civil Appeal No.8281 of 2022 - SLP (C) 21405 of 2010 - Registrar of Assurances & Anr. -Vs- ASL Vyapar Pvt. Ltd. & Anr.  With (ii) CIVIL APPEAL NO.8282 OF 2022 -  SLP (C) No. 22197 of 2010   has held that that in case of a public auction monitored by the court, the discretion would not be available to the Registering Authority/Registering Officer under Section 47A of the Act.   Analysis The Appeals before the Supreme Court have been preferred by the Registering Authority of the State of West Bengal against the judgment dated 13.05.2010 in W.P....

Developed by Latham Watkins, DLA Piper in association with  16z Crypto (US Venture Capital Firm Andeersen Horowitz). These are a set of 6 licenses that can be adopted by NFT artists, creators, developers as per individual requirement while putting up their work on the public domain. For long, Creative Commons - CCO has catered to a wide range of creators from being adopted to Flickr, Wikipedia, etc.  Now that web3 innovations are testing the limits of traditional legal frameworks, it’s time for a new set of licenses, designed specifically for non-fungible tokens, or  NFTs . The recent wave of  CC0 (no-rights reserved) NFT projects , for example, has spotlighted the Creative Common’s most permissive agreement, but prominent creators (including record-smashing graphic artist  Beeple ) have used some form of CC license for years, while other NFT projects choose different customized terms. However, many NFT projects omit licenses altogether, or draft licenses that c...