BRMK557

Model Question Paper-2 with effect from 2022(CBCS Scheme)

Fifth Semester B. Tech Degree Examination
Research Methodology and Intellectual Property Rights

MODULE-1

Q.1)

a) What are the key ethical issues related to authorship? Explain each one.
➔ ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO AUTHORSHIP

Academic authorship involves communicating scholarly work, establishing

priority for their discoveries, and building peer-reputation, and comes with
intrinsic burden of acceptance of the responsibility for the contents of the work.
There are several important research conduct and ethics related issues connected
to authorship of research papers as described by Newman and Jones as follows:

1) Credit for research contributions is attributed in three major ways in research

publications: by authorship (of the intended publication), citation (of previously
published or formally presented work), and through a written acknowledgment
(of some inputs to the present research). Authorship establishes both
accountability and gives due credit. A person is expected to be listed as an author
only when associated as a significant contributor in research design, data
interpretation, or writing of the paper.

2) The primary author dubiously bestows coauthor ship on a junior faculty or a

student to boost their chances of employment or promotion, which can be termed
as Career-boost authorship.

3) unfortunate malpractice of co authorship that can be described as “Career-

preservation authorship” wherein a head of the department, a dean, a provost,
or other administrators are added as Coauthors because of quid pro quo
arrangement wherein the principal author benefits from a “good relation” with
the superiors and the administrator benefit from authorship without doing the
required work for it.

4) Sometimes, an actual contributor abstains from the list of authors due to

nondisclosed conflict of interest within the organization. Such coauthor ships can
be termed as ghost coauthor ship.

Q.01)

b) What are the three broad categories of developing and accessing Knowledge in
research? Explain with a diagram.

➔ The ways of developing and accessing knowledge come in three, somewhat

overlapping, broad categories:
(i) Observation is the most fundamental way of obtaining information from a
source, and it could be significant in itself if the thing that we are trying to
1
SQ
 observe is really strange or exciting, or is difficult to observe. Observation
takes different forms from something like measurements in a laboratory
to a survey among a group of subjects to the time it takes for a firmware
routine to run. The observational data often needs to be processed in some
form and this leads to the second category of knowledge, the model.

(ii) Models are approximated, often simplified ways of describing sometimes

very complex interactions in the form of a statistical relationship, a figure,
or a set of mathematical equations. For instance, the modeling equation
captures the relationship between different attributes or the behavior of
the device in an abstract form and enables us to understand the observed
phenomena.

(iii) The final category is a way of arranging or doing things through

processes, algorithms, procedures, arrangements, or reference designs, to
get a certain desired result.

The categories of knowledge as enumerated are

Good research involves systematic collection and analysis of information

and is followed by an attempt to infer a little bit beyond the already
known information in a way that is a significant value addition.
Engineering research is a journey that traverses from a research area
(Example: Control Systems),
to the topic (example: Control of Microbial Fuel Cells)
and finally onto the problem (example: Adaptive Control of Single
Chamber Microbial Fuel Cells)
(Area → Topic → Problem).
Getting a good problem to solve is more than half the work done.

2
SQ
Q.02)

a) Explain Fabrification, Falsification and Plagarism related to engineering Research.

➔ Engineering research should be conducted to improve the state-of-the-art of

technologies. Research integrity encompasses dealing fairly with others, honesty about
the methods and results, replicating the results wherever possible so as to avoid errors,
protecting the welfare of research subjects, ensuring laboratory safety, and so forth. In
order to prevent mistakes, peer reviews should take place before the research output is
published.

There may be different types of research misconduct as described, which can be

summarized as follows:

• Fabrication (Illegitimate creation of data): Fabrication is the act of conjuring

data or experiments with a belief of knowledge about what the conclusion of the
analysis or experiments would be, but cannot wait for the results possibly due to
timeline pressures from supervisor or customers.

• Falsification (Inappropriate alteration of data): Falsification is the

misrepresentation or misinterpretation, or illegitimate alteration of data or
experiments, even if partly, to support a desired hypothesis even when the actual
data received from experiments suggest otherwise.

Falsification and fabrication of data and results, hamper engineering research

and cause false empirical data to percolate in the literature, wreck
trustworthiness of individuals involved, incur additional costs, impede research
progress, and cause actual and avoidable delays in technical advancement.
Misleading data can also crop up due to poor design of experiments or incorrect
measurement practices.

• Plagiarism (Taking other’s work sans attribution): Plagiarism takes place when
someone uses or reuses the work (including portions) of others (text, data, tables,
figures, illustrations or concepts) as if it were his/her own without explicit
acknowledgement. Verbatim copying or reusing one’s own published work is
termed as self-plagiarism and is also an unacceptable practice in scientific
literature. The increasing availability of scientific content on the internet seems
to encourage plagiarism in certain cases, but also enables detection of such
practices through automated software packages.

Q.02)

b) Discuss the different types of engineering research. Clearly point out the Differences
between all of them with examples.

➔ TYPES OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH

3
SQ
 (i) Descriptive versus Analytical:
• Descriptive research includes comparative and co relational methods, and
fact-finding inquiries, to effectively describe the present state of art. The
researcher holds no control over the variables; rather only reports as it is.
• Descriptive research also includes attempts to determine causes even
though the variables cannot be controlled.
• On the contrary, in analytical research, already available facts for analysis
and critical evaluation are utilized. Some research studies can be both
descriptive and analytical.
(ii) Applied versus Fundamental:
• Research can either be applied research or fundamental (basic or pure)
research.
• Applied research seeks to solve an immediate problem facing the
organization, whereas fundamental research is concerned with
generalizations and formulation of a theory.
• Research concerning natural phenomena or relating to pure mathematics
are examples of fundamental research.
• Research to identify social or economic trends, or those that find out
whether certain communications will be read and understood are examples of
applied research.
(iii) Quantitative versus Qualitative:
• Quantitative research uses statistical observations of a sufficiently large
number of representative cases to draw any conclusions.
• While qualitative researchers rely on a few non representative cases or
verbal narrative in behavioral studies such as clustering effect in
intersections in Transportation engineering to make a proposition.
(iv) Conceptual vs. Empirical:
• Conceptual research is that related to some abstract idea(s) or theory.
• It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or
to reinterpret existing ones.
• On the other hand, empirical research relies on experience or observation
alone, often without due regard for system and theory.
• It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions which are capable of
being verified by observation or experiment. We can also call it as
experimental type of research.

4
SQ
 MODULE-2

Q.03)

a) Explain the various steps involved in the critical and creative reading process.

➔ CRITICAL AND CREATIVE READING:-

• Reading a research paper is a critical process. The reader should not be under
the assumption that reported results or arguments are correct. Rather, being
suspicious and asking appropriate questions is in fact a good thing.

• Have the authors attempted to solve the right problem? Are there simpler
solutions that have not been considered? What are the limitations (both stated
and ignored) of the solution and are there any missing links? Are the
assumptions that were made reasonable? Is there a logical flow to the paper or is
there a flaw in the reasoning? These need to be ascertained apart from the
relevance and the importance of the work, by careful reading.

• Use of judgmental approach and boldness to make judgments is needed while

reading.

• Flexibility to discard previous erroneous judgments is also critical.

• Additionally, it is important to ascertain whether the data presented in the

paper is right data to substantiate the argument that was made in the paper and
whether the data was gathered and interpreted in a correct manner.

• Critical reading is relatively easy. It is relatively easier to critically read to find

the mistakes than to read it so as to find the good ideas in the paper. Anyone who
has been a regular reviewer of journal articles would agree to such a statement.

• Reading creatively is harder, and requires a positive approach in search. In

creative reading, the idea is to actively look for other applications, interesting
generalizations, or extended work which the authors might have missed? Are
there plausible modifications that may throw up important practical challenges?
One might be able to decipher properly if one would like to start researching an
extended part of this work, and what should be the immediate next aspect to
focus upon.

Q.03)

b) What are the key features of the bibliographic database of the Web of Science (WoS),
and how is it commonly used in research?

➔ BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASES

• Bibliographic databases refer to abstracting and indexing services‖ useful for

collecting citation-related information and possibly abstracts of research articles
from scholarly literature and making them available through search.

5
SQ
 • Performing simultaneous searches through such large databases may allow
researchers to overtly rely on any one database and be limited by the intrinsic
shortcoming of any one of them for quality research.

• A researcher should be able to quickly identify the databases that are of use in
the idea or problem that one wishes to explore.

Web of Science

• Web of Science (formerly known as ISI or Thomson Reuters) includes multiple

databases, as well as specialized tools.

• It is a good search tool for scholarly materials requiring institutional license

and allows the researcher to search in a particular topic of interest, which can be
made by selection in fields that are available in drop down menu such as title,
topic, author, address, etc.

• The tool also allows sorting by number of citations (highest to lowest),

publication date.

• Put quotes around phrases, add more keywords, or use the Refine Results‖
panel on the left to narrow down the search by keyword, phrases in quotation
marks, type of material such as peer-reviewed journal articles, date, language,
and more.

• Cited reference search option enables a researcher to trace articles which have
cited a formerly published paper. Using this element, it is possible to find how a
familiar idea has been applied, improved, or extended subsequently.

• A structured search like this that enables narrowing and refining what one is
looking for is effective to ensure that the results throw up relevant sources and
time spent in studying those is likely to be well utilized.

• Based on the researcher‘s need the search result can be broadened or narrowed
down using the built-in fields provided in this website.

• When clicked on any of the search results, this website provides the title of the
paper, authors, the type of journal, volume, issue number and year of
publication, abstract, keywords, etc., so that the researcher has enough
information to decide if it is worthwhile to acquire the full version of the paper.

Q.04)

a) What types of citations fail to achieve their goal and do not benefit the reader?
Explain.

➔ • There are certain cases when references do not fulfill the actual goal of citations
and acknowledgments, and thus do not benefit the reader.

6
SQ
 i) Spurious citations: In certain cases, when citation is not required or an
appropriate one is not found, if the author nevertheless goes ahead with
including one anyways, it would be considered as a spurious citation.
ii) Biased citations: When authors cite the work of their friends or colleagues
despite there being no significant connection between the two works, or when
they do not cite work of genuine significance because they do not wish to give
credit in the form of citation to certain individuals, then such actions can be
classified as biased citations.
iii) Self-citations: There is nothing wrong in citing one‘s prior work if the citation
is really relevant. Self-citation of prior papers is natural because the latest
paper is often a part of a larger research project which is ongoing.
iv) Coercive citations: Despite shortcomings, impact factors remain a primary
method of quantification of research. One side effect is that it creates an
incentive for editors to indulge in coercion to add citations to the editor‘s
journal.

Q.04)
b) Explain the most common styles for citation used by engineers during research, and
provide an example.

➔ STYLES FOR CITATION

• Citation styles differ primarily in the order, and syntax of information about
references, depending on difference in priorities attributed to concision,
readability, dates, authors, and publications.

• Some of the most common styles for citation

7
SQ
 MODULE-3

Q.05)

a) Discuss the Design registration procedure of patent by using a flowchart.

➔ PROCESS OF PATENTING:-

i) Prior Art Search - Before an inventor embarks upon the patent filing
process, he has to ensure that his invention is ‘novel‘ as per the criterion
for the grant of a patent. For this, he has to check whether or not his
invention already exists in the public domain.
ii) Patent Application Forms As per the Patent Act, 1970 (Section 39) and the
Patents Rules, 2003 (Rule 7, 54, 135 and sub- rule (1) of rule 20, the
application for the grant of patent is filed using Form-1 and Form-2.
iii) Jurisdiction of Filing Patent Application - India has four offices for filing
patent applications. The applications can be filed only in one of the offices
based on the applicant ‘s residence or domicile or place of business or
origin of the invention. These are termed as jurisdictions to file patents.
iv) Publication - Once the patent application has been filed at the Regional
Patent Office, the patent application is kept secret for 18 months in the
Patent Office. After the expiry of 18 months (from the date of filing of the
application or the priority claimed date, whichever is earlier), the
application is published in the Official Journal of Patent Office

8
SQ
 (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/journal- patents.htm). The purpose of
publishing the application is to inform the public about the invention. The
publication of an application is a mandatory step.
v) Pre-grant Opposition - If anybody has an objection to the invention
claimed in the patent application, he can challenge the application by
approaching the Controller of Patents within 6 months from the date of
publication. It is termed as Pre-grant Opposition. Depending on the
outcome of the case, the patent application may be rejected or
recommended for the next step, i.e. patent examination.
vi) Examination - Patent examination is a critical step in the process of grant
of a patent. All the important criteria (novel, inventive step, etc.) are
scrutinized by the professionals depending on the content of the invention.
Usually, the examiner raises certain queries/doubts which need to be
addressed by the inventors. Once the examiner is satisfied with the
answers received from the inventors, the application is recommended for
the grant of a patent. It is pertinent to mention that a patent application is
not examined automatically after clearing the publication stage. The
applicant or his representative has to make a request for examination of
the patent by filing Form-18A and submitting the same within 48 months
from the date of filing of the application.
vii) Grant of a Patent - After fulfilling all the requirements for the grant of a
patent, including all objections/queries raised by the ‘Patent Examiner
and the public at large, the patent is granted to the applicant. The granted
patent is published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office. This
journal is published every Friday and contains information related to
patent applications published under section (u/s) 11A, post-grant
publication, restoration of patent, notifications, list of non-working
patents and public notices issued by the Patent Office.
viii) Validity of Patent Protection The patent protection is granted to an
applicant for a limited period, generally 20 years, starting from the date
of filing of the application. Once a patent is granted for an invention in
India, the next vital step is to ensure that it is renewed annually by paying
Patent Renewal Fee as per Section 53, Rule 80 of the Indian Patents Act,
till the expiry of the patent grant period. Non-payment of Patent Renewal
Fee might result in the cancellation of the patent.
ix) Post-grant Opposition Once the patent has been granted by the Patent
Office, it still can be challenged by anyone within one year from the date
of publication of the grant of the patent. The granted patent can be
challenged either via a Patent Office or in a Court of Law.

9
SQ
 Q.05)

b) Discuss the history of Intellectual Property Rights in India.

➔ HISTORY OF IP IN INDIA:

• The history of the Indian patent system dates back to the pre
independence era of British rule. The first patent related legislation in
India was Act VI of 1856, adapted from the British Patent Law of 1852.
The objective of this legislation was to encourage the inventions of new
and useful manufactures.

• At the beginning of the 20th century, all the earlier Acts related to
inventions and designs were done away with the introduction of ―The
Indian Patents and Designs Act‖ 1911 (Act II of 1911).

• As per this Act, the governance of patents was placed under the
management of the Controller of Patents. In the next three decades, many
amendments were introduced for reciprocal arrangements with other
countries for securing priority dates. These amendments dealt with;

o Use of invention by the government.

o Patent of Addition.

o Enhancing the term of the patent from 14 years to 16 years.

o Filing of Provisional Application and submission of Complete

Application within 9 months from the date of filing the application.

• Keeping the national interest in mind, recommendations were made in

1949 as a modification to existing ―The Indian Patents and Designs Act‖.
And those recommendations are as follows

o Misuse of patents rights needs to be prevented.

o There must be a clear indication in the Act that food, medicine

and surgical and curative devices should be made available to the
masses at the cheapest rate by giving reasonable compensation to
the owner of the patent.

o Amendments in Sections 22, 23 and 23A of the Patent and Design

Act, 1911 on the lines of the UK Patent Act.

• These recommendations were introduced in the Act XXXII of 1950.

• Two years later, another amendment (Act LXX of 1952) was made to
provide compulsory licensing of patents related to food, drugs and
chemicals killing insects and microbes. Based on these amendments, a bill
was presented in the parliament in 1953 but was rejected. • In 1957 a

10
SQ
 committee was constituted and the committee submitted its report to the
government in 1959. It comprised of two segments addressing.

o General aspects of the patent laws, and

o Bill rejected back in 1953.

• The revised patent legislation was submitted to the Lok Sabha in 1965.
After many hiccups, clarifications and modifications the Patents Act,
1970.

• In 1999, The Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999 was introduced providing

for the filing of applications for ‗Product Patents‗ in the areas of drugs,
pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.

• The new Patent Act also included provisions for the grant of Exclusive
Market Rights (EMRs) for the distribution and sale of pharma products
on fulfillment of certain conditions. The second amendment to the 1970
Act was made through the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act 38 of
2002). This Act introduced new Patent Rules, 2003, thus replacing the
earlier Patents Rules, 1972.

• With the rapidly changing scenario of IPR at a global level, a need was
felt to further amend the Patent Act, 1970. The highlight of the Patents
(Amendments) Act 2005 were:

o Product patent for inventions in all fields of technology.

o New forms of known substances excluded to prevent ever

greening of the patent.

o Rationalization of the opposition procedure.

o Introduction of pre-grant opposition by representation.

o Introduction of post-grant opposition.

o Compulsory license for export purposes.

o Compulsory license for manufacture.

o Extension of grace period from 6 months to 12 months for filing
a patent, if published in government exhibition.

11
SQ
Q.06)

a) What strategies are involved in the commercialization of a patent?

➔ COMMERCIALIZATION OF A PATENT:

• The patent owner may grant permission to an individual/organization/industry

to make, use, and sell his patented invention. This takes place according to
agreed terms and conditions between the involving parties.

• A patent owner may grant a license to a third party for the reasons mentioned
below:

o The patent owner has a decent job e.g. university professor and has no
desire or aptitude to exploit the patent on his own.
o The patent owner may not have the necessary manufacturing facilities.

o The manufacturing facility is not able to meet the market demand.

o The patent owner wishes to concentrate on one geographic market; for
other geographical markets, he may choose to license the patent rights.

• Once the patent is granted, the patentee (person holding the rights to the
patent) enjoys the exclusive rights to use the patented invention.

• Only the patentee has the right to license or deal with the patent for any
deliberations. Although, the validity of the granted patent is for 20 years (from
the date of filing a patent application), but the patentee is required to furnish
information (Form-27), on an annual basis relating to the
commercialization/selling of the patent. It is called as Working/Licensing of the
Patent.

• The licensing of a patent can be exclusive or non-exclusive.

• In an Exclusive License, the patent is sold to only one individual/organization

for a fixed time period. During this time period, no other person or entity can
exploit the relevant IP except the named licensee.

• In Non-Exclusive License, a patentee can sell his patent rights to as many

individuals/parties as he likes. If the patentee is not able to commercialize his
patent within three years from the date of the grant of a patent, any person may
submit an application to the Controller of Patents for grant of Compulsory
Licensing (of the patent), subject to the fulfillment of following conditions:
o Reasonable requirements of the public concerning the patented
invention have not been satisfied.
o The patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonable
price.

12
SQ
 o The patented invention is not worked in the territory of India,

Q.06)

b) What are utility models, and how do they differ from patents?

➔ UTILITY MODELS:

• In many cases, a new invention involves an incremental improvement over the

existing products, but this technical improvement is not sufficient enough to pass
the stringent criterion of Novelty and Non-obviousness set aside for the grant of
a patent. Such small innovations can still be legally protected in some countries
and termed as ‗Utility Models‘ or ‗Petty Patents‘ or ‗Innovation Patents‘.

• In this case, the criterion of Novelty and Non-obviousness are diluted or

relinquished. But the requirement of industrial application or utility is the same
as that for patents.

• Utility Model is a helpful tool for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME) since the grant of a Utility Model is usually less rigorous and involves
minimal cost.

• MSMEs do not have deep pockets to carry out intensive R&D leading to the
grant of patents. But their innovations are good enough for improving their
products/processes and bringing more financial rewards. Such inventions pass
the requirements set aside for Utility Models but not for patents.

• The life of the Utility Model is less as compared to the patents. It varies from 7-
15 years in different countries.

• Nearly 80 countries, including France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, China,

Finland, Russian Federation and Spain, provide protection for Utility Models
under their IPR laws.

• India till date does not recognize utility patents. If these small patents are
recognized under IP protection in India, it will catapult the number of patents
(filed and granted) on annual basis.

13
SQ
 MODULE-4

Q.07)

a) Explain the process of copyright registration? What are the benefits for the copyright
holders?
➔

• It is not necessary to register a work to claim Copyright. Once a work is created

via any medium, the work receives automatic Copyright safety.

• In other words, there is no formal request to be submitted to the office of the

Copyright, for acquiring Copyright.
• Copyright registration does not confer any rights. It is merely a prima facie
proof of an entry in respect of the work in the Copyright register maintained by
the Registrar of Copyrights.

14
SQ
 • The certificate of registration serves as prima facie evidence in a court in cases
of disputes relating to ownership or creation of Copyright, financial matters,
transfer of rights, etc.

• It is advisable that the author of the work registers for Copyright for better
legal protection. In India, Copyrights matters, including Copyright registration,
are administered under the Copyright Act, 1957 and Copyrights Rule, 2013.

Q.07)
b) Explain by using flowchart, steps involved in trademark registration?
➔

• The steps involved in the registration process are as follows:

• After the prior art search has been conducted, the applicant can apply for the
registration on his own or with the help of a certified agent.

• The application is assigned an application number within a few days. (The same
can be tracked online at
https://ipindiaonline.gov.in/tmrpublicsearch/frmmain.aspx.)

15
SQ
 • The application is scrutinized by a professional examiner. If everything is in
order, the particulars of the application are published in the official Trademark
journal (http: //www.ipindia. nic.in/journal-tm.htm). Otherwise, he will send the
objections to the applicant for rectification. Based on the satisfactory response,
the examiner would recommend the revised application to be published in the
journal. If the application is rejected, the applicant may approach the
Intellectual Property Division to challenge the rejection of an application by the
examiner.

• Once the Trademark is published in the official journal, the public has an
opportunity to file an objection, if any, within 90 days. After hearing both the
parties, the officer decides whether to proceed further for the grant of
Trademark or disallow the grant of Trademark. In case of unfavorable outcome,
the applicant has the right to contest the decision in front of the IPAB.

• Once the application has successfully completed all formalities, a Trademark

registration certificate is issued in the name of the applicant.
Q.08)

a) Explain the criteria that an original work must meet to quality for copy right
protection?

➔ CRITERIA FOR COPYRIGHT:

• To qualify for Copyright protection, a work must exist in some physical (or
tangible) form.

• The duration of the existence of the physical form may vary from a very short
period to many years.

• Virtually any form of expression which can be viewed or listened to is eligible

to qualify as Copyright. Even hurriedly scribbled notes for an impromptu speech
are considered copyrightable material.

• The Copyright work has to be expressed by the creator in his frame of thought.
In other words, the work has to be original i.e. the author created it from
independent thinking void of duplication. This type of work is termed as an
Original Work of Authorship (OWA). It may appear similar to already existing
works but should not be the same.

• The original work may lack quality or quantity or aesthetic merit or all these
parameters; still, it will pass the test of copyrightable work.

• In addition to originality for the work, Copyright protection also requires at

least some creative effort on the part of the author.

• There is no minimum limit for the extent of creativeness. It is a subjective

matter. The minimal level of creativity needed for Copyright protection depends

16
SQ
 on the judgment of the evaluator (adjudicated by the Office of Registrar of
Copyright).

• As an example, mere changing the dimensions of a book will not be granted

Copyright protection. Similarly, an address book of alphabetically arranged
telephone numbers does not qualify for Copyright protection as it involves a
straightforward alphabetical listing of phone numbers rather than a creative
selection of listings.
Q.08)

b) What are the roles and functions of the copyright board and the copyright Society in
administering copyright laws and regulations?

➔ COPYRIGHT SOCIETY:

• Many a time, authors and other owners of Copyrights are either unable or lose track
of all the uses of their work, including the collection of royalties, infringement issues,
etc. To overcome these hurdles, Copyright Societies have cropped up.

• As per Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957, a Copyright Society is a registered

collective administration society formed by authors and other owners of the Copyright.

• Society can perform the following functions:

o Keep track of all the rights and infringements related to their clients.
o Issue licenses in respect of the rights administered by the society.

o Collect fees in pursuance of such licenses.

o Distribute such fees among owners of Copyright after making deductions for
the administrative expenses.

• A Copyright Society can be formed by a group of seven or more copyright holders.

The term of registration of a Copyright Society is for five years. The registered
Copyright Societies in India are:

o Society for Copyright Regulation of Indian Producers for Film and Television
(SCRIPT) 135 Continental Building, Dr. A.B. Road, Worli, Mumbai 400 018, (for
cinematograph and television films).
o The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRSL), 208, Golden
Chambers, 2nd Floor, New Andheri Link Road, Andheri (W), Mumbai- 400 058
(for musical works).

o Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) Flame Proof Equipment Building,

B.39, Off New Link Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai 400 053 (for sound
recordings).

17
SQ
COPYRIGHT BOARD:

• The Copyright Board is a regulatory body constituted by the government, to perform

judicial functions as per the Copyright Act of India.

• The Board comprises of a Chairman and members (2-14) to arbitrate on Copyright

cases. The Chairman of the Board is of the level of a judge of a High Court. As per the
Act, the Board has the power to:

o Hear appeals against the orders of the Registrar of Copyrights.

o Hear applications for rectification of entries in the Register of Copyrights.

o Adjudicate upon disputes on the assignment of Copyrights.

o Grant compulsory licenses to publish or republish works (in certain

circumstances).

o Grant compulsory license to produce and publish a translation of a literary or

dramatic work in any language after seven years from the first publication of the
work.

o Hear and decide disputes as to whether a work has been published or about the
date of publication or the term of Copyright of a work in another country.

o Fix rates of royalties in respect of sound recordings under the cover-version

provision.

o Fix the resale share right in original copies of a painting, a sculpture or a

drawing and original manuscripts of a literary or dramatic or musical work.

MODULE-5
Q.09)

a) Explain the classification of Industrial Designs and design registration trends in India

➔ CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS:

• Designs are registered in different classes as per the Locarno Agreement, 1968;
https://www.wipo.int/classifications/locarno/loc pub/en/fr/).

• It is used to classify goods for the registration of Industrial Designs as well as

for Design searches.

• The signatory parties have to indicate these classes in the official documents
too. The classification comprises a list of classes and subclasses with a list of
goods that constitute Industrial Designs.

18
SQ
 • There are 32 classes and 237 subclasses that can be searched in two languages
i.e. English and French.

• For example, Class 1 includes foodstuff for human beings, foodstuffs for
animals and dietetic foods excluding packages because they are classified under
Class 9 (Bottles, Flasks, Pots, Carboys, Demijohns, and Pressurized Containers).
Class 32 classifies the Design of graphic symbols and logos, surface patterns,
ornamentation.

DESIGNS REGISTRATION TRENDS IN INDIA:

• The below figure represents the statistics for Industrial Designs (filed,
examined and registered) for the period 2010-20.

• During this period, an increase of 88%, 117% and 33% was observed in the
parameters of Designs filed, examined and registered, respectively.

• In all three parameters, the graph depicts a similar pattern (more or less) with
the highest numbers observed in 2019-20 for Designs filed (12,268), examined
(13,644) and registered (14,272).

Q.9)
b) Explain the famous case law between Apple Inc Vs Samsung Electronics Co. related
with Industrial Design Rights.
➔ FAMOUS CASE LAW: APPLE INC. VS. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO.

• In 2011, Apple Inc. filed a case against Samsung Electronics Co. in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of California for infringing their
Designs and Utility Patents of the user interface like screen app grid and tap to
zoom.

• As evidence, Apple Inc. submitted the side-by-side image comparison of the

iPhone 3GS and the i9000 Galaxy S to demonstrate the alleged similarities in
both models.

• However, later it was found that the images were tempered by the Apple
Company to match the dimensions and features of the controversial Designs.

• So the counsel for Samsung Electronics blamed Apple of submitting false and
misleading evidence to the court and the company countersued the Apple
Company in Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo, Japan; and Mannheim, Germany,
United States District Court for the District of Delaware, and with the United
States International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington D.C.

• The proceedings continued for the 7 years in various courts. In June 2018 both
companies reached for a settlement and Samsung was ordered to pay $539
million to Apple Inc. for infringing on its patents.

19
SQ
Q.10)

a) How would you describe the overall ecosystem and significance of geographical
indications in India?

➔ GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS:

• A GI is defined as a sign which can be used on products belonging to a

particular geographical location/region and possesses qualities or a reputation
associated with that region.

• In GI, there is a strong link between the product and its original place of
production.

GI ECOSYSTEM IN INDIA:

• India is among the geographically and traditionally rich countries.

• The scope of generating GI products in India is enormous. These products can

contribute to the economic development of a particular region or society.

• However, till June 2021, a total of 370 GI have been registered in India, which
is much below its potential.

• The below Figure represents the statistics for GI (filed, and registered) for the
period 2010-20. Maximum number (148) of GI was filed in 2011-12 whereas,
minimum number (17) was observed in 2015-16.

• Not much change in the number of GI registrations was observed during the
period 2010- 20. Each year the number hovered around in the twenties, with
maximum registrations (34) seen in 2016-17.
Significance of GI in India:

• GI products registered in India belong to the domains of handicrafts,

agricultural, food stuffs, alcoholic beverages, etc.

• The first GI tag was granted in 2004 to Darjeeling Tea and the latest being
Kashmir Saffron and Manipur Black rice (Chakhao) in May 2020. A total of 370
GI have been registered in India till May 2020.

• Nearly 58% of these belong to handicrafts, followed by agriculture (30%).

• Other categories belong to food stuff, manufacturing, and natural goods.

• In the Handicraft category, Tamilnadu holds the maximum number (21) of GI

followed by Uttar Pradesh (20) and Karnataka (19).

20
SQ
Q.10)

b) Using a flowchart, Explain the process of GI registration.

➔

PROCEDURE FOR GI REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS:

• Prior to filing an application for registering GI, it is prudent to search whether the
concerned GI is already protected or not. This can be done by using search engines
created by WIPO.
• The list of registered GI in India can be accessed from the official website of
CGPDTM.
• Once the prior search for registered GI is done, the applicant has to file an application.

• The application for GI can be forwarded by an individual or an organization or

authority of people established under Indian law.

21
SQ
 • The application in a prescribed format is submitted to the Registrar,
Geographical Indications along with the prescribed fee.

• In the application, the applicant needs to mention the interest of the producers
of the concerned product.

• The application should be duly signed by the applicant or his agent with all the
details about the GI that how its standard will be maintained.

• The submission of three certified copies of the map of the region where the GI
belongs is mandatory. Once the application is filed at GI Registry, the Examiner
will scrutinize the application for any deficiencies or similarities.
• If the examiner finds any discrepancy, he will communicate the same to the
applicant, which is to be replied within one month of the communication of the
discrepancy.

• Once the examiner is satisfied with the response/s, he files an examination

report and hands over the same to the Registrar. Once again, the application is
scrutinized.

• If need be, the applicant is asked to clear any doubts/objections within two
months of the communication otherwise, the application will be rejected.

• After getting a green signal from the Registrar, the application is published in
the official Geographical Indication Journal for seeking any objections to the
claims mentioned in the application.

• The objections have to be filed within four months of the publication. If no

opposition is received, the GI gets registered by allotting the filing date as the
registration date.

• Initially, GI is registered for ten years but is renewable on the payment of the
fee.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR GI REGISTRATION:

• Details about the applicant’s name, address and particulars.

• Application form GI-1A.

• Statement about the designated goods being protected under GI.

• Class of goods.

• Affidavit to establish the claim of genuinely representing the interest of the

producers.

• Characteristics of GI.
• The special human skill required (if any).

22
SQ