Recent IP and Technoloy Law Happenings

Here are some interesting recent happenings both in the U.S. and in India on IP and technology law.

The litigation that was on for a while and made interesting reading is the battle between the fashion icons Barbie v. Bratz and the more long standing and mature co ntender Barbie wins $100 million in a copyright infringement law suit. The side issue in the matter was breach of contract because Mattel the maker of Barbie filed a law suit against MGA Entertainment the maker of Bratz stating that the design for Bratz was taken from Barbie while the designer worked with Mattel.

Now, the greatest cyber criminal in the world is an Indian and has allegedly helped a criminal gang steal identities of an estimated eight million people in a hacking raid that could ultimately net more than 2.8 billion pounds in illegal funds.

More on cyber crimes, malicious software, the worm, called Koobface, turns compromised computers into “zombie” machines that can be used in other types of online attacks.

In India, criminal proceeding against eBay India under section 85 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 for an alleged sale of an obscene video clip showing two Delhi students was halted by the Supreme Court.

What do “hacktivists” do? They scrutinize a new weapon of international warfare: cyber attacks.

The Indian government has drafted new company law. The law permits to recognize e-mail as a valid piece of evidence. Also the government at various levels are trying to harmonize related legislations like Information Technology Act and Evidence Act on the subject, so as to avoid regulatory overlaps. Even as the company law awaits amendments to this effect, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) feels corporate e-mails could be crucial evidence in cartel investigations.