Intellectual property

SpicyIP follows up on Ideafarms-Continental IPR dispute

SpicyIP did a follow up post on Ideafarms-Continental IPR dispute after the recent developments at the Indo-German Bilateral talks held in Germany 9-11 May. Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Sh. Anand Sharma raised the the Ideafarms-Continental dispute during the meet and the German government has assured a just solution for the lawsuit. In their post SpicyIP also mentioned that their team members were contacted by German lawyers who also think that the judgement of the German court was violation of Ideafarms’ IP, trade and investment rights and that they are willing to fight on behalf of Ideafarms.

Let us know what are your views about IP rights violations and the recent developments of the government backing the SME sector up.

Commerce Minister raises Ideafarms IP violation at Indo German talks

The Ideafarms vs Continental case has created a stir as the issue of unathorised usage of Ideafarms’ software products by Continental AG was brought up by Industries Minister Sh. Anand Sharma during the recently concluded Indo-German Bilateral talks held in Germany 9-11 May 2012. Ideafarms expresses its deep gratitude to Sh. Anand Sharma for sending a clear message of the Government’s backing of the MSME (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) sector, to urge overseas Corporates to respect India’s IP. This was a key topic of discussion during the meeting with German Federal Minister of Economics & Technology Philipp Roessler. The German government has assured a just solution for this dispute and India will follow up with them.

Quoting the article from Economic Times –

We hope that this move will create more robust IP laws. Let us know what you think about it.

Related articles

Liberalise visa regime, India tells Germany (Business Standard – 10 May 2012)
Anand Sharma raises issues of cumbersome VISA process and IPR infringement of Indian Intellectual Property (Press release, Department of Commerce – 10 May 2012)

Should we let them walk all over us?

Small in size but in the news always for the right reasons, Ideafarms maintains that it follows a partnership model of engagement with its clients as opposed to a traditional client-vendor relationship and we have also successfully lived the model over a period of 8 years (2002-2010) with Continental AG. One of the key ingredients of any partnership is “trust” that the parties have to invest in each other to be able to successfully derive mutual benefit from the engagement. While we believe we did more than our share to establish a successful partnership with Continental AG, we feel we have been dealt with the short end of the stick in this case.

‘Should Government Support Davids?’ was a very pertinent question asked in this Economic Times article (dated 28 April 2011) which raises important issues about protecting overseas, the intellectual property created by India’s Small & Medium Enterprises. We know that it has perhaps not been a cakewalk for us to sustain a legal battle against a blue chip European multinational and we can understand the plight of many others like us, some of whom may not be able to afford fighting for what rightfully belongs to them – their intellectual property – being flouted brazenly by companies that least need to do so.

Quoting from the article –

“While Indian information technology companies should, indeed, be encouraged to diversify into software products whose intellectual property they own and license, what recourse do Indian companies have, particularly the small ones, in case foreign parties , particularly large ones, violate their intellectual property? Is it possible for the government to fund the legal expenses of Indian companies defending their intellectual property abroad, once initial screening shows a viable case?”

Ideafarms would love to hear your views and looks forward to starting a debate on this important and relevant issue.