Tag: Trademarks

  • Lavin Hirani launches Hirani & Associates in Mumbai

    Lavin Hirani launches Hirani & Associates in Mumbai

    MUMBAI: Lavin Hirani, a seasoned name in India’s media and entertainment law circles, has rolled out his own banner—Hirani & Associates—a boutique firm set up in Bandra, Mumbai. With a script honed over years in the legal trenches, the new firm promises bespoke solutions across media, entertainment, sports, trademarks and tech law.

    Hirani, best known for his stints as head of legal at Red Chillies Entertainment and media practice head at MDP Legal, brings heavyweight experience and a high-profile clientele. He has represented marquee names like Shah Rukh Khan, Sunny Deol, Shraddha Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Rana Daggubati, Rishabh Pant and Samantha Prabhu, as well as leading production houses and streaming platforms.

    “Media and tech are just getting warmed up—there’s massive potential ahead,” said Hirani. 

    Backed by a tight-knit team of legal talent—Anjana Menon (principal associate), Varun Gopala Krishnan (senior associate), and associates Ishan Puranik, Niharika Tiwari, Karisma Shah, Prachiti Joshi and Suhavi Arya—Hirani & Associates aims to blend personalised legal counsel with deep sector insight.

    And yes, in true Bollywood style, Hirani couldn’t resist a cinematic sign-off: “Starring a talented cast, directed by yours truly.”

  • IPR: DIPP allocation increased after copyright shift from HRD

    NEW DELHI: With the entire bogey relating to copyright having shifted to it, the budget for intellectual property in the allocation for the Department of Industrial Policy and Planning has jumped up to Rs 1,700 million from Rs 1,112 million in 2016-17.

    After the announcement made in early April last year that copyright issues would be dealt with by DIPP, revised estimates for 2016-17 had shown a jump to 1550 million, necessitating a higher budget for this sector.

    Consequently, the allocation for Human Resource Development which had until now been primarily responsible for this sector shows a blank and the budgetary document says this is because the sector has moved to DIPP.

    Of the total allocation, the highest share has been allocated for modernization and strengthening of Intellectual Property office – Rs 757.8 million, followed by Rs 520.1 million for the Controller General of Patent Designs and Trademarks.

    Several offices have been allocated budgets for the first time: Semi-conductor Integrated Circuit Layout Design Registry (Rs 10 million), Semi-Conductor Integrated Circuit Layout Design Board (Rs One million), Cell for Promotion of Intellectual Property and Management (CIPAM) with Rs 109.9 million, Copyright Office (Rs 36.5 million), Copyright Board (Rs 33.5 million, and  Promotion of copyrights and IPR (Rs 60 million).

    Of these, the last three had been given some allocation in the revised budget. Interestingly, there is no explanatory for these six departments in the budget document.

    In addition to the IP budget, there is an allocation of Rs 6.5 million for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as part of support to autonomous organizations.

    It had been announced early in the financial year 2016-17 that issues of copyright had been shifted to the DIPP of the Commerce and Industry Ministry, which became the nodal department to deal with all issues related to copyright in the country.

    (Copyright had until then been the preserve of the Human Resource Development Ministry and the film, music and television industries had always grudged this as they felt it should be with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.)

    Also Read: 

    Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

    Copyright Force finally here to fight online piracy