The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Get ready for IPR cases, judges urged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 10, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Get ready for IPR cases, judges urged

Staff Reporter

`Judges need to be thorough in IPR laws to deliver reasoned and balanced judgments'

EXCHANGE OF VIEWS: R.V. Raveendran (centre), Judge, Supreme Court, being greeted by A.K. Sikri (left), Judge, Delhi High Court, at the inauguration of `Judges Round Table on Intellectual Property Rights' at Christ College of Law in Bangalore on Satur day. Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Jusice Cyriac Joseph and V. Jagannathan, Judge, Karnataka High Court (right), are seen. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: Supreme Court judge R.V. Raveendran on Saturday exhorted High Court judges and other judicial officers to familiarise themselves with the subject of intellectual property rights (IPR).

He was speaking at a two-day Judges' Round Table on intellectual property rights (IPR), organised by the Karnataka Judicial Academy, the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Christ College, Bangalore.

He said cases relating to violation of IPR were far and a few but such cases were bound to go up and judges needed to be thorough in it if they had to deliver a reasoned and balanced judgment.

Mr. Raveendran regretted that most judges tend to interpret statutes literally and forget the spirit behind its enactment. He said judges could not deliver a fair verdict if they were not familiar with the social background under which the Dowry Prohibition Act or ST and ST Atrocity Prevention Act were enacted. If the laws were interpreted mechanically, it would fail and this was what had happened to some enactments.

Sounding a note of caution, he warned the judges against being unduly influenced by seminars. The judges should give their own decisions when they were hearing a case.

Better understating of a topic would enable a judge to deal with the subject more effectively, he said. However, the judges should take sufficient care to ensure that they were not influenced by certain views, which were voiced at seminars and discussions.

Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph said 40 judges, including High Court judges and judicial officers, had been selected to participate in the workshop.

He said the High Court intended to arrange such seminars for judicial officers in other parts of the State. He regretted that people were more concerned about the number of cases disposed rather than the quality of judgment.

While agreeing that there should be speedy disposal of cases, he said it should not be at the cost of quality.

He said lack of infrastructure, scarcity of judicial officers and increase in the number of people approaching the courts were responsible for the large number of pending cases.

P. Murari, Adviser to FICCI, said this was the first time that such a seminar was held in South India.

He said the twin threats of piracy and counterfeiting were undermining research and development activity apart from causing huge revenue loss to the Government.

He said the loss in 2006 because of piracy and counterfeiting was estimated at Rs. 120 crore. Increase in trade had led to a sharp increase in IP crimes.

Several sessions on different aspects of IRP were organised. While Justice S.R. Bannurmath chaired the session on "Basis and international character of IPR", Justice V.G. Sabhahit chaired the session on "IP-Scope of rights and enforcement". There was a session on "IPR in the entertainment industry."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section