KSLU Solved Question Papers
Intellectual Property Rights I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 9
2026 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 9 Intellectual Property Rights I 2026 Jan Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2026 Jan examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2026 Jan examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note/problems is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or in Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)What is an intellectual property ? Explain the importance of protection of Intellectual Property Rights.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: meaning of intellectual property (WIPO Convention Article 2(viii); TRIPS Article 1(2)); its features; the kinds and the Indian Act for each; why protection matters: incentive, disclosure (Biswanath Prasad), consumer protection (Cadila), honest traders, regional products (Tea Board), assets and investment, technology transfer (TRIPS Article 7); the public interest limit (Novartis).
Meaning of intellectual property
Intellectual property means the legal rights the law gives over creations of the mind. Examples are an invention, a book, a song, a brand name and the shape of a product. The thing protected is intangible. The paper, the bottle or the machine only carries it.
The widest definition is in Article 2(viii) of the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, 1967. It covers rights relating to literary, artistic and scientific works, and to performances, phonograms and broadcasts. It also covers inventions in all fields, scientific discoveries, industrial designs, trade marks, trade names and protection against unfair competition. It ends with "all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields". So the list is open.
The TRIPS Agreement of 1994 uses a narrower definition. Under Article 1(2), intellectual property means the categories dealt with in Sections 1 to 7 of Part II. These are copyright and related rights, trade marks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patents, layout-designs of integrated circuits and undisclosed information.
Its main features
- Intangible. It is a right over an idea in a fixed form, not over a physical object.
- Created by law. Most rights exist only because a statute creates them.
- Exclusive. The owner may stop others from using the creation in the ways the Act lists.
- Limited in time. A patent lasts twenty years (section 53, Patents Act, 1970). Copyright in a literary work lasts the author's life plus sixty years.
- Territorial. An Indian patent or registration has effect only in India.
- Transferable. It can be assigned, licensed, mortgaged and inherited, like other property.
Kinds and the Indian law for each
| Kind | Indian law |
|---|---|
| Patent | Patents Act, 1970 |
| Trade mark | Trade Marks Act, 1999 |
| Copyright | Copyright Act, 1957 |
| Industrial design | Designs Act, 2000 |
| Geographical indication | Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 |
| Layout-design | Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 |
| Plant variety | Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 |
| Trade secret | Law of confidence and contract (no statute) |
Why protection of intellectual property rights is important
1. Incentive to create and invent. Copying an invention or a book is cheap, while making it is costly. Without a right to stop copying, the creator may never recover the cost. Section 83(a) of the Patents Act says patents are granted to encourage inventions.
2. Disclosure of knowledge. A patent is granted only if the inventor fully describes the invention in the complete specification (section 10). When the patent ends, anyone may use it.
In Biswanath Prasad Radhey Shyam v. Hindustan Metal Industries, (1979) 2 SCC 511, a patent on a method of holding utensils on a lathe was challenged. The Supreme Court said the object of patent law is to encourage scientific research and industrial progress. The price of the monopoly is disclosure, after which the invention passes to the public. It revoked the patent because the method was only a workshop improvement. The case shows that protection serves the public, not the patentee alone.
3. Protection of consumers. A trade mark tells the buyer who made the goods. The owner can stop imitations under sections 28 and 29 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.
In Cadila Health Care Ltd. v. Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd., (2001) 5 SCC 73, two anti-malarial drugs were sold as Falcigo and Falcitab. The Supreme Court laid down the factors for judging deceptive similarity. It held that a lower degree of proof of confusion is enough for medicines, because confusion between drugs can endanger life. This shows that trade mark protection is also public protection.
4. Protection of honest traders. A trader who builds goodwill can stop a rival from passing off goods as his own.
5. Protection of regional products. A geographical indication protects the name of a product from a region, such as Darjeeling tea, against false use. In Tea Board v. ITC Ltd., 2011 SCC OnLine Calcutta 2422, the Tea Board, which holds the DARJEELING registration, sued over a hotel lounge named "Darjeeling Lounge". The Calcutta High Court refused an injunction because the GI Act protects goods, not a hotel service. The case shows both the value and the limits of the right.
6. Assets and investment. Patents, marks and copyrights can be sold, licensed and pledged. Investors fund start-ups partly on the value of these rights.
7. Transfer of technology. Article 7 of TRIPS says protection should promote innovation and the transfer and dissemination of technology. Firms license technology more readily where it is protected.
8. Growth of creative industries. Film, music, software and publishing depend on copyright. They create jobs and exports.
The limit: the public interest
Protection is not unlimited. In Novartis AG v. Union of India, (2013) 6 SCC 1, Novartis claimed a patent for the beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate, a cancer medicine. The Supreme Court refused it under section 3(d), because a new form of a known substance needs enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Better flow or stability was not enough. The case shows that Indian law protects inventions without allowing a monopoly to be extended over medicines needed by the public.
Conclusion. Intellectual property is the set of legal rights over creations of the mind. Article 2(viii) of the WIPO Convention defines it widely, and Article 1(2) of TRIPS narrowly. Its protection matters because it rewards creators, secures disclosure (Biswanath Prasad), protects buyers (Cadila) and regional producers (Tea Board), and draws investment and technology. Indian law treats it as a tool for public welfare, so the right yields where the public interest demands, as Novartis shows.
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