Mumbai University Solved Question Papers
Intellectual Property and International Organisations and Agreements
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
LLM · Group 3 Law of Intellectual Property and Information Technology
2023 Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
First published on munotes.in on 14 September 2026.
Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.
Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.
The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by the University of Mumbai at the 2023 examination.
The law in these answers is stated as at September 2026, and six changes date most textbooks on this subject. The WTO's Appellate Body has been unable to hear appeals since 11 December 2019, so an appeal can be decided only where both parties have agreed to appeal arbitration, as members of the interim arrangement of 2020 have, and India has not joined it. The moratorium on non-violation complaints under TRIPS lapsed at the end of March 2026. Least developed countries need not apply most of TRIPS until 1 July 2034. WIPO administers twenty-eight treaties after two new treaties of 2024, and India joined the Strasbourg Agreement with effect from 7 July 2026. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board was abolished with effect from 4 April 2021. And the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Acts of 2023 and 2026 omitted sections 68 and 67 of the Copyright Act respectively.
The questions below are the paper as the University of Mumbai set it at the 2023 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2023 examination, reproduced as the University of Mumbai set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 7 questions answered
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.
Answer
For full marks, cover: three words. CONCEPT: what intellectual property is, why it is PROPERTY although intangible, and how the right differs from the object in which it is embodied (Tata Consultancy Services v. State of Andhra Pradesh). NATURE: its legal characteristics, each with authority: intangible, exclusive and negative, territorial, limited in time, transferable, sometimes statutory and sometimes arising at common law (Laxmikant V. Patel v. Chetanbhai Shah), a bundle of distinct rights (Indian Performing Right Society v. Eastern Indian Motion Pictures Association), and subject to the public interest. TYPES: group them rather than list them, with the Indian statute and term in a table.
Creations of the mind as property. Intellectual property is the body of legal rights that protect the products of human intellect: inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols and names used in commerce. The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, 1967 defines it in Article 2(viii) to include rights relating to literary, artistic and scientific works, performances, phonograms and broadcasts, inventions in all fields of human endeavour, scientific discoveries, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks and commercial names, protection against unfair competition, and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.
Property without a physical thing. Property is ordinarily a relationship between a person and a tangible thing, land or goods, enforceable against others. Intellectual property is a relationship between a person and an INTANGIBLE creation. Roman law already distinguished corporeal things from res incorporales, and the common law recognised incorporeal hereditaments. What intellectual property adds is a right over an idea's expression or application that can be enforced against the whole world, even against someone who has never dealt with the owner.
The right is not the object. The most important conceptual point is that the property lies in the RIGHT, not in the physical object that carries the creation. A person who buys a book owns the paper and ink but not the copyright; a buyer of a patented machine may use it but may not manufacture copies. The Supreme Court examined the relationship between an intangible creation and its carrier in Tata Consultancy Services v. State of Andhra Pradesh, (2005) 1 SCC 308. TCS sold both customised software and canned software packages recorded on media, and argued that software, being intellectual property, could not be taxed as goods. The Court held that canned software, once put on a medium and marketed, is capable of being bought, sold, possessed, stored and transmitted, and is therefore goods for sales tax. The judgment illustrates the distinction: the copyright in the programme remains an intangible right, while each marketed copy is a thing in commerce.
Why the law creates it. Intellectual creations are expensive to make and cheap to copy, and one person's use does not diminish another's. Without legal exclusivity, creators could not recover their investment and would produce less. The law therefore grants limited exclusive rights as an incentive, in return for disclosure or publication, and balances them against the public's interest in access. Other justifications, that creators deserve the fruits of their labour and that works express their authors' personality, explain features such as moral rights.
One: it is intangible and exists only by law. There is nothing to hold or fence. The right exists because the law recognises it and ceases when the law says it ceases.
Two: it is exclusive and essentially NEGATIVE. Intellectual property confers the right to EXCLUDE others from doing certain acts, not a positive licence to do them. Section 48 of the Patents Act, 1970 gives the patentee the right to PREVENT third parties from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention; a patentee may still be unable to use his own improvement if it infringes someone else's earlier patent.
Three: it is territorial. Rights are granted by national law and have effect only within the granting country. An Indian patent gives no rights in Japan, and the same invention may be patented in one country and refused in another: the beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate was patented in many countries and refused in India in Novartis AG v. Union of India, (2013) 6 SCC 1. International treaties mitigate but do not remove territoriality.
Four: it is usually limited in time. Patents last twenty years from filing, designs up to fifteen years and copyright for the author's life plus sixty years, after which the creation enters the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Trademarks and geographical indications are the exceptions, because they can be renewed indefinitely as long as they continue to identify origin.
Five: some rights arise by registration, others automatically or at common law. Patents, designs and registered trademarks are creatures of statute and exist only after grant. Copyright arises automatically on creation. And some interests are protected without any registration at all through the common law of passing off and breach of confidence.
Laxmikant V. Patel v. Chetanbhai Shah, (2002) 3 SCC 65, shows protection without registration. The plaintiff had run a photography business in Ahmedabad for years under the name MUKTAJIVAN COLOUR LAB, and the defendant opened a similar business in the same area as MUKTAJIVAN COLOUR LAB AND STUDIO. Neither name was registered. The Supreme Court granted an interim injunction for PASSING OFF, holding that a person may not sell his goods or services under a name that deceives the public into thinking they are another's, and that where the adoption appears dishonest an injunction ordinarily follows. Goodwill built through use is itself protected intellectual property.
Six: it is a bundle of separable rights. Each form of intellectual property is a BUNDLE of distinct rights, which can be owned, licensed and assigned separately. Section 14 of the Copyright Act lists separate rights of reproduction, performance, communication to the public, adaptation and translation. Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. v. Eastern Indian Motion Pictures Association, (1977) 2 SCC 820, turned on this. The Society, which administered the performing rights of composers and lyricists, claimed royalties from cinema owners for the public performance of songs in films. The Supreme Court held that where a composer is engaged for valuable consideration to compose music for a film, the film's producer becomes the FIRST OWNER of the copyright in that music under section 17, in the absence of a contrary agreement, and may exhibit the film without a licence from the Society. The case shows that who owns which strand of the bundle depends on the law's allocation rules and the parties' contracts.
Seven: it is transferable and can be exploited commercially. Rights may be assigned, licensed, mortgaged and inherited, subject to formalities such as writing under section 19 of the Copyright Act and section 68 of the Patents Act.
Eight: it has moral as well as economic dimensions. An author retains the right to claim authorship and to object to distortion under section 57 of the Copyright Act even after assigning the economic rights, reflecting the personal connection between creator and work.
Nine: it is limited by the public interest. Every right carries exceptions and limitations: fair dealing, experimental use, compulsory licences, government use and exclusions from patentability. The right is never absolute.
The types can be grouped by the kind of intellectual effort they protect.
Group one: rights in creative expression. COPYRIGHT protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings, including computer programmes as literary works. RELATED RIGHTS protect performers and broadcasters.
Group two: industrial property protecting technical creativity. PATENTS protect inventions; LAYOUT-DESIGNS of integrated circuits protect chip topographies; TRADE SECRETS protect confidential know-how.
Group three: industrial property protecting commercial identity and appearance. TRADEMARKS protect signs distinguishing goods and services; GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS protect names linking goods to places; INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS protect the ornamental appearance of articles; the law of UNFAIR COMPETITION and passing off protects goodwill.
Group four: sui generis and emerging rights. PLANT VARIETY rights protect breeders and farmers; the protection of TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE and genetic resources is developing through disclosure and benefit-sharing laws; and courts are recognising PERSONALITY RIGHTS in a person's name, image and voice.
| Type | Indian law | Acquired by | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copyright | Copyright Act, 1957 | Automatically on creation | Life plus 60 years (most works) |
| Performers' and broadcast rights | Copyright Act, ss.37 and 38 | Automatically | 50 years (performers); 25 years (broadcasts) |
| Patent | Patents Act, 1970 | Grant | 20 years from filing |
| Trademark | Trade Marks Act, 1999; passing off | Registration or use | 10 years, renewable indefinitely |
| Type | Indian law | Acquired by | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geographical indication | GI of Goods Act, 1999 | Registration | 10 years, renewable |
| Industrial design | Designs Act, 2000 | Registration | 10 years plus 5 |
| Layout-design | SICLD Act, 2000 | Registration | 10 years |
| Plant variety | PPVFR Act, 2001 | Registration | 15 years (18 for trees and vines) |
| Trade secret | Contract and equity | Secrecy | As long as secret |
| Traditional knowledge | Biological Diversity Act, 2002; Patents Act s.3(p) | Not registrable as such | Defensive protection |
The nature of intellectual property is clearest when it is set beside ordinary property.
| Feature | Tangible property | Intellectual property |
|---|---|---|
| Object | A physical thing | An intangible creation |
| Use by others | Rival: one person's use excludes another's | Non-rival: many can use it at once |
| Feature | Tangible property | Intellectual property |
|---|---|---|
| Protection against copying | Possession itself protects | Only the law protects |
| Duration | Lasts as long as the thing | Usually ends after a fixed term |
| Territory | Recognised wherever the thing is | Recognised only where granted |
| Transfer of the object | Transfers ownership | Sale of a copy does not transfer the right |
| Public interest limits | Few, such as acquisition by the State | Built in: exceptions, compulsory licences, exclusions |
These differences explain why intellectual property law is so heavily regulated. Because the object is non-rival and cannot be fenced, the law must decide exactly what the owner may stop others doing, for how long and where, and must build the public's access into the right itself rather than leave it to the owner's generosity.
Conclusion. The CONCEPT of intellectual property is a legal right over an intangible creation of the mind, distinct from the physical object that carries it, as Tata Consultancy Services v. State of Andhra Pradesh illustrates, granted to encourage creation in return for disclosure or publication. Its NATURE is that of an intangible, exclusive and negative, territorial and usually time-limited right, arising by grant, automatically or at common law as Laxmikant V. Patel v. Chetanbhai Shah shows, forming a bundle of separable rights as Indian Performing Right Society v. Eastern Indian Motion Pictures Association shows, transferable, carrying moral as well as economic interests, and always limited by the public interest. Its TYPES fall into rights in creative expression, industrial property protecting technical creativity, industrial property protecting commercial identity and appearance, and sui generis and emerging rights, each governed in India by its own statute and term.
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