Intellectual Properties (IP) Protection to Drone Technologies in India: Lawyers Advice on Protection of IP in Drone Technology in India | IP Attorney in India | IP Attorney in Delhi NCR | IP Lawyer in Delhi NCR
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Drone manufacturers, application developers and customers understand the significance of protecting valuable intellectual property (IP) surrounding drones along with the interacting drone applications. As more and more highly developed drones are invented with distinctive utilities, it opens up portal for protection by the grant of patents.
GRANT OF PATENT
Under the Indian Patents Act, 1970, although there is no express limitation on filing patent applications regarding drone inventions, particular procedures need to be followed if the invention if its collides with military or national interest, and the grant of such patents may be subject to prior government approvals (including the Indian Ministry of Defence).
GRANTING PATENT TO DRONE TECHNOLOGY
The following points lay down the essentials of granting a patent to the drones if the;
• Invention is novel
• Invention is non obvious
• Invention is capable of industrial application
• Inventions that are used in consumer and commercial market along with military.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE STRATEGY TO OBTAIN PATENT FOR A DRONE?
• Should describe the innovative new features of the drone
• Should have one or more hardware component to add the technical effect to the mere software.
• Should describe process or method of usage
• Should deal with subject matter to be in accordance with the law.
Parts of drones and drone manufacturing process together can form the subject matter of one or more patents. Other examples of drone patents consist of applications of quad copters (drones) for airborne photography, delivery of goods, farming, surveillance, refuelling, combination of drones with Smartphone (tablets) etc
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN OF DRONES
Registration of Industrial Designs
Features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colors applied to any object, whether in 2D/3D or in both forms, can be registered under the Indian Designs Act, 2000. However, functionality aspects of a design are not protected under the act as it is covered under the Indian Patent Law, 1870.
Design of an article is registrable in India, if it –
• is original or novel
• has not been known to the public anywhere in India or any other country by publication in substantial form or by use in any other way preceding the filing date or the date of the application;
• is considerably indistinguishable from the well known designs or combination of known designs;
• Does not comprise or contain scandalous or obscene matter.
Duration of Protection of a Design
Primarily, a protection of 10 years is given to the owner of a registered design with regard to exclusive rights to sell, make or import the articles and initiating an action against an infringer which can be extended for 5 more years on the payment of renewal fees. The maximum validity of a registration under the Indian Designs Act, 2000 can be 15 years.
COPYRIGHT LAW
Under Section 13 of the Copyright Act of 1957, the term “work” includes an artistic work, an engraving, a photograph, a work of architecture or artistic craftsmanship, dramatic work, literary work musical work, sound recording and cinematographic film. In order to keep the development at the same rate with the global requirement of harmonization, the Copyright Act has brought the copyright law in India in line with the developments in the information technology industry.
Drones have launched into business status as a comparatively low-cost and an accessible way to capture videos and photographs. Wildlife scientists, filmmakers, real estate marketers, agri-businesses, college instructors and resource extraction companies have all taken help of camera-mounted drones to get images for their business distribution and use.
While so much time and effort goes into the process when making marketing materials and shooting stills, sound recordings. Ownership of the work is a key issue. Ownership is determined by the one who possesses the intellectual property rights (IPR) associated with the work product. Key in the middle of these intellectual property rights are also copyright rights.
Images, sound recordings and footage captured by drone are not different than those captured by a conventional camera lens; keeping in mind that rights to distribution and use (flow to the party paying for their production is important. Copyright and other intellectual property rights (IPR) regarding the work that is generated using drone technology are subject to agreement between the drone pilot, the drone services company and the user.
In order to keep the development at the same rate with the global requirement of harmonization, the Copyright Act, 1957 has brought the copyright law in India in line with the developments in the information technology industry.
FIRST OWNER OF THE WORK
As per section 17 of Copyright act, 1957 the first owner of the copyright is the author of the work unless there’s a contract contrary to it or owned by the government. In general, where a drone services company has been paid to capture images, sound recordings or footage, the drone company, or more specifically, the drone services company’s pilot, is the first owner of the copyright in the images, sound recordings or video footage.
The drone services company, usually by contract with its customer (the purchaser of the still images, sound recordings or footage), will transfer the copyright rights to the work produced, and agree to waiver of any potential claims against the customer for any breach of its statutory rights, breach of privacy, or other intellectual property infringement relating to the use of the work
WALMART’S FORAY INTO THE INDIAN MARKET
US-based global retail company Wal-Mart is bringing in new ideas to cater to Indian customers. It is planning to offer innovative delivery options for customers via drones. It has filed an application seeking an Indian patent pertaining to a system for delivering products via drones to location, other than residences and offices, which will be chosen by users. Walmart’s innovation will be primarily a mechanism for assisting delivery of products via an unmanned aerial vehicle, including an order processing server of the vendor wherein the order for the merchandise placed by the customer specifies that the product be delivered to another physical place of the person. There will be a device of the vendor including a processor-based control circuit
AMAZON PATENTS SURVEILLANCE DRONE (2019)
Amazon’s patent (US10313638) lays out how delivery drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs) may be used to carrying out secondary tasks, once their main task of delivering a package has been complete, and providing they still have adequate funds left. The secondary job may be a surveillance action that may consist of flying over a house of a different customer who has consented to surveillance and gathering data. The data may then be analyzed to find out if there is a “surveillance event” – which may include a broken window, a detection of graffiti or a fire and accordingly the customer can be notified.
Authored By: Adv. Anant Sharma & Shivangi Ghosh