[Commons-Law] relay

Via: "ravi srinivas"

Via: "Pranesh Prakash"

Via: Anivar Aravind

for more details on Indian review process of OOXML read Venky's blog
http://osindia.blogspot.com

Prashant Iyengar wrote:
> http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=324294
> Wed May 28 2008 10:46:21 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
>
> IIT Bombay, Microsoft at loggerheads over standards
> Leslie D`Monte / Mumbai May 28, 2008, 5:53 IST
>
> Embers from the fiery debate over the International Organisation for
> Standardisation's (ISO) acceptance of Microsoft's Office Open XML
> (OOXML) file format as an international standard refuse to die out in
> India.
>
> The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, has taken strong
> objection to the fact that despite a "No" to OOXML by a majority of
> the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) members, the software giant
> "continued to make representations to the top Indian leadership (read
> Ministry of Consumer Affairs), pressuring them to change the Indian
> vote".
>
> The BIS represented India as a participating member of the ISO. Its
> LITD 15 committee — of which IIT-Bombay was a part — was responsible
> for examining OOXML and deciding on a "No" regarding India's position
> at the ISO.
>
> India's negative vote could make it difficult for Microsoft to get
> government business since governments worldwide, including India, are
> wary of holding digital data in proprietary formats.
>
> Deepak B Phatak, who represented IIT-Bombay along with three other
> professors, has written an open letter to all BIS members, expressing
> unhappiness over Microsoft's "accusation" that his institution and the
> National Informatics Centre (NIC), among others, have an "ODF
> alliance" bias (ODF stands for Open Document Format).
>
> The OOXML format is backed by Apple, Novell, and closer home by Wipro,
> Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Nasscom. ODF, the other
> format, is supported by IBM, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat, Google, and in
> India, by the Department of Information Technology (DIT), National
> Informatics Centre (NIC), CDAC, IIT-Bombay and IIM-Ahmedabad. States
> such as Delhi, Kerala and others from the North-East are heavy
> adopters of ODF file formats which are open and free (excluding
> maintenance and support).
>
> Pathak insists that there is no reason for any ODF bias since academic
> institutions have no commercial interests. "... the complaints have
> painted these organisations and their representatives, including the
> Indian delegation which attended the Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM in
> Geneva this February), as acting against Indian national interests.
> This is the most derogatory accusation to any Indian...," he wrote.
>
> The letter adds: "I have a special word of thanks to the officials of
> Microsoft, some of whom have been personal friends for years...I, of
> course, still await the action from Microsoft which I have requested,
> viz., formal withdrawal of all complaints, and a formal apology to my
> Institute."
>
> Microsoft, noted Pathak, has sent him a personal apology which he said
> is not sufficient.
>
> Microsoft declined to comment on the specific issue of withdrawing the
> complaint. A spokesperson, however, said: "We would just like to
> reiterate our respect for both IIT Bombay as an esteemed echelon of
> learning, and Dr Pathak as one of its the most respected educators.
> The issue raised with the government about certain members of the BIS
> committee having a possible bias was an issue we were genuinely
> concerned about and had fair grounds to believe. It was not targeted
> at a specific organisation or individual. "
>
> ODF proponents oppose OOXML on grounds that " multiple standards " are
> not good while Microsoft argues that OOXML is a response to evolving
> technology formats.
>
> A January 2008 independent study by research and consulting firm
> Burton Group indicated that although moving to OOXML file formats
> involves some administrative challenges, the opportunities for
> improved content management and productivity outweigh the short-term
> inconvenience of migrating from binary file formats.
>
> Internationally, too, the debate does not appear to have ended. OOXML
> was approved as an international standard this April. However, there's
> a two-month period during that countries can appeal against the
> decision.
>
> The South African Bureau of Standards has already challenged "...the
> validity of a final vote that we contend was based upon inadequate
> information, resulting from a poorly conducted BRM (Ballot Resolution
> Meeting)".
> _______________________________________________
> commons-law mailing list
> commons-law@sarai.net
> https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law

Via: "Pranesh Prakash"

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Via: "Prashant Iyengar"

http://judis.openarchive.in/bomba/archives/20080529/rough/hindu324364.htm

Thu May 29 2008 15:38:41 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Matrix buys 13 technologies from Guj's tribal innovators
Chitra Unnithan / Mumbai/ Ahmedabad May 29, 2008, 5:23 IST

Gujarat's tribal innovators are going global. Hyderabad's Matrix
Biosciences has bought rights of 13 technologies — six herbal
pesticides and seven veterinary products — from grassroot innovators
associated with Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable
Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI)-National Innovation Foundation
(NIF).

What's more, Matrix, which plans to market these products under its
own brand names plans register in Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia and
Phillipines.

"The products are marketed as our own brands with names given by us,
as part of the deal. We were approached by many NGOs for the
commercialisation of their products, but the unique thing we
appreciate about SRISTI is that they actually want to bring out the
name of the original innovator. Every bottle of the products contains
the names and photographs of the innovators," Ramesh Chouhan,
President (Technical), Matrix Biosciences.

Under the initiative, the rights of six herbal pesticides and seven
veterinary products for curing ailments have been transferred to the
company. The herbal products — SRISTI Krushak, SRISTI Rakshak, SRISTI
Shastra, SRISTI Shakthi, SRISTI Prayas and SRISTI Suraksha — and seven
veterinary products to cure ailments like coccidiosis, immunity in
birds, mastitis, lactogogue diarrhoea, wound and bloat were licenced
to the company.

The product coccicure to control coccidiosis, a protozoal ailment is a
unique product as it attacks the life cycle of the disease causing
protozoa and also protects the epithelial lining of the intestine.
This specific product will protect the birds through prevention as
well as treatment of the ailment.

The agricultural pesticide were tested against leaf curl, cotton pest,
sucking pest, shedding of flower, termite infestation and promoting
plant growth. These products are a result of the combination of
technological innovations by farmers and tribals, who are identified
by SRISTI through its various 'Shodh Yatras' across the remotest parts
of the country.

This is the first time that SRISTI has given way to group patenting of
more than 10 people, replacing their tradition of patenting individual
innovations. Anil Gupta, president of SRISTI and professor at Indian
Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said, "More number of
innovators are coming under the group licensing with each passing day.

These herbal technologies, that are already out in the market are
developed by farm labourers and tribals, who have the traditional
knowledge but lack a platform to market them to their advantage.
Instead of patenting one herbal technology, we decided to weave
together a few technologies to have maximum impact."

A token amount of Rs 50,000 was given to these innovators by the
company at the organic food festival organised by the NGO. Besides,
five per cent of on sale is given as royalty to SRISTI. In
consultation with the innovators of these products, SRISTI and NIF
have made a formula for the sharing of royalty through
commercialisation of the products, which includes 30 per cent of the
benefits to the innovator or the traditional knowledge holder, 20 per
cent to the innovation fund, 15 per cent each for overhead and
research and development and five per cent each to preserve
environment, for the community, women of the community and
contingency.

The formulations were tried globally in countries like Canada, Eastern
Europe and Asian countries and apparently found promising results.
These herbal medications were documented by SRISTI and requisite value
addition was made over each product like preparation of liquid
medications, correct combination of the medications.

Via: "Prashant Iyengar"

http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/315821.html
Panel: unified cultural policy not desirable - IndianExpress.Com
Thu May 29 2008 13:46:30 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Panel: unified cultural policy not desirable

Amitabh Sinha

Posted online: Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 2320 hrs IST

New Delhi, May 28
The Government is likely to abandon its idea of framing a national
culture policy with a majority of members of a 19-member committee —
that was formed to look into the feasibility of such a proposition —
expressing their views against it. The committee, which held a meeting
on Wednesday, was unanimous in its opinion that a uniform cultural
policy in a multi-cultural country like India was neither desirable
nor feasible. Instead, the committee was of the view that there was a
need to define a broad roadmap for effective management and
administration of cultural institutions in the country.

"A national culture policy is sort of a misnomer. What the committee
would be attempting at is to recommend a policy for public action in
cultural institutions. This would not infringe upon the multi-cultural
character of the country," said Ashok Vajpayee, chairman of the Lalit
Kala Akademi, and one of the members of the committee.

Another member, on condition of anonymity, pointed out that in no
other country of the world, even in the most repressive regimes, any
such policy had been envisaged. "However, our cultural institutions
badly need reforms and the members were in agreement to frame
guidelines for effective management of these institutions," he said.

The member said any uniform cultural policy was liable to be misused
for political interests and there were hardly any benefits accruing
out of the move.

The national cultural policy has been a non-starter right from the
time the idea was mooted by the Culture Ministry towards the end of
2006. It had asked this committee to give recommendations for such a
policy to be framed. The six-month deadline for the committee had
expired in April last year. Only one meeting was held in the first six
months of its tenure and that too, was attended by only half of the
members.

With a number of members questioning the rationale for such a move,
the idea was almost junked, but the committee was not dissolved.
Recently, the ministry revived the idea and asked the committee to
hold fresh discussions and appraise it of its views.

The committee includes prominent personalities like U R Ananthamurthy,
Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal, M T Vasudevan Nair, Ramachandra Guha,
Mallika Sarabhai. Only nine or 10 members could attend Wednesday's
meeting. Some members had also submitted their written submissions.

Via: "Prashant Iyengar"

http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/315871.html
Licensing proposed for telecom content providers - IndianExpress.Com
Thu May 29 2008 11:41:47 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Licensing proposed for telecom content providers

ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

Posted online: Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 2357 hrs IST

New Delhi, May 28
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today initiated a
move to bring value added service (VAS) providers under a licensing
regime. Ring tones, video clippings, games and SMS-based services are
value-added services.

In a consultation paper released today, the regulator has sought
industry's views on "need to bring content provider/aggregators called
Value Added Service Providers (VASPs) under the licensing regime."

In India, the revenue from mobile VAS is anywhere between 10 per cent
and 14 per cent of the total revenue. It is expected to cross 30 per
cent of the mobile telecom service provider's revenue in the next 5-7
years, say experts. Today, SMS constitutes major a portion of the VAS
revenue. While entertainment services have become popular with
consumers, there is scope for utility-based services such as location
information, mobile commerce (M-Commerce) for transactions.

The government is keen to bring transparency in the revenue share
arrangement between content developers and telecom service providers
and other players in the value added service chain. VAS content
developers and VASPs allege they do not get enough revenue for
developing services. Customers access their services through telecom
service providers who collect the fee and retain a chunk of it.

The telecom regulator also wants clarity on protecting copy rights,
including digital rights management, and infringement of other laws of
the country on value added service licensees.

Since the VAS industry in India is at nascent stage, it does not have
a code of practice. There have been no coordinated efforts so far to
grow the industry and it also lacks transparency as consumers are not
fully aware of the nuances of services being offered.

"Considering the market potential for VAS in the coming years and the
multiplicity of value added services that the Next Generation Network
(NGN) and 3G will offer, there is a need to harmonise the licensing
framework for ushering growth in all the segments of the value added
service viz content development, technology platform, content
aggregation including copy right protection," said TRAI in its
consultation paper.

Via: "Prashant Iyengar"

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/28/stories/2008052861041900.htm Back

National

High Court orders notice on BCCI plea

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered notice on a petition by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India to restrain one Sandeep Goel and
Rediff.com India Ltd., Mumbai, from displaying or using the domain
name/title indianfantasyleague.com or indianfantasyleague and logo or
any other domain name or trademark deceptively similar to its
trademark — Indian Premier League.

The Board prayed for an interim injunction directing the defendants to
render a true and faithful account of all the profits earned by them
using the impugned trademark IFL or the logo. It sought a direction to
them to pay Rs. 10 lakh as damages. Mr. Goel was the owner of the
website www.indianfantasyleague.com.

The Board said it had acquired the proprietary rights in the said
name, title and trademark under the common law and was entitled to
exclusively use the same.

The defendants had mischievously created the website and were using
the trademark IFL and logo both of which were visually, structurally
and phonetically deceptively similar to the IPL trademark.

(c) Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

Via: "Prashant Iyengar"

More news that might distress you particularly Anil :)

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008052855781300.htm&date=2008/05/28/&prd=th&
Government may decide to scrap BlackBerry services

Sandeep Joshi

Security agencies unable to read e-mails of its users

BlackBerry vendor does not possess a 'master key'

NEW DELHI: Inability on part of the Canada-based firm Research In
Motion (RIM), the vendor of 'BlackBerry' smartphones, to allow Indian
security agencies to read messages or e-mails of its users is likely
to further complicate matters, and could even lead to scrapping of
BlackBerry services in the country.

According to RIM: "The BlackBerry security architecture for enterprise
customers is based on a symmetric key system whereby the customers
create their own key and only the customer ever possesses a copy of
his encryption key.

"RIM does not possess a 'master key,' nor does any 'back door' exist
in the system that would allow RIM or any third party to gain
unauthorised access to the key or corporate data.

"The BlackBerry security architecture for enterprise customers is
purposefully designed to exclude the capability for RIM or any third
party to read encrypted information under any circumstances. RIM would
simply be unable to accommodate any request for a copy of a customer's
encryption key since at no time does RIM, or any wireless network
operator, ever possess a copy of the key," the company has said.

RIM's reply comes after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
asked the Canadian firm to allow it and Indian security agencies
access to messages and e-mails transferred through its system. After
objections from the security agencies, the Union Home Ministry had
asked DoT to ask RIM to provide the 'master key' so that it could
access the contents transferred over the handheld device.

Stating that the BlackBerry security architecture was also
purposefully designed to perform as a global system independent of
geography, RIM said the location of data centres and the customer's
choice of wireless network were irrelevant factors from a security
perspective since end-to-end encryption was utilised and transmissions
were no more decipherable or less secure based on the selection of a
wireless network or the location of a data centre. "All data remains
encrypted through all points of transfer between the customer's
BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the customer's device [at no point in
the transfer is data decrypted and re-encrypted]."

"RIM understands and respects the concerns of governments. RIM
operates in over 135 countries today and provides a security
architecture that has been widely scrutinised over the last nine years
and has been accepted and embraced by security-conscious corporations
and governments around the world. Governments have a wide range of
resources and methodologies to satisfy national security and law
enforcement needs without compromising commercial security
requirements," it said.

Though DoT and RIM have been holding talks to resolve the issue, the
recent advisory by the latter to its BlackBerry subscribers might
force the government to take some harsh steps. This could include
scrapping of the service in India altogether, said sources in DoT.

DoT has been demanding RIM to set up its servers in India so that its
traffic could be monitored by the security agencies, but RIM has so
far ruled out any such possibility. According to telecom industry
sources, there are over 4-lakh BlackBerry subscribers in India and
their numbers are increasing fast. Leading operators like Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Reliance Communications are offering this
service.

(c) Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:59 AM, wrote:
> Its distressing to hear about what prof phatak says. I support iitb and others on this position
>
> Keep it up
>
> Anil
> Anilg@sristi.org
> Sent from my BlackBerry(R) wireless device
>
>