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‘SET UP INTERNATIONAL COURT FOR CYBER CRIMES ‘

Thesynergyonline Legal Bureau

NEW DELHI, JULY 01 : IN view of fast increasing threat to national security, a day long conference on ‘Cyber Security & Cyber Law’ has unanimously recommended formation of international court for cyber crimes and independent cyber police department in India.

The conference organized by ASSSOCHAM here today was addressed by Additional Secretary, Ministry of Law & Justice, Mr. P.K. Malhotra, Joint Secretary (Centre States), Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr. N.S. Kalsi; Head Government Verticals, b Systematic India, Mr. Nitraj Singh and Chairman,. ASSOCHAM Cyber Law Committee, Mr. Pavan Duggal and its Secretary General, Mr. D S Rawat. In it   police officials of over a dozen states were also present on the occasion.

It has also recommended that Cyber Appellate Tribunal should also be empowered with more teeth to ensure that all its judgments can only be challenged in the supreme court of India and not referred to High Courts as is the practice as of now.
In addition, it called for constitution of International Court of Cyber Justice since cyber crimes have no borders for which India should take a lead because it happens to be one of the leaders in the field of Information Technology in the world.
The consensus view amongst the experts was that in view of increasing cyber crimes, Indian government needs to evolve a National Security Policy which should be implemented in all government departments with perfect harmony and awareness. The cyber crimes cannot be effectively handled unless the proposed policy is put in place said, Mr. Malhotra.

Mr. Duggal who is also a Senior Supreme Court Advocate emphasized that IT Act originally provided for grant of no bail on guilt for committing cyber crimes. However, with IT amendment Act of 2008 which became operational in December 2009 made such crimes bailable.

As a result, cyber criminals are not dealt with stringent provisions of law and often escape the legitimately required punishment. This needs to be reviewed and cyber crimes made non-bailable so that it works as a strong deterrent for those who intend to commit such crimes said, Mr. Malhotra and Mr. Singh.

The experts also felt that Cyber Appellate Tribunal currently lacks sufficient teeth as its judgments can be questioned even in High Courts. What is needed is more legal and judicial empowerment for this tribunal to make sure that its pronouncements can be referred only to Supreme Court.

According to Additional Secretary, Ministry of Law & Justice, “India being one of the leaders in IT and ITEs needs to initiate an exercise for constitution of International Court of Cyber Crime because, such crimes have no borders. The proposed court could be on the line of International Court of Justice and effectively try cyber crimes. This has become necessary because cyber terrorism has already gained firm grounds in many countries and one way to prevent it could be through constitution of proposed court”. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

NEED FOR ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISM STRESSED

Thesynergyonline Legal Bureau

NEW DELHI, JAN 30 :
STANDING Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) organized a seminar on 'Making Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Work'here today. It was inaugurated by Mr Salman Khurshid, Minister of State (I/C) for Corporate Affairs. Justice Madan B Lokur, Judge, High Court of Delhi was guest of honour.

Mr. Arup Roy Choudhury, Chairman, SCOPE & President, SCOPE Forum for Conciliation and Arbitration (SFCA) and Dr Gita Rawat, Jt. Secretary and Arbitrator, DPE addressed the seminar. Dr U.D. Choubey, Director General, SCOPE, Mr Ashok Sharma, Chairman, Standing Legal Committee &Chief General Manager, MMTC and Mr U.K. Gupta, Director (Technical) SCOPE and Member Secretary, SFCA also spoke on the occasion.

In his address Mr Salman Khurshid, Minister of State (I/C) for Corporate Affairs said that government will give high importance to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism to settle disputes amicably. He said that the government is cognizant of the fact that the number of Judges are less as compared to the number of litigations in the Court. Problem of disputes is inevitable in a growing economy and there is therefore need for development of some alternative forums.

Commending SCOPE Forum for Conciliation & Arbitration (SFCA), the Minister said he would carry back to the Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and make sure that SFCA gets the importance it deserves. He said the Law Ministry is taking vigorous steps for disposal of pending cases. "

"There is need to do some exercise within the government and the Committee of Disputes (CoD) and Permanent Machinery of Arbitration (PMA) need a fresh look," he added.

Justice Madan B Lokur, Judge, High Court of Delhi advised industry and business people to look at the alternative justice delivery systems. Emphasizing that mediation has tremendous advantage vis-à-vis litigation, he advised training for mediators, arbitrators etc. Justice Lokur said mediation forums started in Delhi since 2005 has so far resolved 18178 cases in less than five years. Every month about 500 cases are being resolved, he added.

Chairman, SCOPE Mr. Arup Roy Choudhury urged the government to empower the SFCA so that the decisions taken by it become mandatory. He assured that SFCA would make decisions within a specified time.

Dr U.D. Choubey, DG, SCOPE in his address said ADR can minimize time and cost aspects of arbitration which PSEs are incurring on arbitration and the same can be better used for saving useful resources of the public sector.

In her address Dr Gita Rawat, Jt. Secretary & Arbitrator, DPE mentioned about advantages of ADR and various forums set up by the government for resolution of disputes. Mr. Ashok Sharma, gave programme perspective while Shri U.K. Gupta, Director (T), SCOPE proposed a vote of thanks. The programme is being attended by about 90 Executive Directors/General Managers (Law) and other senior executives from public and private sector enterprises, arbitrators etc. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

INDIAN AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS FILE OBJECTIONS AGAINST GOOGLE BOOK SETTLEMENT

Thesynergyonline Legal Bureau

NEW DELHI, JAN 28 :
INDIAN authors and publishers, along with the Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO) and Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), today filed their objections against Google Book Settlement’s (GBS 2.0) violation of Indian and International copyright laws.

The filing at the New York District Court has been made by eminent Indian authors and publishers including Star Publications , Abhinav Publications, Daya Publication House and Pustak Mahal.

“The Google Book Settlement is contrary to every international treaty that governs Copyright laws. Google’s unilateral conduct is a brazen attempt to turn Copyright law on its head, by usurping the exclusive rights of the Copyright holder,” says Siddharth Arya, legal counsel for IRRO.

Since 2004, Google has scanned over seven million books from across the world. Following this, the Authors Guild of America sued the company for copyright infringement, resulting in the Google Book Settlement that was binding on almost all authors and publishers. Thereafter, several objections by countries, such as France and Germany, as well as the United States Department of Justice, the Court asked Google to file a revised settlement," he adds.

"The outcome - GBS 2.0, incorporates minor cosmetic changes but continues to violate basic copyright laws. At the same time, it retains several fundamental issues in the original settlement, such as a mechanism known as ‘opt out’. This implies that if a person is silent, he is deemed to have consented to an agreement, thus fundamentally altering his rights, a concept inherently unfair and contrary to existing legal principles, he says.

Arya adds, “It is outrageous that Indian authors and publishers are forced parties to an agreement that has been negotiated on their behalf by a few publishers alone, without any representation of their interests. Furthermore, the specifics of the agreement have not been communicated to the affected parties. Our objections are centered around these issues, and we are currently awaiting the court hearing scheduled for mid-February.”

The current scope of GBS2.0 is books that are either registered with the United States Copyright Office or published in the UK, Canada and Australia. However, it impacts the rest of the world as much, since any author published in the aforementioned countries is included in the settlement. In the current global economy, Indian authors like to see themselves published abroad for higher royalties and better professional services.

In the US, the campaign against GBS 2.0 is being led by the Open Book Alliance, members of which include the American Society of Journalists and Authors; National Writers Union; New York Library Association; US Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, as well as non-profit organisation such as the Internet Archive, the Small Press Distribution and the Special Libraries Association, and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, along with several multinationals like Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

AICBA HAILS SC MODIFICATION ORDER REMOVING RESTRICTIONS ON CONDUCT OF FIELD TRIALS

Thesynergyonline News Service

NEW DELHI, INDIA , FEB 21 : THE All India Crop Biotech Association (AICBA) , the association of India's agriculture biotech companies, hass welcomed the Supreme Court Order in the PIL filed by Aruna Rodrigues giving the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) final authority on all field trial applications and permissions for biotech crops based on guidelines and examination of bio-safety considerations.

This paves the way for GEAC to progress approvals of existing applications, as well as further applications for biotech crop field trials that the Court had earlier restricted. This decision will accelerate the development of biotechnology in India and is in line with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister's recommendation to utilize biotechnology to boost agricultural productivity and improve the status of our farmers.

AICBA reaffirms that the existing Indian regulatory mechanism concerning biotech is harmonized and comparable to the regulatory mechanism existing in other countries.

Thus far, cotton with Bt technologies is the only approved biotech crop technology introduced in India in 2002. Interestingly, India's cotton production has nearly doubled to ~310 lakh bales in 2007-08, from 158 lakh bales in 2001. During these years, India has also emerged as the world's second largest producer and third largest exporter of cotton, all within six years of introduction of the GM cotton technology. In the 2007 season, Bt cotton was adopted on 63% of India's total cotton acres (14.4 million), which is a clear example of biotechnology that is addressing the needs of India's small landholding farmers, and farmers' testament to the acceptance and potential of agri biotechnology.

Mr. R.K. Sinha, Executive Director, All India Crop Biotech Association (AICBA) commented, "With decreasing resources and increasing demand for food and fuel, it is crucial that we increase yields. Farmers have two primary needs. Firstly, for better quality seed and technology that protects and maximizes yield potential; and secondly, appropriate knowledge on newer technologies so that farmers can realize increased yields. These will result in greater economic returns for farmers."

Worldwide, millions of farmers in over 20 countries are benefiting from agri biotechnology and there is much science-based justifiable evidence why Indian farmers should be given access to this technology and reap these benefits. Biotechnology is one tool that can help increase the productivity of Indian agriculture.

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