European Commission Fines Apple $1.95 Billion For Antitrust Practices Towards Spotify

After an extensive investigation, the European Commission has imposed a substantial fine of €1.8 billion, equivalent to about $1.95 billion, on tech giant Apple. The commission found Apple guilty of "abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps" concerning iPhone and iPad users. This decision follows a complaint filed by Spotify, which...

Advisory Support Service Relating To Software Falls Within Service By Software Engineer: CESTAT

The Chandigarh Bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) allowed the service tax exemption to Yamaha Motor's subsidiary and held that advisory support services relating to software clearly fall within the domain of the service provided by a software engineer.The bench of S. S. Garg (Judicial Member) and P. Anjani Kumar (Technical Member) has observed that activities...

Delhi High Court Refuses Pre-Censorship Of Content Against Rohingya Community On Facebook, Says Treatment Can't Be Worse Than Disease

The Delhi High Court has refused to pass an order directing the Union Government to restrain Facebook India from allegedly promoting “hateful and harmful content” against the Rohingya community on the social media platform. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that the suggestion that there should be prior censorship of...

Publish Review Committee Orders Relating To Internet Shutdowns In Jammu & Kashmir : Supreme Court To Centre

In a significant development on Tuesday, January 30, the Supreme Court called for the publication of review committee orders concerning internet shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir.This observation was made by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol in response to an application filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals, pressing for compliance with the court's May 2020 judgment. In...

Calcutta High Court Distributes 'Dragon Legal Speech Recognition Software' To Judicial Officers of WB & Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Calcutta High Court has announced the distribution of Dragon Legal Speech Recognition Software to judicial officers of West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The 'cutting-edge' software, enabled by artificial intelligence, aims to assist judicial officers in fulfilling their day-to-day roles even in the absence of support staff such as stenographers, by converting their spoken word...

Delhi High Court Seeks Centre's Stand On PIL Against Non-Regulation Of Artificial Intelligence And Deepfake Technologies

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought stand of the Central Government on a public interest litigation against the non-regulation of Artificial Intelligence and deepfake technologies in India.A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna granted time to Central Government's counsel Apoorv Kurup to obtain instructions in the matter. The case will now be heard...

Review Bombing| Kerala High Court Calls For 'Close Watch' Of Online Platforms Against Anonymous & Malicious Film Reviews

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday called for a 'close watch' on online platforms to ensure that that anonymous and mala fide reviews of films are not allowed to circulate on such platforms. Justice Devan Ramachandran directed the concerned authorities to take necessary action under the Information Technology Act ('IT Act'), and implement the same scrupulously, against any such...

Can't Charge For iPhone Repair Service Within Warranty Period, South Chennai District Commission Holds Apple And Its Service Providers Liable

The South Chennai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission bench is comprised of TMT. B. Jijaa (President), T.R. Sivakumhar (Member) and S Nandagopalan (Member) held Apple India Private Limited, B2X Service Solution India Pvt Ltd, and iCare Apple Authorized Service Centre jointly and severally liable for deficiency of service for refusing to repair an iPhone which was under...

Delhi High Court Protects Actor Anil Kapoor's Personality Rights, Restrains Use Of His Name, Image Or Voice Without Consent

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday passed an interim order protecting the personality rights of Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and restrained various entities from misusing his image, name, voice or other elements of his persona for monetary gains without his consent. Justice Prathiba M Singh also restrained “other unknown persons” from disseminating various videos, links of which will...

Digital Personal Data Protection Act Is An Outlier, Not In A Good Way : Apar Gupta

On August 12, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act received the assent of the President of India, clearing the way for the act to come into force when notified by the central government. It is the first law made for processing data in India and it brings several amendments to the Right to Information Act and the Information Technology Act. According to the preamble of the...

“Cloud Service Fee” Received By Amazon From Customers In India Is Not Taxable As Royalty, FTS, FIS: ITAT

The Delhi Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that cloud computing services provided by Amazon Web Services cannot be held liable to tax in India as royalty and fee for technical or included services (FTS/FIS).The bench of G.S. Pannu (President) and Astha Chandra (Judicial Member) has observed that the AWS services provided by Amazon are standardised services that do...

Google Appeals To Supreme Court Against NCLAT Order Upholding Rs. 1337.76 Crores Penalty Imposed By CCI

The tech giant Google has filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, challenging the order dated 29.03.2023 passed by the National Company Law appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”), New Delhi, whereby the imposition of Rs. 1337.76 Crores penalty on Google by the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) was upheld. Google has been penalized for abusing its dominant position in the Android OS...