articles
Intellectual Property Rights
Foreign filing license - Some issues
11 October 2018
Any person (inventor or applicant) who is an Indian resident, may wish to file a patent application (an application) in foreign countries due to various reasons, such as market potential, licensing opportunities, or other business policies. In such cases, the person may choose to either first file the application in India or obtain a foreign filing permission from the Indian Patent Office.
Intellectual Property Rights
White Paper on Data Protection and Privacy
11 October 2018
The Government of India constituted a Committee of Experts on July 31st, 2017 under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court justice B.N. Srikrishna with the objective to identify and study the key issues relating to data protection in India and make specific suggestions on principles to be considered for data protection in India and suggest a draft Data Protection Bill.
Direct Tax
Amalgamation – Action in concert for tax benefit?
08 October 2018
The High Court of Gujarat observed in Wood Polymer [ See End Note 1] "and the court would not lend its assistance to defeat public interest, namely, tax provision.” A recent order of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) refusing to accord sanction to amalgamation scheme has raised certain interesting yet important questions.
Direct Tax, International Trade & WTO
Has the clock stopped ticking? India’s export subsidies under the SCM Agreement
18 September 2018
The United States has upped the ante in its efforts to – what it perceives – rebalance its trade dynamic with other countries. This has inevitably led to a trade war between the United States and other major economies, particularly China.
Goods and Services Tax
Preparing for GST Audit & Annual Returns
13 September 2018
Goods & Services Tax (GST) is a self-assessment and trust-based system of taxation wherein the registered person himself assesses and deposits his tax liability without any interference of tax officers. Due to such nature of the tax system, various types of audit mechanism have been incorporated to ensure compliance with the provisions by verifying the correctness of declared turnover, taxes paid, refunds claimed and tax credit availed.
Insolvency
Section 29A of IBC: Impact and Recent Developments
06 September 2018
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (‘Code’) aims for resolution of insolvency as opposed to liquidation. The law was framed with the intention to expedite and simplify the process of insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings in India ensuring fair negotiations between opposite parties and encouraging revival of the company by formulation of a resolution plan.
Arbitration
Pendency of objections to an arbitral award amounts to a dispute for the purposes of section 9 of IBC
06 September 2018
Supreme Court had an occasion to decide whether the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’) can be invoked in respect of an Operational Debt where an Arbitral Award has been passed in favour of the Operational Creditor in respect of such Operational Debt, but, the objections against the said Arbitral Award are pending under Section 34 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘A&C Act’).
Intellectual Property Rights
Standard Essential Patents - The Philips judgement & unanswered questions
28 August 2018
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Philips), being one of the first Standard Essential Patent holders to initiate SEP litigation in India, has secured a major victory in what is believed to be the first ever ‘post-trial’ judgment in an SEP litigation.
Direct Tax, International Trade & WTO
Anti-circumvention investigation concerning Glass Fibre: Resolving inconsistencies in practice and interpretation
27 August 2018
Circumvention of anti-dumping duty is one of the foremost challenges for investigating authorities. In spite of the absence of normative provisions concerning circumvention in the WTO’s Anti-Dumping Agreement, Member nations of the WTO have developed their own frameworks for dealing with anti-circumvention.
Direct Tax
Deemed Associated Enterprises - Interplay between Sections 92A(1) and 92A(2)
27 August 2018
Section 92 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) provides that any income arising from an international transaction shall be computed, having regard to the arm’s length price.
Goods and Services Tax
Refund of GST under Inverted Duty Structure
23 August 2018
Goods and Services Tax (GST) was launched in India on July 1, 2017 after for about a decade from the time it was first proposed.
Insolvency
India’s proposal to recognise cross border insolvency
13 August 2018
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India has invited suggestions on a draft chapter on Cross Border Insolvency (Proposed Amendment) proposed to be included within the framework of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) by a public notice dated 20-6-2018 (Notice).
Regulatory Laws
A comparative analysis of legal remedies available to home-buyers in India
13 August 2018
Prior to the enactment of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (“RERA”), aggrieved home-buyers had the options of approaching the consumer courts [see End Note 1] or the civil courts to address their grievances. However,
International Trade & WTO
Panel report in Australia – Plain packaging: A “healthy” verdict
30 July 2018
On 28 June 2018, the WTO circulated the much-awaited panel report in the Plain Packaging complaints brought against Australia by five WTO members.
Direct Tax
Extensive control of non-resident over Indian entity – A taxing relation!!
26 July 2018
A recent ruling by the Authority for Advance Ruling on Income Tax (AAR) in the case of FRS Hotel Group (Lux) S.a.r,l, [(2018) 94 taxmann.com 23 (AAR- New Delhi)] on the issue of operation and management contract for the hotels has brought a question mark on such contract.
Goods and Services Tax
E-way bill system – Time to relax penal provisions
24 July 2018
It has been more than a year since India made the historic transition from the traditional indirect taxation regime comprising of central excise duty, service tax, VAT, etc., to an all-new integrated indirect taxation regime i.e. Goods and Services (GST).
Intellectual Property Rights
Goodwill and reputation of trademark in India - Worldwide prior use plays significant role
16 July 2018
A Single Judge of the Delhi High Court vide its Order dated May 31, 2018 in the case of H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB & ANR v.
Direct Tax
Retention money - Is recognition as contract revenue sufficient to tax it early
27 June 2018
The Central Government, in exercise of its powers conferred under the Income tax law[See endnote. 1] notified[See endnote. 2], in September 2016, Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (shortly, ‘ICDS’) that would govern computation of income of an assessee (interchangeably used in this article
Goods and Services Tax
GST and amortization – An unceasing connection
26 June 2018
In our previous article published in the 82nd issue of Tax Amicus in April 2018 (https://www.lakshmisri.com/News-and-Publications/Publications/Articles/Tax/relevance-of-amortization-for-valuation-under-gst-law), we highlighted the inconsistency arising out of a joint reading of Section 15(1) of the