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Key issues under Section 186 for a corporate lawyer

Legislative History of Section 186:

Granting of inter-corporate loans, making investments and provisions for guarantees was previously regulated by Sections 370 and 372 of the Companies Act, 1956 (the“1956 Act”), which mandated prior Central Government approval (along with compliance with certain other stringent guidelines prescribed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs) for giving loans/ guarantee/ security in excess of the limits prescribed under the said sections. This position was subsequently changed with the enactment of Section 372A of the 1956 Act (by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1999), which replaced the need to obtain prior government approval with a self-regulatory mechanism, which mandated prior shareholder approval by a special resolution before granting inter-corporate loans, guarantees or securities beyond the limits prescribed therein..

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Dark Side of Advertising: Decoding Dark Patterns for Platforms and Endorsers

Recent concerns with mis-advertising have led to various pro-consumer measures in India. This includes overhauling the consumer laws and attaching liability to platforms, sellers and advertisers (including influencers and celebrities) for misleading ads and malpractices.

The latest pro-consumer measure is the regulation of dark pattern practices, by way of notification of ‘Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023’ (“Guidelines”).

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Comparing Global Privacy Regimes Under GDPR, DPDPA and US Data Protection Laws

Nearly five years after a landmark Supreme Court ruling, which reiterated that information privacy is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution, India finally enacted its Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (the “DPDPA” or “Act”), on August 11, 2023.

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Primer on IRDAI Information and Cyber Security Guidelines 2023

Introduction

On September 14, 2023, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (“IRDAI”) set up an inter-disciplinary standing committee on cyber security, tasked with regularly reviewing the threats inherent in the existing or emerging technologies and suggest appropriate changes to the IRDAI Information and Cyber Security framework to further strengthen the insurance industry’s cyber security posture and resilience.[1] This is in furtherance to the IRDAI having notified the Information and Cyber Security Guidelines on April 24, 2023 (“CS Guidelines 2023”).

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What is the Business Judgment Rule?

The Business Judgment Rule is a legal presumption evolved by Delaware courts. It was thereafter adopted by most commonwealth countries. The presumption is that while making business decisions, Directors of a company act in good faith, on an informed basis and in the honest belief that the action is in the best interest of the company. If the above conditions are satisfied, the Board of Directors will not suffer a legal liability from a bad business decision. The rationale being that in an inherently risky global business environment, the Board should be allowed to take business risks without the constant fear of lawsuits.

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Arbitrability of insurance disputes – IRDAI clears the air

Recently, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (“IRDAI”) has settled the ambiguity surrounding arbitrability of insurance disputes vide its circular titled Amendment of Arbitration Clause in General Insurance Policies dated October 27, 2023 (“Circular”)[1]. This issue stems from the All India Fire Tariff  (“AIFT”) issued by the Tariff Advisory Committee (“TAC”) on May 31, 2005.

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INTERPRETING ‘DIAGNOSTIC’ UNDER SECTION 3(I) OF THE PATENTS ACT

Section 3(i) of the Indian Patents Act makes patent ineligible “any process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic diagnostic, therapeutic or other treatment of human beings or any process for a similar treatment of animals to render them free of disease or to increase their economic value or that of their products”. Two recent Madras High Court decisions, in respect of  two separate appeals filed by the same Appellant, Chinese University of Hong Kong [CMA (PT) No. 14 of 2023 and CMA(PT) No. 1 of 2023] have deliberated upon the scope of “diagnostic” under Section 3(i) of the Patents Act, 1970. In both the cases, the Court, held that the word “diagnostic” in Section 3(i) of the Patents Act, should be construed, to consider processes that uncover pathology for the treatment of human beings, as being patent ineligible.

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Division Bench altering the interpretation of Section 16 of the Indian Patents Act

The order of the Division Bench (DB) of the Delhi high Court in Syngenta Ltd v Controller of Patents and Designs brought an overdue clarity on the interpretation of Section 16[1] of the Indian Patents Act, dealing with divisional patent applications.

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