So, I have this tree, okay?

Back in July or so, my great grandmother died after living for 101 years. It wasn't really a shock she'd passed, but what was a shock, was how long it took before she did. I know, that sounds harsh, right? It's not meant to. Her husband passed twelve years ago, her brother passed several years before then, so on and so forth. She's the only one of her immediate family to make it to 2022, except her daughter (my father's mother).

So, in her passing, she left a house full of stuff, and all her plants. Now, at the time, I was barely keeping myself, a christmas cactus, three pots of chives, and some odd bulb plant alive, I had no idea what to do with all her plants too. And my parents didn't want them, since my mom had her own plants to take care of. So my best friend (sister from another mother) took the big tree things and a couple other smaller plants that kinda got lost in the mix.

She was going to take this weird stick with scattered leaves, but something interesting happened when I watered them, since it took a week or so at my house before she could get them. I swear, I heard a soft male voice thanking me for the water I gave to this weird tree thing. I swear, I heard "thank you". So I vowed to keep him, the voice and the tree, safe.

After a failed Google search on slow data and a bad connection, Google claimed it was a Ficus tree, so I started calling it 'Ficcy'. When my data was restored and I tried again with the search (everyone kept saying he wasn't a Ficus), Google came back with the correct answer that he's a Hibiscus Tree, but the name Ficcy sort of stuck. I haven't heard the voice since moving him into the light in my living room window, but that's okay. I can tell Ficcy is happy without the voice telling me he's happy. He keeps growing more and bigger leaves, and every now and then, he'll pop up with a flower or three per branch. He's no longer just a weird stick with a few leaves, but a brilliant tree with reddish pink flowers all over the place.

And he's beautiful.

He's picked up a few yellow leaves for autumn, but he keeps growing in more and more to replace them. So much so, that he's getting to the point where he'll be ready for a trimming to make a bunch of baby Ficcy trees.

I even took to taking a few of the smaller ones to take macro shots with my phone.

But at the end of the day, when all is said and done, he's a beautiful tree that is happy where he is, and still blooming, even with a few yellow leaves popping up here and there. And those other trees my friend got? They're thrilled to be in a new home with someone who can care for them the way they wanted.

Oh, I forgot to mention, it's a great possibility that Ficcy is about 20ish years old. How wild is that?

My beloved Ficcy the Hibiscus Tree.

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs,PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company, Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service and more.

New Post has been published on https://www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center/flipkart-and-ficci-to-conduct-e-commerce-workshop-series-for-msmespaypal-acquires-online-deal-finding-company-amazon-echo-will-now-play-spotifys-free-music-service-and-more/

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs,PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company, Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service and more.

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs; PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company for USD 4 billion; E-Commerce Sites Top List of Consumer Complaints in India; Shutterstock Offers Affordable Music Licensing for Content Creators; Amazon’s Music Streaming Service is Now Free; Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service; Apple Finally Enters the B2B Streaming Market; Streaming Service Mubi Launches in India; Frozen 2 Release Accompanied by Record 67 Brand Deals in India and more.

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs

Flipkart, the e-commerce marketplace owned by American retail giant Walmart, has partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to launch a workshop series aimed at Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME). The workshops, to be conducted across India starting with Ahmedabad in November, will be themed ‘Winning big with e-commerce’, and will aim to help MSMEs understand the e-commerce industry, how it can help them, and how they can build their business and increase brand visibility. According to Flipkart, its representatives will address specific accounting and taxation issues, access to capital, how to identify new opportunities, the importance of brand building online, how to build and scale their brands, and supply chain management and inventory planning for e-commerce. These workshops will then move to other Indian cities, including Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Guwahati, and Nagpur.

PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company for USD 4 billion

PayPal, the American online payment company, is acquiring Honey Science Corporation, a company that operates a deal-finding browser add-on and mobile application, for USD 4 billion, mostly cash. Honey, which has 17 million monthly active users, tracks sales and retailers’ promo codes, provides consumers with the option to browse the best offers, and automatically selects the best cost-saving promo code while checking out on online shopping sites. The company also rolled out a price-tracking feature which informs shoppers of an item’s price history. Honey’s browser extension now works across approximately 30,000 websites, including fashion, technology, travel, and even pizza delivery sites. It claims that its users have saved a total of more than USD 2 billion till date.

With this acquisition, PayPal will now gain a giant foothold in the online shopping market, featuring earlier in the consumer’s shopping experience rather than just on the payment page, where it currently competes against credit cards or Apple Pay, for instance. PayPal has been facing increased competition from giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook, who have recently begun entering the payments market, apart from its traditional competitors in credit card companies.

E-Commerce Sites Top List of Consumer Complaints in India

According to data from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, e-commerce companies topped the list of consumer complaints received on the government’s national helpline, with one in every five complaints directed against an e-commerce company. The list was led by Flipkart, Reliance Jio, and Amazon. More than 100,000 of the 500,000 plus complaints were against e-commerce companies, with banks following with 41,600, and telecom garnering 29,400. A ministry official said that the increase in the number of complaints against e-commerce companies was likely due to the growth in their consumer base. Most of the complaints against the e-commerce companies pertained to spurious products, problems in exchange, and delayed delivery, while those against telecom companies were related to overbilling, data deduction, and connectivity problems.

The government has responded to increasing dissatisfaction among consumers by shoring up its grievance redressal mechanism. The Ministry launched a mobile application where consumers could register their complaints, which would be redressed within 60 days. The government has also published draft e-commerce rules which focusses on e-commerce companies’ obligations and mechanisms of grievance redressal. Another ministry official claimed that companies, however, were responding well to complaints—of 565,000 complaints received last year, 555,000 were resolved, and a similar resolution rate is expected this year.

Shutterstock Offers Affordable Music Licensing for Content Creators

Shutterstock, the American provider of stock photography, is expanding its offerings to include music. It has launched an unlimited music subscription plan for USD 149 per month, giving content creators and digital marketers access to more than 11,000 tracks that can be included in web-based content, like YouTube videos, podcasts, and conference presentations. The Shutterstock Music Library, which will be searchable by genre, mood, or popularity, has been curated by professional musicians, and hundreds of tracks will be added every month. According to Shutterstock, this is a cost-effective feature for marketers lacking the budget and resources to pursue high-end music productions, and “frees them to focus on the creative vision rather than worrying about budget”.

Amazon’s Music Streaming Service is Now Free

Online retail giant Amazon is now offering its music streaming service free, with advertisements. While it previously offered free, ad-supported music streaming to owners of its smart device Echo, it is now expanding a 2 million song catalogue same to all customers. This is the same catalogue offered to those who have subscribed to Amazon’s Prime membership, albeit with advertisements.

This move won’t ruffle any feathers among major music streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, considering Amazon’s music catalogue is much smaller, and is not supported by personalisation technology as advanced as what drives Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist, for instance. Amazon’s move, instead, is aimed at making its Prime subscription more appealing to its consumers, encouraging them to subscribe to remove ads. Amazon’s Prime subscription is one of the company’s major focuses, as Prime members will shop more often from Amazon’s e-commerce site, which is where its profits primarily lie.

Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service

Swedish-American music streaming provider Spotify, whose service previously worked with Amazon Echo only for premium subscribers, has now extended support on the smart device for its free tier users. Similar support will now also be available on smart speakers manufactured by American audio manufacturing company Bose and consumer electronics company Sonos. This news comes on the heels of Amazon’s announcement that its own music service would become free across devices. Though Amazon’s limited 2 million song catalogue doesn’t make it much of a competitor to Spotify, which boasts of over 50 million songs as well as powerful personalisation capabilities, Spotify’s stock dropped almost 5% following Amazon’s announcement.

Apple Finally Enters the B2B Streaming Market

Technology behemoth Apple has finally announced its much-anticipated move into the Business-to-Business (B2B) streaming market, with department store Harrods and clothing company Levi’s already using Apple’s music streaming service Apple Music in their stores. While regular Apple Music or Spotify subscriptions do not permit use on commercial premises, providing B2B streaming at additional costs has long seemed an obvious way for streaming services to generate extra revenue.

Streaming services Pandora and Sirius already offer B2B services in the US, while there are companies like Mood Media and Playnetwork whose primary business is providing music to retail clients. Apple seemed to confirm its plans to enter the market when it registered trademarks for Apple Music for Business last year, and Spotify has demonstrated interest in retail-focussed Soundtrack Your Brand, which published a study in 2018 estimating that the music industry was missing out on revenues worth USD 2.65 billion per year by not exploiting B2B streaming to its fullest.

Streaming Service Mubi Launches in India

12-year old movie streaming and rental service Mubi has launched in India. Unlike more well-known streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, Mubi’s primary selling point is its selection of critically acclaimed movies. Mubi also maintains a stark difference from its larger competitors in the market by maintaining a small catalogue of just 30 movies at any given point, with every new title being accompanied by the exit of an existing one; no movie stays longer than 30 days on the platform. Founded in 2007, Mubi initial business plan mirrored that of services like Netflix. However, realising financial constraints, Mubi rerouted itself into its current form of offering a very limited selection, focussing on lesser-known critical gems.

Having amassed 9 million subscribers worldwide, Mubi has launched in India at a much lower price point than in other countries—much like other streaming services. It has also, for the first time, launched a dedicated channel for local movies. With access to both the local and global channels, Indian subscribers will have access to 60 movies. Mubi has appointed Academy Award-winning film producer Guneet Monga, of Gangs of Wasseypur– and Lunchbox-fame, as its content advisor.

Frozen 2 Release Accompanied by Record 67 Brand Deals in India

The release of Frozen 2, Disney’s sequel to its 2013 animated blockbuster, in India has been anteceded by a flurry of merchandising as Disney India has signed sponsorship deals with a record 67 brands, the highest such number for an animated movie in the country. These partnerships involve brands like toy retailer Hamleys, fashion brands Max and Reliance Trends, clothing chain Pantaloons, and e-commerce company Flipkart.

A special Frozen collection has been launched by Pantaloons for young girls, which includes joggers, leggings, sweatshirts, sweater dresses, and footwear. Hasbro, the toy and board games company, will roll out a range of new dolls and playsets inspired by the two protagonists, Elsa and Anna, while multinational conglomerate ITC has launched a line of stationery products including notebooks, geometry boxes, and colouring sets based on the movie. Paint company Asian Paints has introduced a series of wall décor derived from the film, while Flipkart will be selling Frozen themed merchandise across categories. This amassing of deals is symptomatic of a trend of increasing localisation and marketing initiatives by Hollywood studios in India.

  Authored and compiled by  Param Gupta 

The Licensing and E-Commerce News Bulletin is brought to you jointly by the E-Commerce Law and Consulting/Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to [email protected]  with the subject: Licensing News.

Disclaimer: Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to [email protected]  for corrections and take down.

India can’t afford to stay an ostrich within the fashionable world

http://tinyurl.com/y4vsb2wt Our legal guidelines on sports activities betting are steeped in a misplaced sense of morality that’s far faraway from the fact of recent India. Nearly a 12 months after the Legislation Fee of India really helpful that betting be legalised, no strikes have been made to enact a regulation that takes under consideration the realities of the digital age and the worldwide scene. Most Western nations, which lay far higher stress on battle of curiosity and ethics in sport, permit for some type of betting. Whereas the UK, Germany, Australia and Spain permit all types of playing, america has a extra state-specific method. The regulation fee advocated that Parliament give you a mannequin laws which may then be examined and tweaked by state governments for implementation. Sports activities playing and betting are coated beneath the state listing and the Centre can solely recommend pointers. Horse racing has not confronted any strictures in the case of betting. So, the logic of not extending this to different skill-based sports activities doesn’t maintain a lot credence past what seems to be the jaundiced notion that the inhabitants at massive doesn’t have the psychological bandwidth to not be led astray. The regulation panel additionally urged a cap on the variety of bets that may be positioned, linking of PAN and Aadhaar playing cards to bets whereas dividing them into small and huge relying on the quantities in competition. That will nicely permit checks on compulsive playing and forestall it from morphing right into a psychological dysfunction. If bets are legalised, the spectre of fixing may additionally be exorcised as vital betting patterns may be traced after which linked to sporting performances. Shashi Tharoor had even launched a personal Invoice in December 2018 advocating for legalisation however nothing got here of it. The UK is a basic instance of how sport can profit from playing as the first supply for sports activities funding comes from the Nationwide Lottery. This then goes into investing in long-term improvement programmes in addition to fostering sporting actions for the lay citizen.India’s method to sports activities betting has been largely ostrich-like. Sufficient scandals and investigations have revealed that there’s rampant betting on cricket matches. The Board of Management for Cricket in India has taken cognisance of exposes to ban many a participant through the years. Simply that for need of a authorized framework that may penalise them or management them, most of those instances haven’t held up in courtroom. The Worldwide Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit additionally concluded that India is a large hub for bookies and alluded that legalisation would assist examine the menace. FICCI has been pushing for betting for a variety of years. Its functionaries have gone on document to say that the transfer would deliver beneath the authorized ambit financial actions within the vary of Rs 3,00,000 crore and that in flip will solely assist foster sport and welfare actions as this can be a income stream that’s going untapped. Legalising betting can even generate jobs and usher in international direct funding to states that look to casinos to strengthen tourism. The very fact stays that India has did not rein in clandestine betting in sports activities. This has change into the area of the mafia and felony components. It in flip has led to an influx right into a parallel financial system which additional creates regulation and order issues. As an alternative of letting this income go into unscrupulous fingers, prudence means that this be channelised by a structured format, which might permit for fostering the expansion of sport. Estimates put the dimensions of the unlawful betting market within the neighborhood of Rs 10 lakh crore and all this cash is flowing into the fingers of the underworld. The UK will make investments £309 million derived from its Nationwide Lottery into sport in from 2017 to 2021. On the identical time, betting regulators within the UK recommend that there could also be as many as two million downside gamblers who threat dependancy. This damaging social fallout notion doesn’t lower a lot ice with proponents of legalisation as they assert that India could have many extra such addicts than the UK, however since all betting occurs underground, there is no such thing as a solution to even monitor such indexes. There’s a mythological slur on playing in India because the epic Mahabharata illustrates how the Pandavas misplaced their kingdom in a recreation of cube. However the actuality of recent India is much faraway from the morality of the epics and it’s time our lawmakers recognised that. For lawmakers to look away at the same time as clandestine betting thrives within the nation is a disservice to sport. Sukhwant Basra is a former sports activities editor of Hindustan Occasions Your information to the newest cricket World Cup tales, evaluation, studies, opinions, dwell updates and scores on https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/series/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019.html. Observe us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook web page for updates all through the continuing occasion in England and Wales. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function() {n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)} ; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '259288058299626'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({appId: '1117108234997285', version: 2.4, xfbml: true}); // *** here is my code *** if (typeof facebookInit == 'function') { facebookInit(); } }; (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; e.async = true; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); function facebookInit() { console.log('Found FB: Loading comments.'); FB.XFBML.parse(); } Source link

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs, PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company, Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service and more.

New Post has been published on https://www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center/flipkart-and-ficci-to-conduct-e-commerce-workshop-series-for-msmes-paypal-acquires-online-deal-finding-company-amazon-echo-will-now-play-spotifys-free-music-service-and-more/

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs, PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company, Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service and more.

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs; PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company for USD 4 billion; E-Commerce Sites Top List of Consumer Complaints in India; Shutterstock Offers Affordable Music Licensing for Content Creators; Amazon’s Music Streaming Service is Now Free; Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service; Apple Finally Enters the B2B Streaming Market; Streaming Service Mubi Launches in India; Frozen 2 Release Accompanied by Record 67 Brand Deals in India and more.

Flipkart and FICCI to Conduct E-Commerce Workshop Series for MSMEs

Flipkart, the e-commerce marketplace owned by American retail giant Walmart, has partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to launch a workshop series aimed at Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME). The workshops, to be conducted across India starting with Ahmedabad in November, will be themed ‘Winning big with e-commerce’, and will aim to help MSMEs understand the e-commerce industry, how it can help them, and how they can build their business and increase brand visibility. According to Flipkart, its representatives will address specific accounting and taxation issues, access to capital, how to identify new opportunities, the importance of brand building online, how to build and scale their brands, and supply chain management and inventory planning for e-commerce. These workshops will then move to other Indian cities, including Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Guwahati, and Nagpur.

PayPal Acquires Online Deal-Finding Company for USD 4 billion

PayPal, the American online payment company, is acquiring Honey Science Corporation, a company that operates a deal-finding browser add-on and mobile application, for USD 4 billion, mostly cash. Honey, which has 17 million monthly active users, tracks sales and retailers’ promo codes, provides consumers with the option to browse the best offers, and automatically selects the best cost-saving promo code while checking out on online shopping sites. The company also rolled out a price-tracking feature which informs shoppers of an item’s price history. Honey’s browser extension now works across approximately 30,000 websites, including fashion, technology, travel, and even pizza delivery sites. It claims that its users have saved a total of more than USD 2 billion till date.

With this acquisition, PayPal will now gain a giant foothold in the online shopping market, featuring earlier in the consumer’s shopping experience rather than just on the payment page, where it currently competes against credit cards or Apple Pay, for instance. PayPal has been facing increased competition from giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook, who have recently begun entering the payments market, apart from its traditional competitors in credit card companies.

E-Commerce Sites Top List of Consumer Complaints in India

According to data from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, e-commerce companies topped the list of consumer complaints received on the government’s national helpline, with one in every five complaints directed against an e-commerce company. The list was led by Flipkart, Reliance Jio, and Amazon. More than 100,000 of the 500,000 plus complaints were against e-commerce companies, with banks following with 41,600, and telecom garnering 29,400. A ministry official said that the increase in the number of complaints against e-commerce companies was likely due to the growth in their consumer base. Most of the complaints against the e-commerce companies pertained to spurious products, problems in exchange, and delayed delivery, while those against telecom companies were related to overbilling, data deduction, and connectivity problems.

The government has responded to increasing dissatisfaction among consumers by shoring up its grievance redressal mechanism. The Ministry launched a mobile application where consumers could register their complaints, which would be redressed within 60 days. The government has also published draft e-commerce rules which focusses on e-commerce companies’ obligations and mechanisms of grievance redressal. Another ministry official claimed that companies, however, were responding well to complaints—of 565,000 complaints received last year, 555,000 were resolved, and a similar resolution rate is expected this year.

Shutterstock Offers Affordable Music Licensing for Content Creators

Shutterstock, the American provider of stock photography, is expanding its offerings to include music. It has launched an unlimited music subscription plan for USD 149 per month, giving content creators and digital marketers access to more than 11,000 tracks that can be included in web-based content, like YouTube videos, podcasts, and conference presentations. The Shutterstock Music Library, which will be searchable by genre, mood, or popularity, has been curated by professional musicians, and hundreds of tracks will be added every month. According to Shutterstock, this is a cost-effective feature for marketers lacking the budget and resources to pursue high-end music productions, and “frees them to focus on the creative vision rather than worrying about budget”.

Amazon’s Music Streaming Service is Now Free

Online retail giant Amazon is now offering its music streaming service free, with advertisements. While it previously offered free, ad-supported music streaming to owners of its smart device Echo, it is now expanding a 2 million song catalogue same to all customers. This is the same catalogue offered to those who have subscribed to Amazon’s Prime membership, albeit with advertisements.

This move won’t ruffle any feathers among major music streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, considering Amazon’s music catalogue is much smaller, and is not supported by personalisation technology as advanced as what drives Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist, for instance. Amazon’s move, instead, is aimed at making its Prime subscription more appealing to its consumers, encouraging them to subscribe to remove ads. Amazon’s Prime subscription is one of the company’s major focuses, as Prime members will shop more often from Amazon’s e-commerce site, which is where its profits primarily lie.

Amazon Echo Will Now Play Spotify’s Free Music Service

Swedish-American music streaming provider Spotify, whose service previously worked with Amazon Echo only for premium subscribers, has now extended support on the smart device for its free tier users. Similar support will now also be available on smart speakers manufactured by American audio manufacturing company Bose and consumer electronics company Sonos. This news comes on the heels of Amazon’s announcement that its own music service would become free across devices. Though Amazon’s limited 2 million song catalogue doesn’t make it much of a competitor to Spotify, which boasts of over 50 million songs as well as powerful personalisation capabilities, Spotify’s stock dropped almost 5% following Amazon’s announcement.

Apple Finally Enters the B2B Streaming Market

Technology behemoth Apple has finally announced its much-anticipated move into the Business-to-Business (B2B) streaming market, with department store Harrods and clothing company Levi’s already using Apple’s music streaming service Apple Music in their stores. While regular Apple Music or Spotify subscriptions do not permit use on commercial premises, providing B2B streaming at additional costs has long seemed an obvious way for streaming services to generate extra revenue.

Streaming services Pandora and Sirius already offer B2B services in the US, while there are companies like Mood Media and Playnetwork whose primary business is providing music to retail clients. Apple seemed to confirm its plans to enter the market when it registered trademarks for Apple Music for Business last year, and Spotify has demonstrated interest in retail-focussed Soundtrack Your Brand, which published a study in 2018 estimating that the music industry was missing out on revenues worth USD 2.65 billion per year by not exploiting B2B streaming to its fullest.

Streaming Service Mubi Launches in India

12-year old movie streaming and rental service Mubi has launched in India. Unlike more well-known streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, Mubi’s primary selling point is its selection of critically acclaimed movies. Mubi also maintains a stark difference from its larger competitors in the market by maintaining a small catalogue of just 30 movies at any given point, with every new title being accompanied by the exit of an existing one; no movie stays longer than 30 days on the platform. Founded in 2007, Mubi initial business plan mirrored that of services like Netflix. However, realising financial constraints, Mubi rerouted itself into its current form of offering a very limited selection, focussing on lesser-known critical gems.

Having amassed 9 million subscribers worldwide, Mubi has launched in India at a much lower price point than in other countries—much like other streaming services. It has also, for the first time, launched a dedicated channel for local movies. With access to both the local and global channels, Indian subscribers will have access to 60 movies. Mubi has appointed Academy Award-winning film producer Guneet Monga, of Gangs of Wasseypur– and Lunchbox-fame, as its content advisor.

Frozen 2 Release Accompanied by Record 67 Brand Deals in India

The release of Frozen 2, Disney’s sequel to its 2013 animated blockbuster, in India has been anteceded by a flurry of merchandising as Disney India has signed sponsorship deals with a record 67 brands, the highest such number for an animated movie in the country. These partnerships involve brands like toy retailer Hamleys, fashion brands Max and Reliance Trends, clothing chain Pantaloons, and e-commerce company Flipkart.

A special Frozen collection has been launched by Pantaloons for young girls, which includes joggers, leggings, sweatshirts, sweater dresses, and footwear. Hasbro, the toy and board games company, will roll out a range of new dolls and playsets inspired by the two protagonists, Elsa and Anna, while multinational conglomerate ITC has launched a line of stationery products including notebooks, geometry boxes, and colouring sets based on the movie. Paint company Asian Paints has introduced a series of wall décor derived from the film, while Flipkart will be selling Frozen themed merchandise across categories. This amassing of deals is symptomatic of a trend of increasing localisation and marketing initiatives by Hollywood studios in India.

  Authored and compiled by  Param Gupta 

The Licensing and E-Commerce News Bulletin is brought to you jointly by the E-Commerce Law and Consulting/Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to [email protected]  with the subject: Licensing News.

Disclaimer: Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to [email protected]  for corrections and take down.

Nirmala Sitharaman to fulfill trade chambers on 11 June for pre-Funds session

http://tinyurl.com/yyq7oldd New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has known as a gathering of main trade chambers on 11 June to elicit their views on varied points, together with steps to spice up FDI inflows and industrial productiveness, as a part of the pre-Funds session train, sources stated. This could be the primary joint interplay with Sitharaman, who took over as India’s first full-time lady finance minister final month, after the BJP-led NDA authorities gained a second time period. Representatives of trade our bodies like CII, FICCI and Assocham, amongst others, are anticipated to attend the assembly. A lot of the trade our bodies have already submitted their memoranda of calls for to the finance ministry for consideration. File picture of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. AFP The Funds shall be offered by the minister within the Lok Sabha on 5 July. Sources stated the subjects more likely to be taken up throughout the assembly Tuesday embody modifications within the FDI pointers to spur abroad investments within the nation. The minister would additionally search their views on the problem of mergers to boost productiveness, the classes of providers wanted to be expanded to fulfill home demand, and tariff construction to extend home output and exports. Particular focus is more likely to be on the tourism sector. Sources stated the minister is especially to know views of the trade on the event of vacationer websites with a view to draw extra home in addition to international travellers. According to the customized, the NDA authorities had offered an interim Funds for 2019-20 in February forward of the overall elections. Now, the federal government shall be presenting an everyday Funds for the fiscal. The finance ministry has already indicated that it might not be making main modifications within the allocations earmarked for various ministries and departments within the interim Funds. Your information to the most recent cricket World Cup tales, evaluation, experiences, opinions, stay updates and scores on https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/series/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019.html. Comply with us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook web page for updates all through the continued occasion in England and Wales. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function() {n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)} ; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '259288058299626'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.9&appId=1117108234997285"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({appId: '1117108234997285', version: 2.4, xfbml: true}); // *** here is my code *** if (typeof facebookInit == 'function') { facebookInit(); } }; (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; e.async = true; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); function facebookInit() { console.log('Found FB: Loading comments.'); FB.XFBML.parse(); } Source link

Trade upbeat on RBI's determination to chop lending fee by 0.25%; says extra room to slash charges forward

http://tinyurl.com/y35sq9yy New Delhi: Hailing the RBI’s determination to chop lending fee by 0.25 p.c as a welcome step to spice up demand and revive financial system, business chambers Thursday stated there’s extra room to slash charges additional. The Reserve Financial institution of India minimize the repo — brief time period lending fee at which it offers mortgage to banks — third time in a row to five.75 p.c in its second bi-monthly coverage determination, adopting an accommodative stance. “There may be room for additional fee minimize…this third consecutive fee minimize in repo fee will result in efficient transmission, encouraging banks to decrease their lending charges for each retail and company credit score,” stated Sandip Somany, President, Ficci. Taking cues from the worldwide elements in addition to current authorities knowledge that estimated India’s GDP progress to a five-year low of 6.eight p.c in 2018-19, the RBI has additionally revised downward the financial growth to 7 p.c from 7.2 p.c earlier for the present fiscal. Reviving enterprise confidence, shopper confidence and triggering animal spirits within the financial system is the necessity of the hour, the chamber stated in an announcement. “Going ahead, whereas RBI ought to proceed the accommodative stance in coming months, the brand new Authorities ought to current a progressive Union Price range that will assist revive consumption and encourage larger personal investments,” Somany stated. Representational picture. Reuters Assocham stated the shift in coverage stance from impartial to accommodative is wanting important and these measures would rekindle financial progress and enhance enterprise sentiments. “The credit score coverage decision and the RBI Governor’s emphasis on quicker and better switch of fee cuts might be reassuring if executed by the banks. This, when coupled with improved liquidity, would cut back the price of borrowing,” stated Assocham President BK Goenka. The business physique’s Senior Vice-President Niranjan Hiranandani stated the minimize in repo would offer momentum to the market, however extra must be executed to deal with the problem of liquidity. “Liquidity could be very low because the borrowing value remains to be very excessive. This liquidity disaster is taking a toll on the well being of the businesses and additional inflicting monetary injury thereby affecting the credit standing of firms and industries. Until issues are handed down, the NPAs of the banks would pile up within the close to future,” he added. PHD Chamber additionally welcomed the speed minimize and stated it’ll assist to stimulate demand, enhance investments, improve exporters’ competitiveness and progress of the commercial sector. Whereas widespread man might be benefited with softening of EMIs on loans, the ripple impact of fee minimize will allow small enterprise to fulfil their credit score necessities, the business foyer stated in assertion. “At this juncture, the transmission of the coverage fee minimize by the banking sector by way of decreased lending charges can be essential to spice up liquidity. Going forward, we anticipate repo fee to return down to five p.c within the coming quarters for satisfactory availability of credit score to the business particularly to the MSMEs sector,” the chamber stated. Your information to the most recent cricket World Cup tales, evaluation, experiences, opinions, reside updates and scores on https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/series/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019.html. Comply with us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook web page for updates all through the continuing occasion in England and Wales. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function() {n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)} ; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '259288058299626'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.9&appId=1117108234997285"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({appId: '1117108234997285', version: 2.4, xfbml: true}); // *** here is my code *** if (typeof facebookInit == 'function') { facebookInit(); } }; (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; e.async = true; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); function facebookInit() { console.log('Found FB: Loading comments.'); FB.XFBML.parse(); } Source link