Spicy IP is an excellent bunch of people and we are watching this closely. Be assured we be willing to pitch in and intervene whenever required..

Probably, the law firm thought it would be fun to do that and would have in turned advised ToI to let them do this, thus helping the firm build its own profile! :P It boomeranged it seems! I am sure the case will close here only, unless they are brainless to go ahead and make it worse for them..

Did Ashish finally take the IQ test as suggested by Shamnad. A great reply by shamnad to a preposterous notice which is replete with false allegations against FT.

[...] It's a funny read but this is not how a serious reply to a legal notice is drafted. This is perfect if you have to share it with Legally India and Bar & Bench or for sharing on [...] Facebook. But the reply is quite pathetic. This case won't go forward for obvious reasons but you've only made a joke of all this. The lawyer for the Times Group was doing his job but you want to ask him if his client is smarter than him. This is so absurd I don't even know what to say.

Okay, I think in all this hue and cry, the point of the debate is being somewhat lost here and correct me if I’m wrong, one of the prime reasons fora like Legally India report these issues is to generate a healthy debate about the substantive arguments presented by both the sides, rather than the form. Or well, perhaps that’s only an idealistic perspective on my part.
The main question here is what prompts a major publishing house to browbeat and intimidate a student, who has been reporting honestly about a set of facts. In this matter, following a read of Aparajita’s post and the articles referred by her, I didn’t notice any distortion of facts from her end. Being a blogger myself, I know I’ll always like to correct my posts/reports whenever I’ve been approached by any person with acceptable proof that what I’ve reported to be true is not the actual case. Also, being an avid reader of Spicy IP, I’ve noticed in past that the few factual errors that have been present in their posts from time to time have always been duly corrected by the blogger whenever someone has brought it to his/her attention. Which obviously begs the question, why would any logical person start with a defamation notice instead of simply communicating to the blogger that he feels the facts have been misrepresented, unless of course he’s sanguine that such misrepresentation is deliberate? And given Spicy IP carries the profiles of all its bloggers, it can’t be possible that Times was unaware of the fact that the blogger to whom they are ascribing such sordid motives is a young student, a fact which renders most of their allegations ridiculous? Coupled with this is the fact that Times is known to have resorted to similar browbeating tactics to stifle criticism even before. I recall the manner in which Pradyuman Maheshwari was persecuted and harassed for his Mediaah Webblog, wherein he’d criticized Times’ practice of accepting paid news. So, whether Times chooses to pursue this defamation suit or not, I believe the time has come for all bloggers to take a stand against bullying.
As far as some of the comments are concerned, I’m not going into an analysis of the content of the notice or its reply. I merely want to say that my legal education has not revealed any universal mandatory template for reply to a legal notice, which means that one can issue any sort of reply to it as he/she pleases. If the notice giver has a problem with the contents of the reply, he can always initiate another proceeding regarding it. What I find laughable are contentions such as how can Shamnad, a government employee, write blogs etc. Why, even in this very forum, I doubt any of the commentators, or for that matter, any academic blogger has received a professional mandate to blog/comment! And to extend that logic further, I believe Shamnad’s work profile dictates that he strives in every possible manner to further the causes of transparency, accountability and development in the Indian IP scenario and this matter and the whole Spicy IP blog, like a few others, are directly attuned to that objective.
Whether Aparajita and Shamnad have any contractual relationship that allows the latter to represent the former can only be debated by Times’ lawyer in a legal proceeding. And funnily enough, surely Aparajita would have objected to him replying to the notice had there been no such understanding between them! Knowing her personally, I can assure all that she has no such objection whatsoever. And while replying to a notice or writing a letter or for any formal documentation whatsoever, I don’t think there’s any legal requirement that I can’t reveal all my identities. Shamnad could have signed it off as Professor, NUJS, or MHRD Chair Professor, or Spicy IP blogger or King of Timbuktu (if he’s indeed such)! Unless and until the notice bears the MHRD/WBNUJS seal/template, it can’t be possibly regarded as a communication that has been officially made on behalf of such bodies! Surely the content of reply makes it clear that Shamnad is sending it on Aparajita’s behalf and not in his capacity as MHRD representative! And as for the question of whether an academic should blog or not, why on earth ever not? When it’s done by renowned foreign professors of the likes of Lawrence Lessig, Greg Mankiw, Lucian Bebchuk from Harvard or Ian Ayres from Yale or Patrick Bolton from Columbia, they are lauded for such stellar efforts. Even in India, there are instances of academics doing the same successfully and Shamnad is included in that group. It is disappointing to see such close-minded perspectives that only a ‘practicing lawyer’ possesses a hitherto unexplored and unassailable insight into legal issues!
I for one will keep on supporting Aparajita and Spicy IP in their efforts to fight back against the tirade by Times.

I completely agree and support Rational Blogger!

Some people seem to have missed the point! The real issue here doesn't seem to be about publicity or whether Prof. Shamnad can run a blog or who/how he signed off etc.! The issue evidently is about a law student who has been bullied by a big company for an article written by her in good faith and adequately referenced. Its about implementing what law schools teaches us - fighting for our rights and fighting against what is wrong! That is what SpicyIP , Prof. Shamnad and Aparajita are trying to do! Lets not raise unnecessary issues and detract from the main focus.

I'm happy that a law student - not even a professional - was able to do diligent research and publish a post that irked a media giant. We need more people to do unbiased reporting to shed light on what is right and wrong. The law student has my full support and shouldn't be intimidated by insecure powerful people.

There are two things that must be pointed out.

First, some of the comments highlight a lack of understanding of the facts at hand. Aparajita (who is a regular contributor to SpicyIP) blogged about the ongoing FTL-TPH dispute which reached the SC for the first time after 19 years of litigation in the High Courts of Delhi and Karnataka. In order to be comprehensive, Aparajita referred to certain articles from the Mint, including an interview of Harish Salve. Had some of the commenters read her post, it would have reflected not only an impeccable effort on her part to report the dispute but more importantly, nothing "defamatory" regarding TPH. Thus, the draconian language of the notice is entirely uncalled for.

Second, regardless of how people feel about the defamation notice, it is a fruitless exercise to question Shamnad Basheer's professional integrity. Regardless of whether he supports Aparajita because she's a part of SpicyIP or because she is a student of NUJS, the point is that such a legal notice is an attempt to infringe her fundamental right to express herself in addition to our fundamental right as an audience to educate ourselves.