The Hindu Lit For Life Unplugged: Author and lawyer Xerxes Ranina discusses his book Who Owns What? and the legal right behind creative work
Lawyer and author Xerxes Ranina discusses the fundamentals of intellectual property, including copyright, patents, and trademarks, during a session at The Hindu Lit for Life Unplugged. The conversation provides practical guidance for creators on protecting their work and navigating complex legal areas like AI, personality rights, and fashion design.
Why it matters
As digital content creation grows, understanding intellectual property rights is essential for creators to protect their work and avoid legal pitfalls in an evolving regulatory landscape.
What exactly can you own when you create something? And how can young creators protect their work? These questions took centre stage at The Hindu Lit for Life Unplugged, presented by Prakriti Foundation on September 5, at The Lab@Shanta in T Nagar, as lawyer and author Xerxes Ranina was in conversation with Ranvir Shah, founder trustee, Prakriti Foundation. The conversation drew on Xerxes’s new book Who Owns What? published by HarperCollins India.
The conversation explored everyday legal questions creators often grapple with — from copyright and contracts to what happens when someone uses their work without permission.
Mr. Ranina began by breaking down the often-confused distinctions between patents, trademarks and copyright. “A trademark is a brand that you are interacting with. Adidas, Pepsi, the name and the logo both are trademark. Copyright deals with various creative works like a literary work, piece of music, theatre, photography, and films,” he said.
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