NMIMS Global Access

School for Continuing Education (NGA-SCE)

Course: Business Law

1. India is blessed with a vibrant wildlife and ecosystem, which is often

subject to indiscriminate exploitation by unscrupulous elements of
society including business organizations. Briefly explain any 5 (five)
legislations that are related to environment protection or conservation.

Answer: India is a land of cultural diversities, natural beauties and great

geographical resources. It has abundant amount of resources for satisfying the
need of its people. But as we all know the fact, needs can be satisfied but not
greeds. So, in order to preserve and protect the precious gifts of nature on this
land, various precautions and measures are to be taken. This is an unsaid
obligation for each citizen of the land and with gratitude in our hearts, we must
strive to do it with complete devotion and dedication.

But when things go downhill and people tend to forget their gratitude, they try to
exploit these resources for their sole desires. In order to stop such practices from
prevailing on the land of India and make the resources more sustainable, several
implications are imposed. To safeguard the ecosystem, government has to come
in front and make laws for the betterment. Because enforcement of practices
through law ensures they are followed properly.

For making these rules to be enforced as laws, a well-developed framework was

came into picture after the UN conference on human environment held in
stockholm in 1972. After this many government bodies were set-up to lay down
the legal and regulatory framework of the environmental protection. The
government of India had made several laws with its different bodies in operation,
among which some of the many are-
  The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010
 The Air (Prevention and control of pollution) Act,1981
 The Water (Prevention and control of pollution) Act,1974
 The Environmental protection act, 1986
 The Wildlife protection act, 1972
 The forest conservation act, 1980
 The climate insurance act, 1986
 The woods (protection) act, 1980

The Environment Protection Act, 1986- The most important statue in India for
the protection of environment is the environment protect act, 1986. This was
enacted after the Bhopal Gas tragedy. It provides protection and improvement of
environment and prevention of different hazards to human beings. This states the
authority of state and government in protection of the environment. It aims to
protect and preserve the antural resources, forests and wildlife. It coordinates the
workings of various bodies set up to look for the functioning and implementation
of this environment protection act. It also states the provisions for punishment in
case of violation of the laws been set-up. It prohibits the restricted items which
may cause any hazards to the atmosphere. It aims at the sustainable
development and growth of the society.

The National Green tribunal Act, 2010- This act was enacted in 2010 to deal with
the issues of related to conservation and protection of forests, wildlife, flora &
fauna and other natural resources. It undergoes to examine already set-up laws
regarding the protection of environment and do the required for the fulfilment of
the objectives. This holds the power to settle the disputes being arised from
implementation of other acts of its undergoing. It runs on the vision of
environmental protection, sustainable development, precautionery principles and
polluter pays.

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981- The air act extends to all
over India, which specifies to provide protection, prevention, control and
abatement of air pollution. It also emphasises on establishing the pollution
control boards at the central and state levels. It had various measures to keep a
check on various deploying activities like prohibiting the use of polluting fuels and
substances, regulating appliances that cause air pollution, empowering the state
government in consulting the air polluted areas with local pollution control
boards. By doing all the fruitful measures, it focuses on improving the quality of
air, stopping any kind of hazard-causing elements, taking appropriate measures
against the people enagaged in any of such practices and make this program
comprehensive.

The Water (Prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1974- Water is the extreme
important component for the survival of life on earth, be it; plants,humans,
animals or other species. Water is required for innumeration activities, beginning
from drinking, sanitation, irrigation, cleaning, sewage, disposal, agriculture, food
preparation etc. However, contaminated water cannot be put to use for carrying
put these activities. Also, fresh water in country is limited. So, it is very important
to keep water safe and pure.

So, the major objectives of this act are:

 Prevention and control of water pollution

 Establishments of boards for water cleanliness
 Maintaing and restoring wholesomeness of water
 penalise and punish the offenders of the water pollution act
 To deal with water prevention problems with alertness

The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972- Under the Indian constitution, an article was
formulated to impose duty on states regarding protection of forests and
impovement towards safety and conservation of forest lives. This was done in
order to preserve and protect the endangered species of the natural lands. To
obstrain any human interference which is unwanted and undesired. Any kind of
mishappening, exploitation and forest crimes to be supervised and guilty to be
punished appropriately.
 2. Please give two (2) instances where investigations and/or punishments
are initiated/enforced by the authorities set up under the Consumer
Protection Act, 2019.

Answer: Consumer protection Act, 2019 states “An Act to provide for
protection of the interests of consumers and for the said purpose, to establish
authorities for timely and effective administration and settlement of
consumers' disputes and for matters connected therewith or incidental
thereto.”

Consumer protection is a safeguard to protect and preserve consumer and

their interest from any kind of mishappening, frauds or cheatings. To maintain
privacy and security of the users, provide them value for their money, enhance
their experience, build trust towards operations of market and make them feel
safe and guarded. It give them aids like-

 A consumer may claim damages or compensation if he/she has suffered

loss or damage as a result of unfair business practices by an individual or
company.
 It gives individuals the right to receive a refund for an item which was
not able to fulfill their expectations.
 It protects consumers from being taken advantage of during negotiations
by requiring companies to disclose all fees and charges upfront.

Springs Meadows Hospital Vs. Harjol Ahluwalia 1998(2) SCALE 456 (SC)
The case decision was given by NCDRC (National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission) first; which was then challenged in the Hon’ble Supreme Court with
a question of law consists; whether the case comes under the Consumer
Protection Act,1986; and whether both the Petitioner comes under the definition
of Consumer in Consumer Protec The case involved medical negligence. The
question here is whether or not a medical negligence case will fall under the
purview of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held that since the
resident doctor and nurse were employees of the appellant hospital; the latter
was Liable and awarded compensation of Rs. 12.51 Lakh to the child and of Rs.5
lakh to the parents for acute mental agony. The Supreme Court dismissed the
appeal with costs of Rs. 5,000.

Amazon’s Child’s play- Back in the 90s and early 00’s (known as the naughty’s),
every parent’s biggest fear was getting a surprise momentous phone bill because
of their kid’s shenanigans.Actually…It is still a parent’s fear. The only difference is
that now it is the App and Play Stores that makes the hairs on the back of their
neck stand on their ends.The good thing is that thanks to the FTC’s hard work, it is
not as easy as it used to be for kids to buy 10,000 tokens on Candy Crush or Plants
vs. Zombies.Up until recently…Companies like Amazon had little in place to
protect parents from paying for in-app purchases made by their, less financially
astute, children.This ended up costing parents millions of dollars in app purchases
they did not approve.

To remedy the situation: The FTC stepped in, stating that Amazon must change its
in-app purchase processes to protect account holders from paying for purchases
they did not willingly make.Amazon has since instated a refund policy for these
occurrences and put new security measures in place to stop children from making
large purchases on their parents’ accounts.

In above mentioned cases, it was because of the existence of Consumer

protection Act,due to which the customers were heard, helped and retrieved out
of complex situations like these. So, in order to channelise the working of
businesses and keep a balance between customers and businesses, there is
always need of a monitoring head so interest of none are breached. And, this Act
acts as that body of law which monitors, checks, corrects, stops and address the
issues and hindrances of the transactions of the businesses.

Consumer protection wants businesses to be honest and straightforward with

their customers and wants companies to operate within reasonable boundaries
so that consumers are not hurt by their actions.
 3. Taffee is an international confectionary maker who wants to launch its
product range of exotic flavoured sweet candies in India. It wants to use
the name “TeewS”. However, it is skeptical that the word Teews would be
copied/plagiarized in India and the company would have to deal with
huge infringers of the product. Please help the company in addressing the
following queries, to have better understanding to draw an Intellectual
Property strategy:

a. What types intellectual property rights they could claim in relation to the
name of the product. Please explain with reason on why the type(s) of
intellectual property would apply?

Answer: Intellectual property rights (IPR) refers to the legal rights which are
given to the inventor or creator to protect his invention or creation for a
certain period of time. These legal rights confer an exclusive right to the
inventor/creator or his assignee to fully utilize his invention/creation for a
given period of time. IPR provide certain exclusive rights to the inventors or
creators of that property, in order to enable them to reap commercial benefits
from their creative efforts or reputation

Types of Intellectual Properties and their Description:

 Patent- A patent is an exclusive right granted to an inventor for his/her

invention, which may be a product or a process that provides a new way of
doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem
 Copyright- Copyright is also known as the author’s right. It is a legal term
used to describe the rights that creators have over their own literary and
artistic works. Works like books, music, paintings, sculptures, films,
computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps and technical
drawings are all covered under copyright.
 Trademark- A trademark is a sign, symbol, word, or words that are legally
registered or established by use as representing a company or product that
 is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from
those of other enterprises

Taffee can get Twees name registered for itself, get its patents, trademarks and
copyrigths to ensure the stoppage of any kind of copy or plagiarism. This would
provide power to the company to sue the copying firm in the court or charge
them for this sort of activity.

b. Explain civil and criminal remedies under various intellectual property

laws for enforcement of intellectual property rights?

Answer: Criminal remedies: Criminal procedures and penalties mandatory at

least in cases of wilful TM counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial
scale.

Remedies should include:

 Imprisonment and/or monetary fines

 sufficient to provide a deterrent;
 consistently with the level of penalties for crimes of a corresponding
gravity.
 In appropriate cases, seizure, forfeiture and destruction of the infringing
goods / any materials and implements used for the commission of the
offence.

Civil Remedies- Judicial Authorities shall have the authority to order a party to
desist from an infringement, i.a., to prevent the commercialization of imported
infringing goods; exception allowed for goods acquired in good faith.

 Injunction to prohibit the continuation of the infringement

 Recurring penalty payment, if need be
 Available against intermediaries as well