Manupatra

Manupatra
Web address http://www.manupatra.com
Slogan Pioneers in online legal research in India
Commercial? Yes
Type of site
 Legal database
Registration Yes
Available in English
Owner Private
Launched 2001
Current status Open

Manupatra has been derived from Sanskrit word Manusmriti. The text of Manusmriti, known as the Laws of Manu, presents itself as a discourse given by the sage Manu. Manupatra thus stands for Manu's "patra" a letter (to be read in Hindi). Manupatra was founded in the year 2000 by founder director Deepak Kapoor who is the present CEO of the company. Manupatra the tagged as pioneers in online legal research in India is one of the largest Internet legal database providers in India. Manupatra provides corporate, legal, taxation and business policy content in online, CD ROM and print formats across all subjects of law. Started off as being an India centric database, today Manupatra covers case laws from US, UK, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

History

Manupatra started its operations in 2000 with the objective of creating a single point information repository covering archives and current data on all legislative, procedural and regulatory content of India. In 2001, Manupatra launched its online legal database, its flagship product. In 2004, CD ROM based database was introduced to assist professionals with no access to the Internet to access comprehensive legal information. In 2005 the company forayed into print by acquiring Bombay Law Reporter a 110-year-old journal. Ever since it has started green field ventures and also acquired publication houses in direct tax, indirect tax and corporate law space in a bid to both consolidate the industry and strengthen its content offerings in the tax and commercial law space. Manupatra also hosts an exhaustive repository of central and state statutes, notification circulars of the Government of India and other legislative, regulatory and procedural material. With primary documents and proprietary analytic content such as treaties, digests and editorial enhancements, the company has created the most comprehensive electronic legal resource available both on the internet and CD ROM. Manupatra covers all relevant case laws from 1814 until the present date including the Supreme Court and all high courts of India.

Manupatra began as a two person start-up enterprise and now has its presence in more than 20 cities in India with more than 150 employees.

Products

Manupatra products are used in a wide variety of end markets with users across academic, corporate, government, professionals (lawyers, CA, CS etc.), banks, consulting companies, media houses, litigants, research organizations, NGOs and other disciplines. Manupatra is currently engaged in all forms of publications which include online legal Database, CD ROMs, Books, Journals and Mobile Apps.

2.1 Online Legal Database: The online legal Database provides judgments across all subjects of law of Supreme Court, all Indian High Courts, Orders of the tribunals, bills, central and state acts, notification and circulars, ordinances, committee reports and more. Manupatra provides a combination of integrated legal research tools, comprehensive collection of primary and secondary material and design features that maximize the power, efficiency and accuracy of the legal research process, to help users get relevant and faster results. Using the sophisticated technology, Manupatra has “Googlized” legal research. At the heart of the technology is the search engine. It offers simple and intuitive search with options of single box search, field search and search using Boolean logic. Users can search globally, without having to select the database where they have to search. Alternately for specific searches, an option to identify and mark the database is available. Filters help users to navigate to the most relevant results. Hyperlinks connect users to documents that they otherwise might miss.

2.2 CD ROM : Manupatra’s Case Locator on CD ROM is a suite of products where the user can make their own product combination by selecting the courts for which they wish to access data. As a result the user is not saddled with data of courts which do not have any relevance for them. Being an offline research tool the case locator provides anytime anywhere access. The updates are available on CD ROM every quarter, additionally the users can update their CD product online every fortnight. The CD Pack covers judgments from The Supreme Courts and all High Courts of India along with hyperlinks to the Central and State acts. Subject CD’s are also available on subjects of Arbitration,criminal law, tax and corporate laws, labor laws

2.3 Books: Few of the key publications of the company are :

2.4 Journals: Manupatra publishes the following print journals

2.5 Manupatra Apps: Manupatra has developed applications for iPhone/iPad,Blackberry,Android where the users can get an access to judgments and Indian Statutes on the go.

2.5 LexPack : For the consumer market, Manupatra has developed LexPack where users can access information, sample forms and instructions to assist the reader in understanding the basics about the subjects enlisted and preparing the document without the assistance of lawyer/ advocates. The LexPack covers topics like Power Of Attorney, Landlord and Tenant, Divorce and Separation, Last Will and Testament and Sale Purchase of Property. The LexPack serves as self-help kit of the users not familiar with the legal terminology.

2.6 Manupatra law Reports Digital Edition : Manupatra Law Reports Digital Edition is the digital journal to which people can subscribe online and download in PDF format. The digital copies can be searched through for the relevant content. Manupatra has managed to provide them at a lower cost than the original hard copy of the journal as an environmentally Friendly initiative since keeping legal records is traditionally a paper exhaustive practice for Lawyers across the world.

2.7 E-Books : Manupatra’s E-Books are another add-on for the people subscribing to the Online legal search. The E-Books repository covers titles such as Arbitration,Conciliation and Mediation,

Income Tax Act 2010, Make your Will yourself, medical negligence and legal remedies, the code of civil procedure 1908, Genetic Patent law and strategy and more. All available in downloadable PDF format for computer and smart phones.

Services

3.1 Desktop Alerts : The Desktop Alert service is a complimentary service which allows the users to stay up to date and stay connected with the legal events unfolding through the day. It alerts the users on important case laws, notifications, statutes, and legal news.

3.2 Articles : Manupatra provides a rich collection of articles across all subjects of law authored by specialists from round the globe on topics such as arbitration, banking, income tax, consumer

courts, indirect tax,human rights, evidence law, family laws

3.3 Indianlegislation : www.indianlegislation.in is a free service from Manupatra, where readers can access the central statutes with latest amendments. This is a free service which only requires registration. Registered users can access Statutes,Legislation, Amendments, Repealing Acts, Bills, Ordinances, reports etc.

Features

4.1 Search: Since the online legal database is vast in nature, The Manupatra team has devised the feature of Manu Search which enables the subscribers to search through a million plus judgments. And host of other documents, Manu Search supports Boolean parameters. For specific search on judgments the Legal search interface is available where a user can search on specific information such as party name, date of decision, judge name, section of an act etc. Act Search interface helps to search for specific act or section of an act, based on search terms or number of act.

4.2 Manu Instant : For the subscribers of Manupatra’s Online Legal Search, Manu Instant provides a quick bird's eye view on editorial enhancements exclusively drawn out from the raw text enabling the user to read the essential information case note,depending on which the user can decide to read the entire text. This feature also provides and instant glance at case referrals and equivalent citations.

4.3 Word Connect : Word connect is a relatively new offering by Manupatra where Users can seamlessly access content and resources from Manupatra, the open Web and Word files on their Microsoft word All that he user has to do is to install the Manu connect word tool which is available for free on Manupatra.

4.4 KaptureTM : KaptureTM allows the user to highlight any word from the text and search from Bing and Wikipedia in an instant.

References

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