SpicyIP Tidbits x 2: Of cow urine and Indian politicians!

Be not fooled by the title of this post, dear readers. Merely combining two very interesting tidbits having caught the SpicyIP Team‘s eye this week, and not trying to draw any parallels here 🙂

Cow urine has long been advocated by some members of the Indian community for supposed medicinal properties. Indeed one of its most famous patrons was our former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who lived 100 years.

However, reports indicate that its properties are now being re-discovered by members of the scientific community. Indeed, this report suggests that some Indian researchers have discovered molecules that may help in curing diabetes.

Interestingly, on a hunch, a background check on the use uses of cow urine reveals the following:
(a) There seem to be several articles on the uses of cow dung and cow urine (including on this website which seems to have dedicated itself to the protection of Cows).

(b) This report suggests that a patent has been sought/ granted (unsure about the specifics) in 2002 for the life span enhancing properties of cow urine.

(Image courtesy: http://profy.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/images/hm2cow.jpg)

(c) This website claims that a gentleman has already been granted a patent for the innovation and discovery of uses of cow urine. While the patent number mentioned therein seems wrong, this page from the Patent Office website indicates that a patent has been granted for the same, though the complete specification seems inaccessible.

In this light, I am wondering whether a patent will actually be granted even if these very dedicated researchers do continue their hard work on discovering the hidden properties of urine.

Politicians using IP terms as catch words!
Recently, Swaraj posted here on India featuring high on the Google trends for Intellectual Property. Well, from this news report in The Hindu, it seems that apart from SpicyIP, our politicians may have a large part to play in that as well.

This really hilarious article has the spokesperson of the BJP, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad (a lawyer himself) remarking that the Congress did not hold the “patent” to visit Dalit households! It’s quite heartening to see our politicians embarking upon use of terms ,we here at SpicyIP consider quite close to our hearts.

All hail IP trendy India- from cows, dedicated researchers and politicians- we seem to have all bases covered!