2013

Mark Lynas, former anti-GM food activist embraces GM foods at Oxford Conference

/ By / Others

Image from here In a surprising turn of events, Mark Lynas, a former campaigner against genetically modified foods has completely reversed his views on the topic at a conference in Oxford and has now given genetically modified food his stamp of approval. Earlier in his career, Mark Lynas, reportedly played a key role in the anti-GM campaign in both Europe and India, where GM food remains banned due to poor public confidence in the safety of the food. Lynas appears […]

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Rebutting ad hominem Twitter attacks

/ By / Copyright

I was aware that I would receive some amount of criticism for my last post on the Swartz suicide given that I am criticized for pretty much anything that I write these days but I was surprised to hear some vicious criticism from some unexpected sources, namely Nandita Saika, a media and tech lawyer who maintains an interesting blog on Indian copyright law which you can access over here, in case you haven’t yet already heard of it.  On her

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IP ideologies and the Swartz suicide

/ By / Copyright

Image from here I had never heard about Aaron Swartz until Swaraj’s post below about his life and suicide. The internet is now abuzz with news reports about Swartz’s suicide, his ‘heroism’ and ‘bullying’ by the prosecutors of the U.S. Government. While not everybody is saying it in so many words, the overwhelming trend appears to blame the federal government prosecution of Swartz for his suicide. This, despite the fact there is no conclusive proof of such a link. Swartz

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Aaron Swartz, RIP

/ By / Copyright

See Cory Doctorow’s eulogy here Some of us in India may not have heard of Aaron Swartz, a 26 year old activist who was heavily involved in copyright policy issues and issues surrounding technology freedom. He committed suicide on Jan 11th, 2013 and his story is a sad one which is certainly worth sharing. However, what’s also important to note, are the circumstances which may have led his eventual suicide. While it cannot be confirmed, it appears that his arrest and indictment

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Evading the mandatory royalty sharing provisions of the copyright amendments through a choice of foreign law: Is it possible?

/ By / Copyright

Eight months after the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 sailed through Parliament, I’m told that at least some composers & lyricists are involved in intense negotiations with producers, with both sides trying to interpret to their advantage the new amendments inserted into the Copyright Act. The most contentious provisions are the provisos in Section 18 and Section 19 which mandatorily requires that all royalties earned from exploitation of the music and lyrics as a part of a cinematograph film be shared

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DIPP to issue CLs for Herceptin, Dastinib & Ixabepilone – End of the line for Big Pharma’s patents in the Indian market?

/ By / Patent

Abantika Ghosh of the Indian Express, has reported in today’s edition that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the nodal department of the Government of India’s handling IP policy “has started the process of issuing compulsory licences for three commonly used anti-cancer drugs, Trastuzumab (or Herceptin, used for breast cancer), Ixabepilone (used for chemotherapy) and Dasatinib (used to treat leukaemia).”The report mentions that the compulsory licences can be issued under both Section 84 and Section 92 of the

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SpicyIP Fellowship reminder

/ By / Uncategorized

As announced earlier, SpicyIP is offering a Fellowship for researching and writing on developments in the Indian intellectual property rights and innovation policy scenario. There are currently 15 days left to apply for the Fellowship. Once again, at least 3 guest posts are required to be submitted by the end of this period to be considered eligible for the Fellowship. We’ve already received several great entries and we look forward to receiving more as the deadline approaches.  There does however

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Introducing Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, 2013 – II

/ By / Uncategorized

For ‘Introducing Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, 2013-I’ see here For analysis, see here. Gaining Global Competitiveness through Collaboration The STI Policy, 2013 acknowledges open source discoveries as an “interesting innovation system”. Further, it recognizes that knowledge commons is an emerging theme for managing IPRs created through multi-stake holder participation. The policy intends to foster data sharing and access. The policy also intends to tap global resources including Indian diaspora for accelerating the pace of technology-led development. It envisages multi-sectoral

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The Royalty Payment Siphon by MNCs – Independent Director and Minority Voting as Possible Solutions?

/ By / Trademark

Image from here Readers may remember a post that I’d carried some time back about how the relaxation of approval norms for royalty payments by Indian companies was being exploited by multinational corporations to milk their Indian arms of their profit in the form of royalty payments and technology transfer fees. This is in turn had been depriving the minority investors in those Indian companies of their rightful dividend. A report by the Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IIAS) had also

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Introducing Science, Technology and Innovation policy, 2013 – I

/ By / Uncategorized

I shall introduce the ‘Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, 2013’ (“STI Policy, 2013”) which was recently unveiled by the Prime Minister at the 100th Indian Science Congress. I shall analyse the STI Policy, 2013 in a later post. [The STI Policy, 2013 is available here.] Background The STI Policy, 2013 sets out a significant shift in approach of the government. It is pertinent to take a quick look at the previous policies:       a) Scientific Policy Resolution of 1958 (“SPR,

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