We had earlier blogged about the DIPP paper on Standard Essential Patents and their availability on FRAND terms facing plagiarism allegations following a Facebook post by Dr. Arul Scaria. The DIPP has taken cognizance of the comments and has now uploaded a revised version of the paper. Readers will recall similar corrective action being taken last year in the Roche v Cipla case where the judges accepted the charges of plagiarism. We had blogged about it here.
One of the main concerns with the DIPP paper was that certain paragraphs had been lifted verbatim without acknowledging the correct source. In particular certain sections were lifted from a paper titled, Standards-Essential Patents and Injunctive Reliefs published by Jones Day in 2013. The sources have now been correctly footnoted by the DIPP. Other than the paragraphs specifically pointed out the DIPP has attributed the correct sources in other parts of the paper as well.
In its reply to Arul Scaria the DIPP has stated, “…the averments made in the discussion paper placed on the website of the DIPP have been duly acknowledged and referenced, as applicable. It may also be stated that the discussion paper has been issued for academic discussion on a subject which is at a very nascent stage in India. It is not intended for commercial circulation nor is any copyright claimed on the same. Any information used in this draft paper has been duly acknowledged by referencing the same in footnotes.”
The deadline to submit comments on the paper has now been extended to April 22, 2016.
