Author name: Aparajita Lath

Aparajita graduated from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata where she was on the Board of Editors of the NUJS Law Review. She has worked at AZB & Partners and Trilegal. She is currently pursuing her LL.M at Harvard Law School and is a Student Fellow at the Petrie-Flom Centre.

Informal innovation: The re-emergence of ‘informal’ washing machines

/ By / Innovation

A topic close to this blog’s heart – informal innovation, recently made headlines. The Prime Minister of the UK awarded Navjot Sawhney with the Points of Light Award for his hand-cranked washing machines. This award recognises volunteers, charity leaders and community champions. Navjot Sawhney designed washing machines that are cranked by hand and do not use any electricity. Just like hand-churned  ice-creams, clothes are hand-churned in a tub, and come out clean. As per interviews given by Sawhney, the driving …

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Future of mRNA and win-win for all: Why we need the government to disclose its collaboration agreement

/ By / Others, Patent

It is critical for the government to be forward-thinking. The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, a government department,  is reported to have provided INR 70 to 100 crores to Gennova Pharmaceuticals for its development of an mRNA vaccine for Covid. The mRNA technology is a versatile platform technology that has been heralded as a new era in vaccines. The platform used by Gennova (saRNA – self-amplifying RNA) overcomes storage / temperature issues that affected previous versions of mRNA vaccines. Unlike …

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COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Infringement? The Battle Between Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech Continues

/ By / Patent

The mRNA vaccine platform is a versatile vaccine technology that has the potential to treat several diseases. It has been heralded as a new age in medicine and several countries and companies all over the world are interested in it. However, there is uncertainty over who owns its main components  i.e. the mRNA and the lipids that coat the mRNA to enable delivery. Several intellectual property rights battles are being fought over this new technology. One of the main battles involves …

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Bill to decriminalise IP offences misses the mark and dilutes significant provisions

/ By / Copyright, Patent, Trademark

The Parliament is considering a bill that decriminalises offences across 42 statutes. Intellectual property rights statutes i.e. the Copyright Act, 1957, the Patents Act, 1970, the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Geographical Indications Act, 1999 are among the laws that are proposed to be amended. The objective of this bill is to increase the ‘Ease of Living and Doing Business in India’. The Statement of Objects and Reasons provide several general reasons for the bill including making India a …

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Indian government denies access to Covid 19 vaccine collaboration agreements

/ By / Drug Regulation, Others, Patent

The Indian government has refused to disclose its collaboration agreements and investments made in developing and procuring India’s Covid 19 vaccine – Covaxin, the Indian mRNA and intranasal vaccine candidates. Despite widespread public interest in these arrangements, the government has consistently rejected Right to Information (RTI) applications requesting this information. (for the responses received from the CIC see here, here and here) Prashant Reddy (who needs no introduction on this blog) filed several RTI requests covering public-private partnership arrangements related …

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Part II: Diagnostic method patents in India

/ By / Patent

Part I provides factual context to the post below. Interpreting Section 3(i) Section 3 is the key section on “patent eligibility” and lists out what are not “inventions” under the Indian Patents Act. One such non-eligible patentable subject matter is listed in Section 3(i): “Any process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic, diagnostic, therapeutic or other treatment of human beings or any process for a similar treatment of animals to render them free of disease or to increase their economic …

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Part I: Diagnostic method patents in India

/ By / Patent

In March 2023, the Delhi High Court will consider two significant rejections by the Patent Office (PTO) that will determine the fate of diagnostic method patents in India. The PTO recently rejected EMD Millipore’s patent application involving IR based spectroscopy and Sequenom’s patent application involving non-invasive prenatal genetic diagnostics on the grounds that both inventions were not patent eligible under Section 3(i) of the Patents Act, 1970.  This provision excludes diagnostic processes from patent protection. Both rejections have been challenged …

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Book Review: ‘The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India’

/ By / Drug Regulation

We are thrilled to review Prashant Reddy’s new book on the Indian drug regulatory system! Co-authored with Dinesh Thakur their book – The Truth Pill – The Myth of Drug Regulation in India  was released this October. Given that drug regulation has a direct nexus to public health, maybe even more than patents, several years ago, Shamnad, Prashant and Sai started a new initiative on SpicyIP to throw more light on India’s drug regulatory framework. Since then such issues have …

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Pharmaceutical trademark confusion: Poison Pill or Public Health?

/ By / Others, Trademark

Early in 2001, the Supreme Court laid down legal standards to be followed by lower courts in pharmaceutical trademark infringement and passing off disputes. The court cautioned that ‘drugs are poisons, not sweets’ and in this vein, set high / strict standards for assessing similarity and confusion in pharmaceutical trademark disputes. To be sure, these standards are not the same as those applicable to non-medical products. The requirement for having a stricter standard for medicines is almost obvious. Confusion between …

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Audio Books v. Audio Summaries: Delhi HC and Copyright Implications

/ By / Copyright

[This post has been co-authored with Lokesh Vyas] As reported on Entrackr, Pocket FM has filed a copyright infringement case against Kuku FM before the Delhi High Court. Pocket FM alleges that Kuku FM has violated its copyright by providing audio summaries of books to which Pocket FM has exclusive rights to create audiobooks. The matter is still being heard. While pleadings are not uploaded online by the Delhi High Court, Entrackr has obtained copies of the pleadings and has …

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