It’s been about one year and six months since Shamnad introduced me to the wonderful world of blogging. Yet again, he did what he has always done as a mentor and very dear friend – teach me new things and give me opportunities to learn. In these past 18 months, I have indeed learned a great deal from this and other blogs. I have felt personal satisfaction and pride as the blog became more and more popular and respected. Today, …
The Business Standard carries a report on a case (J Mitra & Co. v. Asst. Controller of Patents SLP No. 15729 of 2008) that Shamnad had brought to my notice some time back… I’m therefore clubbing my analysis of the case with the report: The facts of this case are best understood in tabular form (given the number of dates involved). In short however, the facts are as quite simple. J Mitra filed for a patent and after the patent …
J Mitra v. Controller of Patents: Patently Confusing! Read More »
“What are the constitutional obligations on the State when it takes action in exercise of its statutory or executive power? Is the State entitled to deal with its property in any manner it likes or award a contract to any person it chooses without any Constitutional limitation upon it?” What are the parameters of the statutory or executive power in the manner of awarding a contract or dealing with its property?” — Justice Bhagwati in R.D Shetty v. Airport Authority …
The Public Funded R&D Bill: Does India Need a Bayh Dole – II Read More »
According to a news report in the Economic Times, “Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UNCTAD personally visited the handlooms at Varanasi earlier known as Banaras, and saw for himself the labour being put in by the artisans in weaving the traditional brocade silk sarees.” Aparantly moved by the artisans’ hard work, he was reported as having said that “We would like to support the effort to have a formal geographical indication, of course, at national level. There would be a …
The Business Standard reports that “Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the country’s third-biggest drugmaker, will form a joint venture with one of the world’s biggest biotech companies to make biosimilars or generic versions of patented biotech drugs to take on Ranbaxy Laboratories, Reliance Life Sciences, among other Indian companies. Several drugs are expected to come off patent in this segment in the next five years.“ While the company is not willing to reveal any details at this point (as to who the …
Biosimilars, Indian Generic Companies and the Drug Regulators Read More »
In a previous post, we raised the issue of whether India needs a Bayh Dole Act (at this stage). We also briefly looked at the current “environment” in India with regards patenting (as of 2003, India had only around 10,000 patents in force). The question we raised therefore was: shouldnt India first focus on creating an environment where institutions and individuals actually consider it a priority to protect their IP? I set out therefore to look at the various “incentives” …
Promoting IP Protection: DIT scheme for SMEs and Technology Start Ups Read More »
Following Shamnad’s comprehensive overview of the Public Funded R & D Bill, I thought it would be relevant to look at some of the history and some of the present… Given the Bill’s nick name: the “Indian Bayh-Dole”, I started with looking at the history of the US Bayh-Dole to determine how well deserved the nick name is. ☺ I plan a series of posts to (a) compare the situation surrounding the passage of the Bayh Dole Act (BDA) in …
The Public Funded R & D Bill: Does India need a Bayh-Dole? Part I Read More »
Readers will recall Aysha’s earlier post on this issue here. Spicy IP would like to thank Dr. Gopakumar G. Nair for passing on the following information to us. The lush green State of Kerala plans to officially released its IPR Policy in the presence of the Minister for law & Parliamentary Affairs, Shri. M. Vijayakumar, Chief Minister Shri. V.S. Achuthanandan and other distinguished guests tomorrow. For those of you interested, the function will be held at the Mascot Hotel, Thiruvananthapuram, …
After Shamnad’s succinct discussion, not a lot needs to be added to the analysis of the Toshiba v. Tosiba case decided by the Supreme Court late last month. However, for the die-hard trademark law fans, here’s a more detailed discussion of the facts, the procedural history and law laid down. At the outset, I must confess that I was surprised to learn that a number of people have been closely following this suit. Spicy IP is grateful to everyone who …
Toshiba v. Tosiba: Procedural History and Person(s) Aggrieved! Read More »
Pharmalot (Ed Silverman) reports that Compulsory Licensing seems to be working for Thailand. According to The Bangkok Post report cited by Pharmalot, “Second-line generic AIDS drugs have already reached most HIV-positive patients as a direct result of the compulsory licensing (CL) policy, the National Health Security Office (NHSO) says.” The report also states that delivery of generic versions of Efavirenz started in October last year and more recently (February), a large batch of Kaletra was delivered to state hospitals throughout …
Compulsory Licensing: Affordable Health for Thailand thanks to Matrix Labs Read More »
