Author name: Prashant Reddy

T. Prashant Reddy graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, with a B.A.LLB (Hons.) degree in 2008. He later graduated with a LLM degree (Law, Science & Technology) from the Stanford Law School in 2013. Prashant has worked with law firms in Delhi and in academia in India and Singapore. He is also co-author of the book Create, Copy, Disrupt: India's Intellectual Property Dilemmas (OUP).

Guest Post: Myriad’s Gene Patent Case Receives an Amicus curiae brief by Nobel Laureate Dr. James D. Watson

/ By / Patent

Taapsi Johri, a practising IP lawyer, has sent us this very interesting guest post on the ongoing Myriad, ‘gene patents’ case before the CAFC. The focus of her post is on the amicus brief filed by Dr. James Watson, the Nobel Laureate who discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Taapsi’s post below captures the essence of the debate and its applicability to India, which apparently has been granting gene patents. Myriad’s Gene Patent Case Receives an Amicus curiae brief […]

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CSIR maintains DEATHLY silence on royalties (if any!) earned from licencing of its patents

/ By / Uncategorized

It appears that my 5 months old campaign to force CSIR to disclose information on the royalties earned from licencing of its patents is simply not going to bear any fruit. I had initially filed an application in March this year to investigate the sums that CSIR is spending on patenting and the amount that it is earning through licensing of these patents. At that time, although CSIR disclosed that it had spent close to Rs. 74,20,00,000 on securing its

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Managing IP names Justice Prabha Sridevan in its list of 50 most influential people in the IP world

/ By / Others, Uncategorized

Photo courtesy: MIP Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) has announced its annual list of the fifty most influential people in the IP world. Past editions of this list have featured former Controller General P.H. Kurian, Justice Ravinder Bhat of the Delhi High Court, Javed Akhtar & SpicyIP. The only Indian to feature in this year’s list of 50 personalities from around the world is Justice Prabha Sridevan, Chairperson of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). In pertinent part MIP notes her

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‘Shaadi.com’ introduces spicy new twist to existing trademark battle involving Google, ‘Bharat-Matrimony’ etc.

/ By / Trademark

Close on the heels of the Colgate case, where a Delhi Court issued summons to the top brass of Colgate and a Registrar from the trademarks registry for allegedly forging a trademark certificate, we have been informed of a similar controversy brewing before the High Court of Madras in an existing case where Consim India Ltd. had sued Google and other competing matrimonial websites such as People’s Interactive Pvt. Ltd. (Shaadi.com), Times Business Solutions Ltd. and Jeevan Sathi Internet Services

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Tata Chemicals wins patent revocation battle against HUL’s water purifier patent before IPAB

/ By / Patent

In a recent order, dated 12 June, 2012 (available over here), the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), acting on a petition filed by Tata Chemicals, has revoked Indian Patent No. 195937 granted to Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) on the 26th of August, 2005 for the invention of a ‘filter cartridge’ that is used in HUL’s Pureit brand of water-filtration devices.  While Tata Chemicals was represented Senior Advocate P.S. Raman who was briefed by Essenese Obhan, Managing Partner of the promising

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IPAB revokes patents belonging to debutant Indian ‘patent trolls’

/ By / Patent

Image from here In two separate decisions last month, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has revoked three patents, one belonging to Ram Kumar and two belonging to Bharat Bhogilal Patel. Both patentees are classic ‘patent trolls’. I use the term ‘patent troll’ not in the sense of traditional ‘non-practicing entities’ but in the context of patentees who seek to exploit the weaknesses in the legal system to enforce equally weak patents. The IPAB orders can be accessed over here

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Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 notified by Government as law of the land

/ By / Copyright

Image from here The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 was officially notified, as coming into force as the law of the land, by the Central Government on 21 June, 2012. The Gazette notification is available on the website of the Copyright Office available over here. The Act received the assent of the President on 8 June, 2012 after both Houses of Parliament passed the law in the budget session of Parliament. However even after the President signs the law, it needs

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Yet another dodgy RTI reply from APEDA

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here. Continuing from my post, last month, on APEDA’s denial of my RTI request for the legal expenses incurred by APEDA in registering and defending ‘basmati’ as a trademark and a GI – I finally received a response to the appeal that I had filed, against the denial of information, with the appellate authority within APEDA.  The reply can be accessed over here. As always, the reply from APEDA was both evasive and dodgy and overturns only a

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Socio-Legal Review puts out call for papers

/ By / Uncategorized

The Socio-Legal Review, published by the Law & Society Committee of the National Law School of India University has put out the following call for submission. Submission guidelines maybe accessed over here, while past issues of the journal can be accessed on its website over here. The Socio-Legal Review (SLR) is a student-edited, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published by the Law and Society Committee of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. SLR aims to be a forum that involves,

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Dealing with the cost of cancer treatment in India: Are patents the problem?

/ By / Patent

Image from here Over the last several months, I’ve spent some time visiting some dear family friends who are undergoing treatment at a cancer hospital. This was the first time that I witnessed the disease and its treatment first-hand. Apart from putting life and the law in a new perspective, my occasional visits to the cancer hospital also served the purpose of researching the costs of cancer treatment in India, the manner in which Indians deal with the cost and

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