Author name: Shamnad Basheer

Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer founded SpicyIP in 2005. He's also the Founder of IDIA, a project to train underprivileged students for admissions to the leading law schools. He served for two years as an expert on the IP global advisory council (GAC) of the World Economic Forum (WEF). In 2015, he received the Infosys Prize in Humanities in 2015 for his work on legal education and on democratising the discourse around intellectual property law and policy. The jury was headed by Nobel laureate, Prof. Amartya Sen. Professional History: After graduating from the NLS, Bangalore Prof. Basheer joined Anand and Anand, one of India’s leading IP firms. He went on to head their telecommunication and technology practice and was rated by the IFLR as a leading technology lawyer. He left for the University of Oxford to pursue post-graduate studies, completing the BCL, MPhil and DPhil as a Wellcome Trust scholar. His first academic appointment was at the George Washington University Law School, where he served as the Frank H Marks Visiting Associate Professor of IP Law. He then relocated to India in 2008 to take up the MHRD Chaired Professorship in IP Law at WB NUJS, a leading Indian law school. Later, he was the Honorary Research Chair of IP Law at Nirma University and also a visiting professor of law at the National Law School (NLS), Bangalore. Prof. Basheer has published widely and his articles have won awards, including those instituted by ATRIP, the Stanford Technology Law Review and CREATe. He was consulted widely by the government, industry, international organisations and civil society on a variety of IP issues. He also served on several government committees.

Accosting Drug Costs: The Elusive Holy Grail?

/ By / Innovation, Patent

So how do we get big pharma to disclose their drug costs? Mandate them through a legislation, one might say. Well, a couple of US states are now trying it, but facing rather serious resistance from drug makers. After all, it can’t be easy to get to the holiest of the holy grails when it comes to drug innovation: namely drug costs. For this is a bluff that cannot be called without serious repercussions for the mainstream model around which […]

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Indian IP Policy: Two Tongued?

/ By / Copyright, Patent

A week or so ago, I’d emailed our SpicyIP mailing group with the following message (and linking to Kumar Sharma’s piece in Business Today): “Apparently, Modi-ji wants India to adhere to “global” IP standards (see extract of article from Business Standard, by Kumar Sharma, one of the most insightful journalists today on the Indian IP/pharma scene). And pray: what are these “global” standards? If its the TRIPS standard (the only real global IP standard in existence today), then we are very much in compliance. And there

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Creative IP Lawyering and Justice?

/ By / Innovation, Patent

In a piece posted yesterday, I reflect on the theme of “Jugaad Justice” and link to a Mint op-ed written to commemorate the World IP Day. In the Mint piece, I refer to a string of IP cases (mainly from the Delhi High Court), where judges impose a sort of “community service” on defendants in lieu of computing complex damages (as pay out to plaintiffs). I’d noted as below: “In another series of remarkable decisions, courts ordered that rather than pay

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Bayer’s Nexavar, Patent Working and Compulsory Licensing: Mind the (Information) Gap!

/ By / Patent

In an email to our readers last week, I’d announced that we’d be releasing a report soon on the “working” of Bayers’ controversial patented cancer drug, “Nexavar”. This drug was at the centre of controversial compulsory licensing dispute between Bayer and Natco. For those interested, here is the full text of the report. In this report, we highlight the various information gaps and discrepancies in the Form 27 declarations filed each year by Bayer before the Indian Patent Office. As

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Jugaad Justice?

/ By / Innovation, Patent

In order to commemorate World IP Day, I’d written a piece for the Mint on what I call “Jugaad Justice”. I was of course being deliberately provocative in using this term and look forward to comments and suggestions. For those interested, the link to the Mint piece is here, and the piece is extracted below. In this piece, I refer to Justice Katju’s maverick ruling dispensing with interim injunctions in IP cases, a theme I elaborate upon quite significantly in

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Tribunals in Troubled Waters: Highlights of the IPAB Decision

/ By / Patent, Trademark

Continuing from our earlier post breaking the news of the Madras High Court striking down key provisions of IPAB appointments as unconstitutional, we’ve now uploaded the actual text of the order here. Here are some of the key highlights of the decision (warning: long post follows) 1. Independence of the Judiciary/Separation of Powers The court agrees with the main thrust of our petition that the current composition of the IPAB (and the eligibility criteria) poses a grave threat to the independence of

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Breaking News: IPAB (Key Provisions) Struck Down as Unconstitutional!

/ By / Patent

And at long last, the wait is over! News just trickled in this morning from Chennai that we won our first round against a constitutionally infirm Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), India’s specialised IP tribunal. Readers may recall that in early 2011, I’d filed a writ petition before the Madras High Court challenging the constitutionality of the IPAB. Although this was filed in my name, a large part of the work was done by the prolific Prashant Reddy and an

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Dodgy IP Dogma

/ By / Patent

“Because I’ve got to have faith …faith …faith” So sang George Michael almost a generation ago. It would appear that a number of IP stakeholders are thumping to this very beat, casting their lot with dogmatic IP assertions, and refusing to consider any fact based empiricism. Sad really! I’ve been harping on the need to move away from “faith based” to “fact based” IP for as long as I can remember. But, in this rhetorical IP war, where blindfolds have been

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Patents, Price Gouging and the Enduring Enigma of Drug Costs

/ By / Innovation, Patent

In a post yesterday, I expressed my bewilderment at the closure of India’s first (post TRIPS) compulsory licensing dispute by the apex court which, while refusing to admit Bayer’s appeal, curiously noted that it was leaving the “questions of law” open. Jagdish Sagar, an IP practitioner and thought leader noted in the comments section that: “I share your puzzlement, but this is not the first such gnomic order that I have seen.” Investment Protection for Drug Originators: Mandatory Submission of

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The latest Xiaomi Order: Some Questions?

/ By / Patent

Thomas reported earlier today on the small breather than Xiaomi received from the Delhi High Court, after being at the receiving end of an unfortunate ex parte injunction. Xiaomi fans in India will no doubt celebrate the fact that Xiaomi can continue to sell. However, this order leaves open some questions. For if Xiaomi has to purchase from Qualcomm (a licensee authorised by Ericcson), wouldn’t the doctrine of patent exhaustion apply? As I noted in an earlier post here, once

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