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.

SpicyIP and Authorship: Fostering Diversity (and Guest Posts)

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For the last couple of months, I’ve been at the receiving end of several emails and phone calls that ask: did you really say that on your blog. How could you? My short terse response is: But it wasn’t me! Please read the post again and the name of the author carefully. Pat comes the reply: but isn’t this your blog? Well, I own the domain and the website and will naturally take the fall for defamatory statements and the […]

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Gandhi Comes to WIPO

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Well not literally…but metaphorically and perhaps metaphysically as well. IPWatch (the leading news service on all matters pertaining to international intellectual property) reports that a WIPO senior official, Anil Sinha recently adopted Mahatma Gandhi’s fasting strategy in an attempt to draw attention to the plight of “restructured” WIPO officials. It reports: “A senior official at the World Intellectual Property Organization recently sent an internal letter to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry announcing that he would be undertaking a fast, depriving

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Compulsory Licensing: Pot Vs Kettle

/ By / Patent

India’s first (post TRIPS) compulsory licence issued less than two months ago, much to the consternation of the United States, whose commerce secretary expressed deep displeasure noting that: “Any dilution of the international patent regime was a cause for deep concern for the US.” Given the posturing of the government then, I was rather surprised to see the toning down in the Super 301 report which was astonishingly nuanced in its assessment of the compulsory licence. Kudos to the drafters

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World IP Day: A Natural Take

/ By / Innovation

SpicyIP wishes all of its readers a very imaginative IP day. Each year, we’ve commemorated this occasion with a short note, and also offered up a new SpicyIP product (a database/website etc) for public consumption. This year, we bring to you an exclusive IP writing competition titled Pondering IP (PIP). This competition is organised under the aegis of the Ministry of HRD Chair at WB NUJS, but in collaboration with IPTLS (a student run IP society at NUJS) and SpicyIP.

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Re(tro)specting Dilution?

/ By / Trademark

India introduced a statutory right to prevent “dilution” of well known marks for the first time in 2003 (through the Trademarks Act 1999, which came into force in September 2003). We’d blogged about this provision in the past in several of our blog posts. A friend of mine queried me on the “retrospectivity” of the provision. He pointed to Section 159 of the Act to argue that the provision cannot apply to third parties who’d used the “mark” prior to

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A Specialist IP Court: Knowing More about Less?

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Given the exponential increase in patent litigation across the country, one needs to ask if its time for India to institute a specialist IP court. No doubt, we have the IPAB, but its jurisdiction is limited to appeals arising out of Patent and Trademark office decisions and to revocations (patents) and cancellations (trademarks). It cannot adjudicate upon infringement issues. Further, it suffers serious constitutional infirmities, as we allege in this writ petition before the Madras High Court. So, do we

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Breaking News: India’s First Compulsory License Granted!

/ By / Patent

The much awaited Bayer vs Natco compulsory licensing (CL) order in relation to Bayer’s patented anti cancer drug (Nexavar) is finally out. Controller General Kurian issued the order on 9th March 2012, but it was uploaded on the IPO website only today, minutes prior to his leaving office. Apart from the issuance of what will rate as India’s first compulsory licensing decision (patents) in the post TRIPS era, today also counts as a significant day for another reason. It marks

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NY Times on the Novartis Patent Case

/ By / Patent

The NY Times weighs in on the Novartis patent case that has been simmering before our Supremes for a while now. The article reflects a nuanced take on the issue by Vikas Bajaj and Andrew Pollack, who made the effort of understanding highly complex patent concepts and interviewing a diverse range of stakeholders before crafting their story. The matter is posted for hearing at the end of this month, but my guess is that it will be adjourned again. Pregnant

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Petitioning for Trademark Change: Missing Files and Audit

/ By / Trademark

A number of SpicyIP readers have often bemoaned the fact that this blog is more partial to patents than copyright or trademarks. We stand guilty of this charge and have been making efforts to traverse other IP areas with equal vigour in the recent past. Our transparency and governance issues have largely focussed on the Indian Patent Office. That the trademark office is also beset with similar institutional issues is an understatement. Instances of missing files and CBI arrests are

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Nothing Gold Can Stay: End of the Kurian Era

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Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf’s a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay. Thus spoke the poetic Frost, more than a century ago. Today, this sentiment rings true for many of us in the IP community saddened by the premature departure of an exceptional IP leader, PH Kurian. Controller General PH Kurian (christened “bullet” Kurian by this blog owing

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