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.

Patent Database Petition: Techgoss Articles

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Thanks to all of you, we now have about 230 signatures on our petition requesting the publishing of more patent information. For those of you that still haven’t signed, we still have another 2 days left before we submit this petition. I also want to thank techgoss.com for highlighting this petition on their blog in two punchy pieces, authored by Bala Shah. I enclose an extract below: “The Indian Patent Office, like its counterparts in the world, has been set […]

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Ramkumar "Dual Sim" Case: Micromax Obtains a Declaratory Judgment

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Close on the heels of what might turn out to be India’s first “patent” murder, SpicyIP just learnt that Micromax has obtained an interim declaratory order against Ramkumar in a high profile patent infringement matter. By way of background, Micromax, a dual SIM cell phone importer filed a declaratory suit for non infringement before a court in Gurgaon (a satellite town close to New Delhi) asking that the court declare that Micromax’s imports of dual SIM phones do not infringe

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NN Prasad appointed as Chief of Staff to WIPO DG

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In a momentous development for India, NN Prasad, Joint Secretary at the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce) has been selected as the Chef De Cabinet to the Director General of WIPO, Dr Francis Gurry. This is a very high profile appointment, as the post of Chef De Cabinet is akin to the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India. As many of you may be aware, NN Prasad has been instrumental in changing the

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Introducing IndianIPR.com: The Most Affordable IP Database

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I chanced upon an IP Database, “IndianIPR.com” and wrote to its founder, Manpreet Singh Sood to find out more. Upon being given access, I browsed it and found it to be an excellent resource for those of us looking for easy access to tailored India IP Information. In particular, it contains: i) Reported IP judgmentsii) All acts of Parliament, rules, forms, circulars and notifications pertaining to Indian IP. Importantly, the search engine is efficient and comprehensive and throws up results

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Do Patents Kill? A Strange Twist in the Ramkumar vs Samsung Saga

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Do Patents Kill? This question, often posed in the context of pharmaceuticals may have found its answer in a case involving an electronics patent.A number of papers report that a death in Chennai could be connected with the ongoing Ramkumar vs Samsung (and others) patent litigation, a litigation that we have been tracking on this blog. The last update we carried was that of a ridiculously cryptic ex parte injunction by the Madras High Court on the 13th of March.

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Please Sign Patent Petition: It Hardly Takes a Minute!

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We want to thank many of our readers for supporting the transparency cause and signing our petition requesting for the publishing of more “patent” information. As you will appreciate, the publishing of more patent information will make the patent prosecution process more transparent and the patent office more accountable. Thus far, we have around 100 signatures. Given that we have a regular subscription list of over 1500 members (representing patent attorneys, inhouse counsels, NGO’s, students, government folks and other members

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The Swine Flu Outbreak: Cipla on a Patent Roll

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Clearly the gods are smiling on Cipla. First, they win a patent battle over a highly profitable anti cancer drug, Tarceva. Simultaneously, a deadly swine flu strikes and claims several human lives in North America. As nations scramble to address a potential pandemic, Cipla has a generic version of Tamiflu ready to supply any government that wishes to stockpile this drug. Gilead’s Patented “Tamiflu” Tamiflu, a drug patented by Gilead and exclusively licensed for manufacture and sale to Roche is

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Petition for More Patent Information: Please Lend Your Support and Signatures

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Our petition calling for greater transparency and the publication of more patent information has now been posted for signatures at i-petitions. Please click here to access this petition and sign. Please also include your name and designation–as this will lend greater impact to the campaign. Since there is no specific column for your designation and the institution that you represent, can you please include this in brackets after your name? Your support will ensure that we have greater access to

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A Petition Pleading for Greater Transparency and More Access to Patent Information

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To: Mr P.H. Kurian Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks Indian Patent Office Bhoudhik Sampada Bhavan Near Antop Hill Head Post Office, S.M. Road, Antop Hill, Mumbai-400037, Dear Mr Kurian, On behalf of several intellectual property stakeholders that are signatories to this letter, let me begin by wishing you a very happy World Intellectual Property Day. I include all members of the public in this group of stakeholders, as the public are not only interested in technological progress

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Roche vs Cipla: Did the Judges Construe the Claim At All?

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I’m still coming to grips with the division bench ruling in the Roche vs Cipla matter. I wanted to put out some initial thoughts in the hope that I can get a bit more clarity from some of our more knowledgeable readers. The facts, known to most of you are briefly as below:Roche sued Cipla before the Delhi High Court claiming that “Erlocip”, a generic product by Cipla corresponding to Roche’s originator drug, “Tarceva” violates Roche’s Indian patent (IN196774)–hereafter ‘774

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