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.

ALLEGATIONS OF BIAS IN THE NOVARTIS PATENT LITIGATION

/ By / Patent

Whilst most of us await the Madras High Court judgment on the constitutionality of section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act, here’s an update on what’s going on at the IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Board), the specialized IP tribunal in India. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Novartis litigation was split up—the patentability issue was referred to the IPAB and the constitutionality issue was to continue with the Chennai High Court. Before the IPAB could even begin to wade […]

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RANBAXY TAKES ON PFIZER AGAIN IN CADUET CONTROVERSY

/ By / Patent

Down to Earth has an interesting story on the Caduet patent dispute, yet another big ticket litigation between Ranbaxy and Pfizer. Rohan George states: “Indian drug manufacturer Ranbaxy is contesting US multinational Pfizer in 17 countries. It is filing for the right to manufacture generic versions of the world’s bestselling drug Lipitor and a combination drug Caduet, in the us. At the crux of the dispute is Pfizer’s designs on a patent extension by combining Lipitor with another drug: Norvasc.

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INDIAN GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE SAYS "NO" TO DATA EXCLUSIVITY

/ By / Data Exclusivity, Patent

After multiple deliberations spanning more than 3 years, a government committee has finally submitted its report on regulatory data protection and Article 39.3 of TRIPS. It finds that Article 39.3 does not require “data exclusivity” and that, at the present moment, it may not be in India’s national interest to grant “data exclusivity” to pharmaceutical drug data. It relies heavily on the Doha Declaration to support this interpretation. It argues that a “trade secrecy” form of protection is sufficient to

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STRETCHING THE WRONG WAY!! METAPHYSICAL MUSINGS ON THE YOGA–PATENT CONTROVERSY

/ By / Copyright, Patent

The latest move by the government of India “to lodge its protest against yoga-related patents issued by the US Patents & Trademarks Office” prompted a number of emails to me this morning. Some even went to extent of suggesting: “Surely, if the government is taking this up, there must be some merit in this case”. If you really want to believe that a naked emperor is adorned with the finest clothes, be my guest!! It’s all a matter of perception

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STRETCHING IP: YOGA, SUKETU MEHTA’s OP-ED AND PROF SAMPAT’S RESPONSE

/ By / Copyright

The controversy surrounding the Yoga guru, Bikram Choudhary and his copyrighting of “hot” yoga poses (perhaps a better term ought to be “sauna yoga”) has reared its ugly head yet again. Talk about ‘stretching” IP!!. Oh well—if a patent can issue on a method of exercising a cat by making it chase a laser beam, what’s wrong with copyrighting a more holistic exercise regimen that does not involve anything as fancy as lasers—and more importantly, one that pertains to human

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FISHING FOR TECHNOLOGY….OR VICE VERSA

/ By / Uncategorized

The Economist carries an interesting piece on how mobile phones have contributed to increased efficiency(and economic returns) to Kerala fishermen. Somewhat off topic, but an interesting read nonetheless.“YOU are a fisherman off the coast of northern Kerala, a region in the south of India. Visiting your usual fishing ground, you bring in an unusually good catch of sardines. That means other fishermen in the area will probably have done well too, so there will be plenty of supply at the

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KSR VS TELEFLEX AND PFIZER VS APOTEX: IMPLICATIONS FOR NOVARTIS LITIGATION IN INDIA

/ By / Patent

Its been a while since the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit invalidated Pfizer’s patents covering Norvarsc, one of their best selling drugs used by high blood pressure patients. Close on the heels of this important judgment that in some ways endorses a section 3(d) kind of approach (an issue pertinent to the ongoing Novartis litigation), comes another judgment, KSR vs Teleflex, where the United States Supreme Court raises the bar for “non obviousness”.As some of you may know,

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INDIAN MUSIC COMPOSERS : "INSPIRATION" OR "COPYING"?

/ By / Copyright

Strangely enough, as Mrinalini has been posting on youtube and copyright issues, I came across these youtube clippings of an interview dealing with the alleged “plagiarism in the Indian music industry”. I’ll briefly describe these interviews, not least because one is not certain when Youtube is likely to be put on notice that these are copyrighted clips. These clips are from an interview that was broadcast on CNBC TV 18 (talk about copyright and youtube!!) by the hard hitter, Karan

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