Author name: Swaraj Paul Barooah

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IP Reveries: Class 1 – IPR: A Tantalising Term or Troubling Terminology?

/ By / Others

IP Reveries: Class I – “IPR” – A Tantalising Term or Troubling Terminology? Swaraj Barooah & Lokesh Vyas The introduction to this new series is laid out in a previous blogpost here. If you haven’t already, please read that to help make sense of this new series! Fair warning, this introductory post is longer than usual but we hope it makes for some easy Sunday reading! (The first class after a very, very long pandemic break, set somewhere in the …

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Quote from Socrates "Let the questions be the curriculum"

IP Reveries – An Introduction

/ By / Others

Intellectual Property Rights – a fascinating ‘subject’ that inadvertently touches upon so many aspects of our day to day life, whether we’re conscious of it or not. A few decades ago, even most lawyers wouldn’t have been able to clearly explain what a patent is. Fast forward to today, and while there’s still plenty of misunderstanding – patents, copyrights, trademarks, inventions, innovations, 4th industrial revolution, etc have all become buzzwords! Simultaneously, the ever growing division between “pro-IP” and “anti-IP” people …

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The Curious Question of Who Is An “Any Person” Part 2: Where’s The Data?

/ By / Patent

This two part series looks at a case from late 2020, dealing with pre-grant oppositions. The first part questioned the relevance of educational and professional qualifications of pre-grant opposition filers, in context of the literal and contextual interpretation of ‘any person’ in the existing legislation requiring an expansive reading. This post will continue that discussion by asking where the backing is for the reasoning behind a narrower interpretation, as well as highlighting the policy significance of having (literally) ‘any person’ being …

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image showing synonyms of 'any person' on a cartoon dinosaur

The Curious Question of Who Is An “Any Person” Part 1: BHC and Diluting of Pre-Grant Oppositions

/ By / Patent

A recent order by the Delhi High Court in the case of Agriboard International Llc vs Deputy Controller Of Patents brought up the very relevant issue of the requirement of the Patent office to issue “speaking orders” while rejecting a patent application. Indeed, this is an important requirement and we will look to cover this decision in a blog post soon. However, discussing this case brought to mind the issue of safeguards for ensuring high patent quality. And combined with …

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How Much For That IP System? South Centre Report Suggests Developing Countries Pay Quite the Price

/ By / Innovation, Patent

In the discussions around IP, trade and innovation, it has often been pointed out that least developed countries and developing countries are frequently the net importers of technologies, while the developed countries tend to be net exporters of technologies. This is a point that is especially relevant when discussing the problems with ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches to globally harmonized IP regimes (see for example, this post on a Report on Patent Exclusions). An interesting new report (available here) published by South Centre …

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Book cover

Open Access Book on Negotiating History of the WCT and WPPT by Dr. R.V.V. Ayyar

/ By / Copyright

Some time ago, we had brought to you a list of freely accessible scholarly material on and around Intellectual Property – the post is here and the list is here – and are happy to say that we are in the process of updating that list with even more books and materials! There is however one stand-out entry that looks like it will be of interest to several of our readers. Published in late 2021, Dr R.V.Vaidyanatha Ayyar’s 421 paged …

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In Major Turnaround, US Announces Support for IP Waiver of Covid Vaccines

/ By / COVID-19, Patent

Late last night, the new US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, announced that the Biden-Harris administration is now supporting the waiver of IP protections for Covid-19 Vaccines. The short statement is available here and I reproduce it in full below: United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai today released a statement announcing the Biden-Harris Administration’s support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. “This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. …

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pic of package cover for olumiant baricitinib

Natco Files Compulsory Licence Application for Covid Drug Baricitinib

/ By / COVID-19, Drug Regulation, Patent

In an interesting development, Natco has approached the Controller of Patents for a Compulsory Licence under Section 92 of the Patents Act, for the drug Baricitinib. The 12 page application is available here. Baricitinib is generally used to treat diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and has been “reportedly approved” (as per the application) for such use in EU and India in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The application goes on to quote studies that indicate the Baricitinib in combination with Remdesivir is …

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generic pic of vaccine

Compulsory License for Covid Drugs on the Table, Says Delhi High Court

/ By / COVID-19, Patent

Even as the pandemic situation continues to worsen in India, the Delhi High Court yesterday put out an order that hauled up the government on various issues regarding the response to the pandemic so far, oxygen use, ramping up of testing facilities, shortage of drugs and black market selling of them, bed shortages, wastage of 44 lakh vaccines(!), etc. The 11 page order by the Division Bench, consisting of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, was given in the case …

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Picture of Seretide Accuhaler (circular, in a pink and purple colour combination), next to its box

The Monopoly Purple – Colours, Shapes and Sizes in the Pharmaceutical World

/ By / Drug Regulation, Trademark

(This post was co-authored with Murali Neelakantan. Murali is currently Principal lawyer at Amicus. He is a dual qualified lawyer (India and UK) and among other positions, he was formerly a partner at an international law firm in London, Cipla’s first global general counsel, and Executive Director and Global General Counsel of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. Murali has also been a long time friend of the blog.)  While the role of patents in extending monopolies over pharmaceutical products is now widely debated, …

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