Swaraj Paul Barooah

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

March 4, 2022 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / 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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Open Access Book on Negotiating History of the WCT and WPPT by Dr. R.V.V. Ayyar

January 12, 2022 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / 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

May 6, 2021 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / 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

May 5, 2021 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / 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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Compulsory License for Covid Drugs on the Table, Says Delhi High Court

April 21, 2021 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / 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

April 15, 2021 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / 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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The Compilation of the Decade of SpicyIP Posts on IPAB

April 8, 2021 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / Copyright, Geographical Indication, Patent, Plant Variety Protection, Trademark

[Co-authored/compiled with Praharsh Gour] Earlier this week, Praharsh blogged about the IPAB finally being scrapped through an ordinance, with its powers / duties transferred to High Courts and Commercial courts (for copyright matters). Long time readers may recall that Prof Shamnad Basheer, after pointing out various issues with it, had first started asking for the IPAB to be shut down 11 years ago, in this post titled “Pondering the legal competence of the IPAB”. Note the following lines – more

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Delhi HC Looks Into Access And Innovation Questions On Rare Diseases

March 25, 2021 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / Innovation, Others

Through a series of directions issued in an order on 23rd March, Justice Prathiba M. Singh of the Delhi High Court may have finally pushed into action what the Central Government has been sitting on for years with regards to patients suffering from ‘rare diseases’. The current order related to a batch of petitions that involved 12 children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), 2 children with Hunter Syndrome, and 1 adult with Hippel-Linau Syndrome, and the declared inability of the

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Image showing various 'Open' related logos, with text "IP Textbooks. It's always Open Access O'Clock. Download and Enjoy"

A Draft “Open” IP Syllabus

February 25, 2021 / By Swaraj Paul Barooah / Geographical Indication, Innovation, Others, Publication

Despite the plethora of materials online, any student, researcher or professor would know that access to scholarly information is a lot more difficult than what it should be. Most of the time, if you’re serious about research, the ‘research’ journey is more about how many paywalls you can climb (legally or not so legally), as much as it is about how good the material you can find is. To get around this, many folks rely on plug-ins like UnPayWall and

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Issues in Sci-Hub Case ‘A Matter of Public Importance’

In a great start to the Sci-Hub litigation (Elsevier, Wiley, and ACS vs Sci-Hub, LibGen – for background context, see the bottom of this post), Justice Midha at the Delhi High Court repeatedly pointed out that the issues in this case involved ‘a matter of public importance’, while saying he would not want to pass any orders in the law suit without hearing the various parties that wanted to get their views heard in the case, for the interim application

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Author name: Swaraj Paul Barooah