Author name: Swaraj Paul Barooah

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Spicy IP Tidbit: Indian Govt. to take charge of buying patented drugs and devices for the country?

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The Indian government seems to have noticed, that barring a few instances of certain MNCs such as Merck launching their products differentially priced, or even counting these differentially priced drugs, health care remains by and large, much beyond the paying capabilities of even the fast growing middle classes. As per current proposals by the ministry, the Indian govt. could become the country’s sole purchaser of patented drugs. If carried out, this would be the first instance where the public as […]

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NPP may finally come into being.

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The long pending National Pharmaceutical Policy, 2006 (NPP) seems like it may finally see the light of day some time in September this year according to Sharad Pawar. Sharad Pawar, the head of the 7 ministers that formed the Group of Ministers (GoM) that was constituted to rethink the policy after it was announced earlier in 2007, announced that it was in its final stages and would be ready within 2-3 months. The NPP was first proposed as far back

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Spicy IP Tidbit: Hollywood strikes back… the wrong way

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After hearing of scores of instances of Hollywood movies / soundtracks being copied in Bollywood, here comes a rare instance of a Hollywood movie lifting a part of it’s soundtrack from Bollywood. A Hollywood Sci-Fi Cloverfield has used Pankhida Oh Pankhida, a Gujarati garba originally penned by Vijaya Herma about 25 years ago, as part of its soundtrack. For the purposes of the film, Lekha Ratnakumar had created his own version of the song and was credited with it in

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Patented.. Music?

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Music therapy – an increasingly more accepted health care profession that progresses on the basis of belief that musical notes can affect the brain in such a way that certain physical, mental and emotional conditions of people can be addressed. The power of music isn’t new to India. While stories like those of Tansen controlling the elements with his music have lined Indian history, current music therapists are approaching this interdisciplinary field in a more scientific manner.What makes this even

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UNFCCC requiring a new Patent Regime?

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With more and more reports showing the increasingly close dangers of climate change due to global warming, delay is no longer a viable option in deciding policy matters of the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC). The need for a global framework on fair and effective methods of controlling climate change is undeniable and that is what the UNFCCC, together with its Kyoto Protocol, seeks to establish. However, as past experience has shown on almost all global forums,

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Clandestine IP treaty being drafted

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Continuing from my previous post, it seems that certain developed countries have decided to take matters into their own hands. A controversial treaty is being drafted in secret by a group of wealthy countries. Late 2007 saw the beginning of this effort at creating new global standards for intellectual property rights spearheaded by United States, the European Commission, Japan, and Switzerland. Cleverly named the “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement” (Note: it does not deal with money counterfeiting), the drafting committee quite noticeably

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