Category Archives: Innovation

Conference: Intellectual Property, COVID-19, and the Next Pandemic: Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures

by SpicyIP November 3, 2021

We’re pleased to inform our readers of a very interesting looking international conference coming up in a few days, on Covid and IP protection. The conference is on 5th-6th November and it is free to attend. The registration page is here. As described by the organisers: The conference aims at sharing ideas on how we can use intellectual property as a tool for promoting not just innovation but also equitable distribution of life saving drugs in low and middle-income nations….

Drug Regulation Innovation

Drug Price Controls in the US: Same, Same but Different?

by Namratha Murugeshan October 24, 2021

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In 2017, when India introduced price controls on coronary stents, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) had requested the Prime Minister to not extend price controls to additional medical devices. When India refused to heed to the request, amongst other things, the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers reported the measure of price capping to be without a sense of differentiation between newer and older products (here, p. 235), India’s eligibility for US’ Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)…

SpicyIP Weekly Review (August 23 – 29)

by Anupriya Dhonchak August 30, 2021

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Topical Highlight Sun Pharma v. Cipla: Madras HC Rejects COVID as an Excuse for Passing Off In this guest post, Kedar Ganesh Dhargalkar analyses the recent case of Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. v. Cipla Ltd., and the socio-legal opportunism of the defendants’ arguments for condonable trademark infringement, set in the backdrop of the ongoing global pandemic. The Defendant Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. allegedly infringed the Plaintiff Cipla Ltd.’s copyright and registered trademark by thrusting its deceptively similar goods and flooding the…

Announcing the Winners of the 2nd Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on IP Law!

by SpicyIP August 28, 2021

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Following on from the success of last year’s inaugural edition of the Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on IP Law, on May 14th, 2021 we announced the 2nd edition of the Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on the occasion of Shamnad‘s 45th birth anniversary. Like last year, we kept the topic selection open to participants – asking them to choose any topic they wanted so long as it related to IP. And encouraged participants to draw inspiration from Shamnad’s scholarship. This year, we received fewer…

Parliamentary Standing Committee’s Recommendations Concerning AI and IP: A Little Late or Way too Early?

by Varsha Jhavar August 10, 2021

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Appreciating the growing importance of AI in various fields as well as its economic impact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee Report (hereinafter the Report) recommended the ‘revisiting of IPR legislations and implementing a strong IPR framework’ in order to ‘extract benefits from AI’. (Pg 38) The Report relying on a research report by Accenture stated that AI related innovations might add USD 957 billion to the Indian economy by 2035. The Report does propose a bigger picture, but fails short of…

Innovation Patent

Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on IPR: Tipping the Scales of Patent Law? Part II

by Namratha Murugeshan August 1, 2021

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In the first part of this post, I had covered the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s Report recommendations on amendments to Section 3 of the Patents Act. Continuing the same thread of suggested reforms, in this post I will be analyzing the other changes recommended to the Act that focus on a few procedural provisions. The Report informs that these procedural changes are being suggested to bring in some flexibility in the Patents Act to ensure that the validity of patents is…

Innovation Patent

Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on IPR: Tipping the Scales of Patent Law? Part I

by Namratha Murugeshan August 1, 2021

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As is well known now, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce tabled its Report on the IPR regime in India last week. In about 150 pages the Report suggests a major reevaluation of the IP framework in the country. In an approach that seems to focus on the bigger picture while suggesting fairly pointed reforms, the Report misses both the trees and the forest. Some of the conspicuous issues with the Report have been covered by Dr. Scaria (here), Praharsh…

Parliamentary Standing Committee and Copyright Reform: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

by Adyasha Samal July 30, 2021

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As most readers must be aware by now, the Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on India’s IP regime has revealed a problematic, maximalist approach to IP protection, showing no more than a tokenistic appreciation of public interest considerations. Some of the glaring issues with the Report have been highlighted by Prof Scaria (here) and Praharsh (here). In the 6 odd pages devoted to the reform of the Copyright regime, a grand total of 5 statutory issues have been highlighted despite the…

SpicyIP Weekly Review (July 5-11)

by Adyasha Samal July 12, 2021

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Topical Highlight IPAB Issue Finally Comes to a Conclusion: Delhi HC Creates Specialist IP Division Varsha reported the significant development that the Delhi High Court issued a press release stating its plan to create an Intellectual Property Division (IPD) in the Delhi High Court. After the Tribunal Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021, disbanded the IPAB and transferred its powers to the High Courts and Commercial Courts, the IPD has been constituted on the basis of the recommendations…

COVID-19 Innovation Patent Trade Secret

Special 301 Report 2021: Trade Secrets, Patents and Technology Transfer

by Adyasha Samal May 18, 2021

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[This post has been co-authored with Nikhil Purohit.] Recently, the Annual Special 301 Report on IP Protection (the ‘Report’) was released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In our earlier posts, we have discussed the US’s relaxed stance on compulsory licensing (here) and the India-specific copyright and enforcement related issues (here) as discussed in the Report. In continuation of the same, in this post, we shall analyse the discussion of three other key aspects in the Report: India-specific…

Deepveer { Apart from the fact that the SC has now left everything open, the comment here is thoroughly off-base. In fact, the DB was wrong on two critical counts:... }
Ajay { Delhi HC needs to relook at confidentiality club rules as it is getting misused. A law firm abused this to harrass a whistleblower. Details are at https://nishithdesaiassociates.wordpress.com/2021/08/04/anuradha-v-bajrangi/ }
Anon { Hi, you say that "the Court affirmed that advertisements triggered by third-party trademarks will lead to confusion regarding the origin of the goods and services advertised." Are you... }
Sandip Bose { Very helpful review. Thanks for sharing. }
Asif Iqbal { "qualitatively not substantial to the original work". Isn't this argument conflicting with the position taken in this article?. Highlights are the key moments in a game. }