Delhi HC Allows Genentech’s Internal Expert to Inspect Reliance’s Documents in Trastuzumab Suit: Dilution of Confidentiality Club?

by Adarsh Ramanujan March 14, 2020

On 2nd March, a Single Judge of the Delhi High Court in the case of Genentech Inc. and Ors. v. Drugs Controller General of India and Ors. passed an order, which effectively allowed Genentech’s in-house employee/expert to inspect the documents placed on record under a Confidentiality Club. This is the Trastuzumab litigation involving Reliance. This litigation saga has been covered on several occasions including here, here, here, here, here and here. When I first heard of this order, I was…

Geographical Indication

A Private Entity Seeks GI Protection for Chinnor Rice: Does it have the Locus Standi?

by SpicyIP March 13, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Pragati Agarwal questioning the locus standi of a private entity seeking GI protection for Chinnor rice. Pragati is a 5th year student at Symbiosis Law School, Noida. A Private Entity Seeks GI Protection for Chinnor Rice: Does it have the Locus Standi? Pragati Agrawal As an aspiring lawyer, I have a great deal of interest in Geographical Indications (GI) as an area of intellectual property. After going through the online…

COVID-19 Data Exclusivity Patent

Patent Politics in the Time of Corona

by Swaraj Paul Barooah March 13, 2020

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The new coronavirus threat/scare seems to be increasing with every passing day. At the time of writing this, it is reported that there are 138,941 cases (of which 80,815 are in China), of which 70,727 have recovered, 57,317 in mild condition, 5,786 are serious, and 5,111 have died. India has 81 cases of which 4 have recovered and 1 person has died. The new Coronavirus, or COVID 19 as it is technically known is, is now the 7th known coronavirus (other…

An Overview of the Lobbying against Indian IP Law before the USTR

by Prashant Reddy March 13, 2020

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Every year, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts hearings for its ‘Special 301’ report. The report which draws its name from Section 301 of the Trade Act, 1974 is meant to name and shame America’s trading partners based on their efforts to protect American intellectual property. This report then feeds into other reports by the USTR, such as the National Trade Estimate on Foreign Trade Barriers which forms the basis of the American President’s trade policy. In almost all…

Geographical Indication

Should India Join the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, 2015?

by Latha Nair March 12, 2020

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WIPO’s Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications (“the Geneva Act”) was adopted on May 20, 2015. On February 26, the Geneva Act officially entered into force after the European Union acceded to the same. Currently, the Geneva Act is effective in 31 countries (Albania, Cambodia, North Korea, Samoa and 27 EU member countries). How is the Geneva Act different from the Lisbon Agreement? The enactment of the Geneva Act was a result of…

Copyright of Music Composers, Lyricists and Performers: Another Missed Opportunity by Mad HC in the Illayaraja Cases – Part II

by Adarsh Ramanujan March 12, 2020

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In Part I of this two-part post, I had analysed the latest judgments of the Madras High Court in Ilaiyaraja (II) and Ilaiyaraja (I), in that order. I had concluded that the Madras High Court in Ilaiyaraja (II) got it right whereas it got it wrong in Ilaiyaraja (I) even though the conclusions are same in both the judgments. This is not a contradiction because the law applicable to the facts in both cases is totally different. In Ilaiyaraja (II),…

Patent

No Reasons Why : Questioning Delhi HC’s Interim Injunction against Sun Pharma in Novartis’ Nilotinib Patent Infringement Suit

by Namratha Murugeshan March 11, 2020

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On 20th February, the Delhi High Court in Novartis Ag & Anr v. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries passed an order issuing a temporary injunction restraining Sun Pharmaceuticals from launching its generic version of Novartis’ Nilotinib. The injunction was granted on the grounds that there was a prima facie case in favor of the plaintiff, that the balance of convenience also lay in favour of them and that they would suffer an irreparable loss without the injunction. Yet, there is no recording…

Copyright of Music Composers, Lyricists and Performers: Another Missed Opportunity by Mad HC in the Illayaraja Cases – Part I

by Adarsh Ramanujan March 11, 2020

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On February 13th, the Madras High Court passed a judgement in the case of M/s. Indian Record Manufacturing Company Limited v. AGI Music Sdn Bhd and Ors., wherein the music composer, Ilaiyaraja, was Defendant no. 2 (“Ilaiyaraja (II)”). The suit was decreed with costs and the defendants, including Ilaiyaraja, and agents etc. were permanently restrained from infringing the Plaintiff’s copyright over certain specifically identified musical works/sound recordings. This is the second judgment concerning Ilaiyaraja, the first being the judgment in…

Trademark

Another Amazon Original : How Amazon is Making and Breaking Trademarks

by Namratha Murugeshan March 9, 2020

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If you browse through Amazon while shopping for something, you’d notice that apart from some unbelievable discounts, most of the brands offering these products are relatively obscure and that you are coming across such a brand name for the first time even though their product with its specs and features looks like it belongs right in your cart. If you are someone who has been using Amazon for a few years now, you’d have also realized that there is a…

Others

Singapore’s Daren Tang Elected as Director General of WIPO amidst a Bitter US-China Face-off – What’s in Store for the Global South and the Development Agenda?

by SpicyIP March 9, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Sachin Sathyarajan on the recent election of Singapore’s Daren Tang as the Director General of WIPO. Sachin is a specialist in international law and policy. He is currently engaged as a Senior Research Associate at Jindal Global Law School in India. He also serves as a consultant to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. He had previously worked with international organizations in Geneva including the World Intellectual Property Organization…