Patenting food: Plumpy’ Nut and more?

/ By / Patent

Image from here Peanut paste sold as ‘Plumpy’Nut’, a patented concoction consisting of skimmed milk powder, sugar, vegetable fat, vitamins and minerals, has worked wonders for children suffering from malnutrition. This paste was invented by a French paediatrician and has radically changed the way malnutrition is treated in developing countries. This life saving peanut paste facilitates treatment at home, does not need to be refrigerated and can be administered by anyone, anywhere! It is so effective that it can revive […]

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Bollywood flick Satyagraha faces dispute over its Movie Title

/ By / Copyright, Trademark

Soon to be released Bollywood flick Satyagraha starring Amitabh Bachhan and Ajay Devgn has run into troubled waters due to dispute regarding ownership of the film title. Usually, any producer may register a title with various film associations which function as registered societies. The registration is valid for a two year period, after which the owner has to forego the registration and the title may be used by someone else. In the present case, the plaintiff, Rajesh Mishra of Narayani

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Leading IP Academics Fired: Protest Petition Against Unfair Dismissals

/ By / Uncategorized

As many of you now know, two leading figures in Indian IP academia were axed by their whimsical bosses, sending shockwaves across the Indian acadmic community. Swaraj’s earlier post on this notes:   “In a shocking development, LiveLaw reports that as of last month, Professor N.S.Gopalakrishnan (NSG) has been removed as Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Chair Professor at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) without any reason being disclosed.  As those in the IP community would know, Prof Gopalakrishnan

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Two MHRD IP Chair Professors axed; Reasons unknown

/ By / Uncategorized

In a shocking development, Livelaw reports that as of last month, Professor N.S.Gopalakrishnan has been removed as Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Chair Professor at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) without any reason being disclosed.  As those in the IP community would know, Prof Gopalakrishnan is one of the foremost authorities and an internationally recognized expert in the field. One would be hard-pressed to convincingly argue that the Chair position would have even existed at CUSAT had

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FICCI and The George Washington University, Washington DC announce Certificate Course on US Patent Law and Practice

/ By / Patent

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and George Washington University, Washington D.C., US are jointly conducting the Certificate course on “United States (US) Patent Law & Practice“. The course is of 13 weeks duration. Start of Course                                       :     First Week of September 2013   Last Date of Receipt of Applications    :     5th September 2013   The course would

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SpicyIP Tidbit: IPA continues communication with Pfizer over pharma innovation policy disputes

/ By / Patent

Readers may remember the posts we did on Pfizer’s testimony before the US House of Representatives and the ensuing series of correspondence regarding it. (See here, here and here). While that was part of the larger issue of US putting pressure on India to change its pharma patent policies, it has been useful in that the exchange of communication has resulted in an actual articulation of reasons behind allegations, rather than mere unilateral claims and allegations (eg: The Special 301

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SpicyIP Tidbit: GI for Pedana Kalamkari Art Form

/ By / Geographical Indication

Image from here Recently, as The Hindu reports, Pedana Kalamkari art form received GI protection. Members of Vegetable Dye Hand Block Kalamkari Printers’ Welfare Association, Pedana received the registration certificate from the Geographical Indications Registry (GIR), Chennai. Also, in the GI Registration, this art form has, been recognised as ‘Machilipatnam Kalamkari’. According to GIR’s authorised user no – AU/396/GI/19/12, production of Machilipatnam Kalamkari is geographically limited to Pedana town and its neighbouring villages including Machilipatnam, Polavaram and Kappaladoddi in Guduru

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Colgate v Pepsodent: Comparative Advertising

/ By / Comparative Advertising, Trademark

Image from here Recently, in a case of comparative advertising, the Delhi High Court denied granting an interim injunction against Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) (here). Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd. brought an action against HUL for its ads relating to its product ‘Pepsodent GermiCheck Superior Power’ as these ads allegedly disparaged Colgate’s toothpaste ‘Colgate Dental Cream Strong Teeth’. We have blogged about comparative advertising here, here, here, here and here. Colgate made the following submissions:  First, it was contended that the claim made

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Justice KN Basha to be new IPAB chairman

/ By / Uncategorized

Justice KN Basha, a recently retired judge from the Madras High Court has been appointed as the new IPAB Chairman, according to the order issued on August 23 by Chandni Raina, the director of the department of industrial policy and promotion (IPR section) under the Union ministry of commerce and industry. Justice Basha replaces Jusice Prabha Sridevan, who retired a few weeks back. In the interim period, Ms. S Usha had been the acting Chairman. The appointment order issued on

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IPRS complies with new copyright law & decides to collect ringtone royalties – no news about its re-registration from the Copyright Office

/ By / Copyright

More than a year after the new copyright law came into force we have no news from the Copyright Office on the status of the registration or re-registration of the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) as a copyright society. Emails to the Registrar of Copyright remain unanswered – given the concerns and public interest involved in the registration of IPRS as a copyright society we were expecting the Registrar of Copyrights to set new benchmarks for transparency in the re-registration

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