Compulsory Licensing is Not a Bad Word!

/ By / Patent

And with this telling statement, Justice Prabha Sridevan, Chariman of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) began a marathon seven hour dictation in open court, upholding India/s first compulsory license order (in the post TRIPS era) in favour of Natco, a leading generic manufacturer. Given that “compulsory licensing” has acquired rather malignant overtones in several circles (pun intended), it was only appropriate that the judge set the tone by beginning with this sentiment that will no doubt reverberate in the […]

Compulsory Licensing is Not a Bad Word! Read More »

‘First set up the labs, then dream the Nobel’

/ By / Innovation

I had earlier analysed the ‘Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, 2013’. I had inter alia noted that the policy does not focus on enhancing R&D facilities in universities. On the other hand, it intends to multiply inter-university centres “to enable a wide cross section of university researchers to access advanced research facilities and equipment which are otherwise not available in university environments.”   In this regard, I intend to introduce an interesting article in ‘The Hindu’ titled ‘First set up the

‘First set up the labs, then dream the Nobel’ Read More »

Spicy IP Weekly review (March Week 1)

/ By / Uncategorized

Last week started with an interesting post by Anubha about the role of National Innovation foundation (NIF) in boosting frugal technology. She then went on to discuss how NIF helped a farmer, patent and commercialize a frugal technology developed by him. She concluded by noting that NIF launched in 2000, headed by Prof. Anil Gupta of IIM-A had assisted inventors in filing an impressive number of 555 patents.  This was followed by an analytical post by Prashant who discussed a

Spicy IP Weekly review (March Week 1) Read More »

December 2012: Controller’s decisions at the IPO

/ By / Uncategorized

In the month of December 2012 the Controller’s offices issued 84 decisions.  Out of these 84, 46 decisions were granted (including deferred, time allowed), 34 refused (including revoked, abandoned and withdrawn) and no file uploaded for the remainder (4).Some interesting decisions: There are three decisions related to divisional practice: 1251/KOL/2005; 1257/DEL/2007, and 3466/DEL/2005: All three are from different controllers, and yield a similar result.  1576/DEL/2006 is on application of sections 3(e), and 3(p). 106/DELNP/2008 is on application of section 3(d).

December 2012: Controller’s decisions at the IPO Read More »

Patents vs. Patients: Department of Pharmaceuticals issues draft policy on pricing of patented drugs

/ By / Patent

Earlier this week, the Department of pharmaceuticals (DOP) issued a draft proposal on price negotiation of patented drugs and has invited comments from stakeholders on the recommendations of the committee before the end of this month. This draft policy proposal couldn’t have come at a better time, especially since the IPAB decision on Bayer’s appeal against compulsory license(CL) issued for its Nexavar (First ever post TRIPS CL granted by India) is expected early next week.   The Parliamentary standing committee’s

Patents vs. Patients: Department of Pharmaceuticals issues draft policy on pricing of patented drugs Read More »

SpicyIP Tidbit: ViiV Healthcare collaborates with Medicines Patent Pool (MPP)

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced the launch of a new collaboration with ViiV Healthcare – a joint venture between GlaxoSmithKline (76.5%), Pfizer (13.5%), and Shionogi (10%) – to facilitate greater availability of critically needed medicines for children living with HIV. ViiV Healthcare is the second research-based pharmaceutical business to join the Medicines Patent Pool, the first being Gilead Sciences. We blogged about the MPP here, here, here and here. As has been noted, MPP was launched in

SpicyIP Tidbit: ViiV Healthcare collaborates with Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) Read More »

Breaking News: Student Association Impleaded in Access to Education (DU Photocopy) Case

/ By / Copyright

In a momentous development, the Delhi High Court permitted an association of students to intervene in a highly controversial law suit filed by leading publishers against Delhi University (DU) and its photocopier.  Here is the link to the intervention petition filed on behalf of the “Association of Students for Equitable Access to Knowledge” by Jawahar Raja and Rajat Kumar, two Delhi based lawyers, who’ve been at the forefront of several legal battles to secure social justice. They were led by

Breaking News: Student Association Impleaded in Access to Education (DU Photocopy) Case Read More »

Kerala State Central Library Digitizes Rare Books in Accessibility Drive

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here The bibliophilic readers, especially those hailing from Kerala, may be pleased to know of a recent noteworthy achievement of the State Central Library down there. The library, located in Trivandrum, houses hundreds of rare and ancient documents and books that cannot be found elsewhere. Physical access to these books has always been highly restricted and the people who were even aware of their continuing existence were equally rarely found. However, the situation is going to change for

Kerala State Central Library Digitizes Rare Books in Accessibility Drive Read More »

Bombay High Court Decision on Trademark Infringement- SABMiller India Ltd. v. Som Distilleries & Breweries Ltd.

/ By / Trademark

Recently, the Bombay High Court rendered a decision on an alleged trademark infringement (here) , the summary of which is as follows –   Case history and facts    On February 19, 2009, the plaintiff applied for registration of its series trade mark “SABMiller India – SABMILLER INDIA” under the Trademarks Act, 1999 -Class 21 (glass bottles) and Class 32 (beers etc.). It also obtained registration for a design to be applied on its beer bottles under the Design Act,

Bombay High Court Decision on Trademark Infringement- SABMiller India Ltd. v. Som Distilleries & Breweries Ltd. Read More »

Off-Topic: Call for Papers from the Journal of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Law

/ By / Uncategorized

The Journal of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Law (JTBL) is an international peer-reviewed, student-edited journal of National University of Juridical Sciences, India. Dedicated to pioneer legal scholarship in the field of telecommunication and broadcasting laws and addressing a global scholarly community, JTBL strives to publish relevant research on said disciplines. The Journal encourages deliberations on subjects of interdisciplinary nature and would include review of laws and policies involved in the field. The journal accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Interested contributors

Off-Topic: Call for Papers from the Journal of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Law Read More »

Scroll to Top