Bayer Challenges "Prima Facie" Determination in Compulsory Licensing Case

/ By / Patent

The term “prima facie” counts as one of my favourite legal expressions. Not least because it appears to be the only place where the law expresses an unabashed preference for “appearances” (which in the real world can, and is often, deceptive). Certainly a problematic expression when it comes to the law of injunctions, particularly IP injunctions where our judges continue to shoot in the dark. But more of this later. For now, it may interest you to note that the […]

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Guest Post: Some thoughts on the DIPP discussion paper

/ By / Uncategorized

As our readers may remember the DIPP had recently released a discussion paper on reforming the organizational structure of the Patents & Trademarks office. The deadline for replying to this paper is the 30th of November. In the meanwhile, to get the debate rolling on this blog, we have for our readers this incisive guest post, from Mr. R. Parthasarathy, Senior Partner and Adarsh Ramanujan of Lakshmi Kumaran & Sridharan, on the issues raised by the DIPP in its discussion

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Pages from history: The mysterious legislative history of Section 3(d)

/ By / Uncategorized

Section 3(d) of the Patent Act, 1970, was one of the reasons that I fell into the rabbit-hole of Indian intellectual property law. I was always curious about the precise legislative history of the provision and hence I finally filed a RTI application with the DIPP for access to the official files pertaining to the amendments in 2005.  I must say that I’m quite surprised with the manner in which Section 3(d) came into being. Before I go into the

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India proposes new UN body for Internet related policies

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here  Indirectly connected, yet relevant background stories: 1. US tries to extradite British student for the purely online activity of hosting a site that links to infringing material. Linked here. (In context: search engines such as Google do the same thing.) 2. “No! to ACTA” video gets more than 1 million hits – showing netizens’ interests in protecting their online freedom. Linked here.  (Short crisp video – Highly recommended watch!) 3. 108 top IP academics protest against ironically named “PROTECT-IP Act”.

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Pages from history: Ambassador Sen’s contributions to the debate on India’s new patent law in the year 2005

/ By / Uncategorized

 Continuing from my earlier post on the letter written by the Indian Ambassador to Geneva, here are two more documents forwarded to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Cabinet Secretariat by Mr. Ronen Sen, the then Indian Ambassador to the U.S. who is famous for his infamous comment on the ‘headless chickens’. Although both Ambassadors are members of the same elite cadre i.e. the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) they have offered diametrically opposing views on the nature of the

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T-Series set to face the music as CCI launches an investigation

/ By / Competition Law

A recent report in Mint, available here states that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) through its Director General has launched an investigation against T Series for charging arbitrary royalty rates from radio broadcasters. The case has been filed before the CCI by HT Media Ltd. through their lawyers, Amarchand Mangaldas. HT Media publishes Mint and Hindustan Times and operates four FM radio stations under the Fever 104 brand. T-Series has an estimated 80% market share in music rights. If

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Pages from history: The influence of the New York Times on Indian patent policy in 2005

/ By / Patent

As a part of the ‘SpicyIP Open Government’ project, I recently picked up, under the RTI Act, some documents from the DIPP files on the internal deliberations of the Indian Government on the Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005. Before I continue any further I would like to publicly acknowledge the absolutely fantastic co-operation that I received from Ms. Chandni Raina, Director, DIPP and also the Central Public Information Officers along with Mr. Ram Chander, the IT Officer and Mr. Singh who

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8PM v. PALONE 8: Delhi HC on law on numeral trademark

/ By / Trademark

The Delhi High Court, in its interim judgment in Radico Khaitan Ltd v. Carlsberg India Pvt Ltd., inter alia examined the law on numeral trademark. [slightly long post] Facts: The plaintiff, Radico Khaitan Ltd, a leading manufacturer of alcoholic beverages, markets its products under inter alia “8PM”. The mark “8PM” was registered under both Class 32 (mineral water) and Class 33 (wines, liquors, whisky and alcoholic drinks). [Note: Though Class 32 inter alia contains beer, the plaintiff registered “8PM” in

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A Strange Brew of Tamiflu and Swine Flu

/ By / Patent

  Image taken from here  Everything surrounding the Swine Flu seems to be quite mysterious. Starting with allegations that the virus itself may have been a man-made product that got loose, to the scare being exaggerated to sell more drugs for it and put more money in Donald Rumsfield’s pockets, the events and scenarios existing around this disease are proving to be quite interesting. Yet there are more interesting  ingredients involved in this strange soup. Oseltamivir is one of the best drugs currently

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Section 3(d) equivalent in the offing for Thailand…

/ By / Uncategorized

A slightly dated piece reported on IP Komodo (a wonderful blog dealing with IP issues from East Asia) caught Spicy IP’s attention. It states that The Thailand Health Systems Research Institute is planning to introduce an Indian Section 3(d) equivalent provision in its Patent Act. This is aimed at curbing the practice of ever greening in Thailand, since out of 2,000 patents granted over the last 10 years over 1,900 consist only of mere changed formulations, alternate medical uses or

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