Tracking the litigation around Bayer’s Nexavar patent in India

/ By / Uncategorized

For the last year or so, Bayer has been defending its Indian Patent No. 215758 for ‘sorafenib’, which is marketed under the brand name Nexavar and is targeted at patients suffering from liver and kidney cancers. (Image from here) As we had reported in April last year, Bayer had sued Cipla for patent infringement, while Cipla counter-sued for revocation of the patent on grounds of invalidity and suppression of vital Section 8 information. Earlier this year, Bayer sued NATCO before […]

Tracking the litigation around Bayer’s Nexavar patent in India Read More »

IPAB on a roll – Creates a new logo and slogan!

/ By / Uncategorized

I’m glad to report that the IPAB appears to have been given a new lease of life by its new Chairperson Justice Prabha Sridevan (retd.). As we had reported earlier, Justice Sridevan is a retired judge of the Madras High Court and was a part of the bench which delivered the historic judgment dismissing Novartis’s constitutional challenge against Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, 1970. The IPAB has been announcing a number of changes to its procedures and rules, in

IPAB on a roll – Creates a new logo and slogan! Read More »

Creative Commons Licensing Success Stories: Pratham Books

/ By / Copyright

While we have in the past spoken about the dangers of an aggressive and severely restrictive copyright regime, we haven’t focussed enough attention on the use of alternative licensing mechanisms and the social benefit that accrues from such a practice.  For that reason, I will cover in this post, the efforts of Pratham Books, a non-profit children’s book publishing house and their persistent campaigns for openness and unrestricted access to content suitable for children’s books, by advocating the use of

Creative Commons Licensing Success Stories: Pratham Books Read More »

SpicyIP Events: IIPRD hosts patent symposiums in Mumbai/Hyderabad in Oct ’11

/ By / Patent

SpicyIP is informed that the Institute of Intellectual Property Research and Development (IIPRD) will be hosting two symposiums on Advanced Patent Issues in Mumbai and Hyderabad in October 2011. Details of the events are as below. You can also see them in the SpicyIP calendar. IIPRD (Institute of Intellectual Property Research & Development), a premier IP Consulting Firm in India, is pleased to announce its two Annual Symposiums on Pharma/Biotech and Software/Electronics Patent issues respectively. SYMPOSIUM 1: One Day International

SpicyIP Events: IIPRD hosts patent symposiums in Mumbai/Hyderabad in Oct ’11 Read More »

America Invents Act: an overview

/ By / Innovation, Patent

President Obama last Friday signed into law the America Invents Act (“AIA”) at a Virginia school.  The AIA is a serious overhaul of United States patent law in over 60 years.  The recent changes to the US patent law makes it more-in-sync with global patent laws, the changes are intended to bolster innovation and economic development.  There are large number of revisions in the AIA that seek to redress perceived problems with the previous law, reduce administrative and litigation costs,

America Invents Act: an overview Read More »

Natco’s Compulsory Licence: Professional Negligence?

/ By / Patent

I’ve been thoroughly perplexed over the last few days. Why on earth did Natco apply for a compulsory license? Particularly when the process is susceptible to considerable delays and it could be a while before they get a clear signal to go ahead and make generic copies of Bayer’s patented Nexavar. And even when the permission does finally come through, they have to part with some of the moolah in the form of royalties to Bayer. Wouldn’t it have been

Natco’s Compulsory Licence: Professional Negligence? Read More »

Patent issues precede UN High level meet on NCDs

/ By / Patent

For the first time since the General Assembly meet on HIV/AIDs ten years ago, the UN is having a ‘high-level’ meet to discuss health issues – more specifically the rising public health problem of non-communicable diseases from 19th – 20th September.  Non-Communicable Diseases or NCDs refer to the rising global problem of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes. According to the WHO, these account for over 63% of deaths (ie, about 36 million annually) about  in the world

Patent issues precede UN High level meet on NCDs Read More »

Issuing interim orders under S. 31 of Copyright Act

/ By / Copyright

The Delhi HC, in its recent judgment in Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd vs Super Cassette Industries Ltd, held that the Copyright Board could issue interim orders under S.31 even in the absence of an express empowering statutory provision. Barring certain lacunae, I must note that it is a fairly reasoned judgment. Summary of judgment Considering common law cases dating back to 17th century, the judgment rightly noted that the power to grant interim orders was firmly grounded in common law.

Issuing interim orders under S. 31 of Copyright Act Read More »

EU Extends Copyright Protection for Musical Works

/ By / Copyright

An issue that regularly features in copyright reform debates is the issue of extending copyright terms for different works.  I had blogged earlier about the proposed amendment to the Indian Copyright Act for extension of copyright terms for photographs and principal directors, expressing concerns about copyright term extension in general. While the Indian amendments might have to wait a while, the European Union has left little to the imagination by adopting a directive that extends the term of copyright from

EU Extends Copyright Protection for Musical Works Read More »

Delhi HC’s Ruling on the ‘Guiding Principle’ of Public Domain & Fair Use

/ By / Copyright

(Image taken from here) Last month, the Delhi High Court had come up with quite an interesting interpretation of copyright in literary work and the concept of fair use on August 3, 2011. Facts: In this case, titled Syndicate of the Press of the University of Cambridge v. B.D. Bhandari & Ors. [RFA (OS) No.21 of 2009 and FAO (OS) No.458 of 2008], the Cambridge Press (Appellants) had alleged that the Respondents were publishing and selling guidebooks that contained illegal

Delhi HC’s Ruling on the ‘Guiding Principle’ of Public Domain & Fair Use Read More »

Scroll to Top