The IPO’s draft guidelines for biotechnology patents – A cause for worry?

/ By / Patent

Image from here Close on the heels of finalizing the guidelines for examination of patent applications related to traditional knowledge (TK) and biological materials, the Controller General of Patents has recently published guidelines for the examination of ‘biotechnology patents’. The guidelines can be accessed over here and the public notice can be accessed over here. Comments on the same are due by the 11thof January, 2013. I invite our readers to send in guest posts on the issue, to be […]

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Off-topic: Lowering the Bar at the Delhi High Court

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here Usually, I try to keep away ‘off-topic’ issues on the blog but some of the recent events at the Delhi High Court, involving the boycott of Justice Valmiki Mehta are simply too shocking to ignore and I felt compelled to discuss the issue on the blog. Apparently, upset with the way in which Justice Valmiki Mehta was running his court room, the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) resolved through its executive committee that “members of the

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SpicyIP Events: The First NLS-TIOL Taxation Law Conference

/ By / Event

  The Moot Court Society of National Law School of India University, Bangalore, in association with Tax India Online, is organising the 1stNLS-TIOL Taxation Law Conference on 6th January, 2013 along with the NLS TIOL Moot Court Competition. The Conference seeks to trace out the developments since the proposed introduction of General Anti-Avoidance Rule in the Finance Act, 2012. While the Shome Committee has made certain recommendations that provide clarity with respect to the application of GAAR, some recommendations are

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Spicy IP Weekly Review: December Weeks 2 and 3

/ By / Uncategorized

For the readers of Spicy IP, we bring yet another sum-up of IP news and events in the past few days to mark the festive season. It started with Rajiv coming up with the list of the 102 decisions that the Controller’s Office has come up with in November, 2012.   Image from here This was followed by a guest post from Snigdha Roy, a 3rd Year student from GNLU, as the first installment in the Spicy IP Fellowship post-series.

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Filing rectification application under the GI Act, 1999

/ By / Uncategorized

[*Long Post] As you are aware of, rectification application can be filed under Section 27 of Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (“GI Act”). I intend to examine whether the aforesaid provision allows filing of rectification application on the ground of public interest. I shall argue in affirmative relying on the Supreme Court judgment in Hardie Trading Ltd. and Anr. v. Addisons Paint and Chemicals Ltd. (“Hardie Trading Ltd”) and IPAB order in Payyannur ring [covered here]. Prashant

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National Pharmaceutical Policy 2012

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In an earlier post (here) we had blogged about the National Pharmaceutical Policy 2011 and its essential features.  The last post left off at AIDAN’s (All India Drug Action Network) PIL (Public Interest Litigation) and the Supreme Court’s (SC) observations that the government should ensure that the prices of essential drugs reduce rather than escalate.  During the hearing of this PIL the SC recently directed the Government to expedite the notification of the policy. It was notified on 7 December

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Royalty Payment by Subsidiaries: Bane of Minority Investors?

/ By / Trademark

(Image taken from here)Payment of royalty has been one of the time-honoured ways of incentivizing knowledge and technology transfer and usage of brand name or trademark for business affairs. Few years back in 2009, the Indian government had waived the requirement of payment of such royalty by Indian companies to multinational corporations to be subjected to prior government approval (by the Project Approval Board in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion). Instead, such payments up to any amount had

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Guest Post: Traditional knowledge patent applications: Need for deliberation

/ By / Uncategorized

We are happy to bring you yet another guest post in our SpicyIP Fellowship applicant series. Madhulika Vishwanathan brings our attention to the Dec 18th announcement of the final version of the Guidelines for Processing of Patent Applications relating to Traditional Knowledge and Biological material. Prashant had earlier commented on the draft guidelines here.  Madhulika is a qualified Indian patent agent, with a Masters in Pharmacology from UDCT, Mumbai. She formerly worked in the patent cell of a biotech company in

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Guest Post: Court rejects Apple’s motion for Permanent Injunction against Samsung

/ By / Patent

The Apple – Samsung tussle is one that has now almost frequently found its way into our blog. It’s being watched so closely due to its near symbolism of how patent wars may affect the landscape for technological innovation as we progress into an era where patent policy can directly affect more and more aspects of our lives. We are happy to present to our readers with a guest post on the latest US update on this international battle. Amshula

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SpicyIP Fellowship opened out to everyone interested

/ By / Uncategorized

In light of some more applications we’ve received from ‘non students’ for our SpicyIP Fellowship, we’ve decided to open it out to not just ‘students and recent graduates’ as first stated, but to all persons interested. The original post has been edited accordingly. Once again, for those interested in applying. – How to apply?  Fellows will be chosen based on quality of guest posts submitted to us over a 6 week period from 14th December, 2012 to 25th January, 2013. 

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