Patenting Pegasus: From Flights of Fancy to Firmer Legal Moorings?

/ By / Patent

By most accounts, India’s specialised IP tribunal, the IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Body) has undergone a significant face lift. From being seen as a lethargic and all too incompetent body, subject to flights of legal fancy and with a penchant for meticulously reproducing counsel submissions, sans any legal analysis of their own, many practitioners and IP stakeholders now swear by the proficiency of the IPAB. We’ll bring some you data soon to back up this common perception that after the […]

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New Prize dwarfs Nobel prize money; Indian awarded

/ By / Innovation

Ashoke Sen A new annual prize called The Fundamental Physics Prize has been instituted by Russian internet mogul Yuri Milner and it’s prize money of $3 million each, more than doubles the Nobel Prize which is currently $1.2 million, which is usually shared by 2-3 people. Mr Milner personally selected this year’s winners but winners from next year onwards will be selected by the previous year’s winners. The prize was awarded to 9 people this year and for a change an

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Division Bench of Delhi High Court settles the law on interpretation of IPR (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here In an interesting co-incidence, the Delhi High Court delivered two judgments on an identical point of law on the same day – 13th July, 2012. The first judgment by Justice Manmohan Singh was covered by us over here and here. (The first ex-parte order is available over here) That judgment which in my opinion was highly erroneous, had interpreted the IPR (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007 in a manner which concluded that the Customs Department could apply

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From the Archives: Official documents from the 1999 Indo-American Pharmaceutical Patents trade dispute before the WTO

/ By / Patent

Image from here Khomba Singh of the ET had carried this interesting report on 3rd August, 2012 hinting at the possibility of the European Union (E.U.) installing ‘non-tariff’ barriers to punish Indian generics for blatantly violating the patents of foreign innovator companies in India. The measures proposed so far seemed to be aimed at using India’s own impotent drug regulatory bureaucracy to slow down Indian generic drug exports to the E.U. Honestly, I’m not surprised that E.U. is considering something

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G.I. Registry dismisses plea against G.I. tag for ‘Tirupati Laddu’; imposes costs of Rs. 10,000 on Praveen Raj

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here. Although we are yet to see a copy of the final order, we have been informed that the Geographical Indications Registry dismissed, on July 30th 2012, the rectification petition filed by Praveen Raj against the registration of ‘Tirupati Laddu’ as a geographical indication. Some of the newspapers have carried reported the same over here and here.  Honestly, I’m not surprised that the G.I. Registry has dismissed the petition and imposed costs of Rs. 10,000 on Praveen Raj.

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SpicyIP Tidbit: ToI on “U.S. doublespeak on patent waiver”

/ By / Patent

On the 27th of July, both the Times of India and the ET carried a news report titled “U.S. doublespeak on patent waiver”. The report alleges hypocrisy on the part of the U.S. in objecting to India’s decision to grant a CL for Bayer’s patent over Nexavar since the U.S. itself has recently authorized the import of cancer drugs from India in a bid to meet a critical shortage of cancer drugs in the USA. The opening line of the

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Stalemate over WIPO Treaty on Copyright Exceptions for Persons with Print Disabilities

/ By / Others

In what comes as a major setback to India, home to nearly 50% of the world’s blind population, the 24th Session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) concluded on July 25, 2012 in Geneva without making any significant progress on WIPO’s maiden treaty recognizing the rights of the disabled. The proposed treaty seeks to impose an obligation on member nations to create exceptions and limitations in their domestic copyright regime to enable conversion of books

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Breaking News: Natco Admits to Bad Faith and BMS attempts Patent Linkage!

/ By / Drug Regulation

In a startling revelation, Natco admitted (albeit indirectly) that it had lied in its response to BMS’s quia timet law suit, wherein BMS approached the Delhi High Court in 2009, apprehending imminent infringement of its patent covering Dasatinib, an anti cancer drug.  In an earlier post, I noted that Natco may have committed a fatal legal blunder by stating on oath before the Delhi High court that: “It is denied that the Defendants intend to launch a generic version of

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Patent "Perception": A Contemptuous Natco?

/ By / Drug Regulation

For the longest time, Cipla ranked as our leading poster child for the debate on patents and access to affordable medicines. It took on the multinational drug majors at the drop of a hat and was credited with slashing prices of HIV medications to a small fraction of their prevalent rates. Yusuf Hamied, Cipla’s maverick leader, tellingly notes in a recent interview that:  “We had taken the lead to provide affordable medicine for AIDS and I think the time has

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Of Compulsory Licences, a Few Good Men and Patent "Teachings"

/ By / Uncategorized

Some months ago, the Indian Patent Office handed down what must rate as one of the most significant IP decisions of this decade (and perhaps the last several as well).  A decision that elicited as many supporters, as it did critics. Reputed economics professor, Arvind Panagariya went so far as to state: “It is said that only God and a few good men and women run India. One such man is P H Kurien. For readers unfamiliar with his name,

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