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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Spicy IP Tidbit: Patent Office publishes List of Applications deemed as Traditional Knowledge

/ By / Patent

The regular readers of Spicy IP would no doubt be aware of the controversies surrounding the so-called “confidential” status accorded to Traditional Knowledge and relating information (for previous posts, see here). There have also been instances where RTIs have been filed with CSIR in order to obtain information about the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library project (TKDL) (see here and here). However, there is some welcome news for those, who share our penchant for transparency to the greatest extent possible in every

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Internet Association Lobby formed

/ By / Privacy

In what is bound to change the terms of negotiations of internet related legislation, 4 of the largest internet companies have come together with other undisclosed companies to form the Internet Association Lobby. The four are Google, Facebook, Amazon and Ebay, led by former (US) Congressional staffer Michael Beckerman. While the coming together of these 4 super-heavyweights is potentially scenery changing, the only common ground that I can see is net-neutrality and of course the stronger possibility for tax-breaks now. Net-neutrality, essentially

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New Leadership at SpicyIP

/ By / Uncategorized

In an earlier post, I expressed my desire to step down from the leadership of SpicyIP. This decision (over which I procrastinated for several months) stemmed from a variety of reasons, the most significant of which was  my extensive involvement with a whole host of projects around legal education (most pertinently, an access to education project for underprivileged students, titled IDIA).  I therefore thought it better to hand over leadership to someone with more bandwidth to handle the onerous task

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Madras Bar Association fights to save independence of key tribunals from the ‘babus’ of the Central Govt.

/ By / Uncategorized

Image from here The ToI and the legal news website Law et. al. have both reported on a public interest litigation filed by the Madras Bar Association before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality and administration of several tribunals. The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Union of India on the petition. Given the scope of the relief prayed for in the petition, the case has the potential to both streamline and revolutionize the increasingly powerful and unwieldy tribunal system

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APEDA discloses legal expenses on ‘Basmati’ – Rs. 7,62,00,000 and counting;

/ By / Uncategorized

Finally, after much coaxing and at least one appeal, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has disclosed its legal expenses on protecting and registering the phrase ‘Basmati’ as a ‘trademark’ and as a ‘geographical indication’. The response can be viewed over here.  As per APEDA’s reply, “An amount of Rs. 7.62 crores (Rs. 7,62,00,000) has been paid to M/s K&S Partners as aggregate professional fee from 1995-96 to 2011-12 (upto 31.3.2012) towards protection of intellectual property

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20th Century Fox Film Corporation v. Zee Telefilms Ltd. & Ors.

/ By / Copyright

This recently decided case involves a TV show, Time Bomb, produced by Zee Telefilms in 2005. The Plaintiffs alleged that this was a copy of their acclaimed show 24. The case was filed in 2005 and seems slightly dated since none of these shows are on air anymore. It is also quite puzzling to see the court deciding  on whether an interim injunction should be granted nearly 7 years after the suit was first filed in 2005. In this suit the

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A face-off in the offing between the Delhi High Court and the Customs Board?

/ By / Patent

Continuing from my earlier post on the order of the Delhi High Court in the L.G. case, I would like to point out an interesting trend where orders of the Delhi High Court especially those of Justice Manmohan Singh, pertaining to the IPR (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007 are being skilfully countered by one Mr. Satish Kumar Reddy, Director at the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). (Rest assured he is in no way related to me.)  (i) Samsung

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Patentability of Computer Software Programs in India

/ By / Uncategorized

In my previous post about the Samsung-Apple patent war in the tablet and smartphone market, I ranted about the curse of patents in the industry and how Judge Richard Posner, of the U.S. Court of Appeals expressed his disdain for patents in the industry as well. Thus, I thought it may be useful to examine the issue of software patents in India – to lay down the present law on the subject. Thus, in the following paras, I will briefly

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