Parallel Imports and Exhaustion: A Different Framework for Copyrights?

/ By / Copyright

Justice Ravindra Bhat of the Delhi High Court has – through several important judgments – helped advance the understanding of intellectual property law in the country. While his judgments need not necessarily be seen as the only correct point of view, they at least have helped stimulate debate on several important issues. On this blog itself, his decisions have been the subject of much discussion, as evidenced in posts linked here. His recent judgment in CS(OS) No. 1692/2006, Warner Bros. […]

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Do Patents Kill? A Strange Twist in the Ramkumar vs Samsung Saga

/ By / Others

Do Patents Kill? This question, often posed in the context of pharmaceuticals may have found its answer in a case involving an electronics patent.A number of papers report that a death in Chennai could be connected with the ongoing Ramkumar vs Samsung (and others) patent litigation, a litigation that we have been tracking on this blog. The last update we carried was that of a ridiculously cryptic ex parte injunction by the Madras High Court on the 13th of March.

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Beware Mumbaikars: The Slumlord’s Act could detain you for a year for simply buying a pirated DVD

/ By / Copyright

The ToI in a detailed report a few weeks ago reported that President Patil had given her assent to an amendment to the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers and Drug Offenders Act (hereinafter the “Slumlord Act”). As per the ToI report this amendment to the Slumlord Act makes it a criminal offence not only to sell pirated DVDs/CDs but also to buy such pirated DVDs/CDs! As outrageous as it may seem to most of us the fact

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Please Sign Patent Petition: It Hardly Takes a Minute!

/ By / Uncategorized

We want to thank many of our readers for supporting the transparency cause and signing our petition requesting for the publishing of more “patent” information. As you will appreciate, the publishing of more patent information will make the patent prosecution process more transparent and the patent office more accountable. Thus far, we have around 100 signatures. Given that we have a regular subscription list of over 1500 members (representing patent attorneys, inhouse counsels, NGO’s, students, government folks and other members

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The Swine Flu Outbreak: Cipla on a Patent Roll

/ By / Patent

Clearly the gods are smiling on Cipla. First, they win a patent battle over a highly profitable anti cancer drug, Tarceva. Simultaneously, a deadly swine flu strikes and claims several human lives in North America. As nations scramble to address a potential pandemic, Cipla has a generic version of Tamiflu ready to supply any government that wishes to stockpile this drug. Gilead’s Patented “Tamiflu” Tamiflu, a drug patented by Gilead and exclusively licensed for manufacture and sale to Roche is

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Petition for More Patent Information: Please Lend Your Support and Signatures

/ By / Uncategorized

Our petition calling for greater transparency and the publication of more patent information has now been posted for signatures at i-petitions. Please click here to access this petition and sign. Please also include your name and designation–as this will lend greater impact to the campaign. Since there is no specific column for your designation and the institution that you represent, can you please include this in brackets after your name? Your support will ensure that we have greater access to

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A Petition Pleading for Greater Transparency and More Access to Patent Information

/ By / Patent

To: Mr P.H. Kurian Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks Indian Patent Office Bhoudhik Sampada Bhavan Near Antop Hill Head Post Office, S.M. Road, Antop Hill, Mumbai-400037, Dear Mr Kurian, On behalf of several intellectual property stakeholders that are signatories to this letter, let me begin by wishing you a very happy World Intellectual Property Day. I include all members of the public in this group of stakeholders, as the public are not only interested in technological progress

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Roche vs Cipla: Did the Judges Construe the Claim At All?

/ By / Uncategorized

I’m still coming to grips with the division bench ruling in the Roche vs Cipla matter. I wanted to put out some initial thoughts in the hope that I can get a bit more clarity from some of our more knowledgeable readers. The facts, known to most of you are briefly as below:Roche sued Cipla before the Delhi High Court claiming that “Erlocip”, a generic product by Cipla corresponding to Roche’s originator drug, “Tarceva” violates Roche’s Indian patent (IN196774)–hereafter ‘774

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Launching the SpicyIP Website: Our Special Note of Thanks

/ By / Uncategorized

The SpicyIP website would not have been possible, without the generosity and inputs of the following folks, to whom we are immensely grateful: i) Arjun Anand and Devinder Rawat of Zyrist: The first two resources on our IP Resources page (namely, the Ayyangar Report and a comprehensive version of the Indian Patents Act) were made possible, thanks to the generosity of these two gentleman. Zyrist, their baby is a fabulous platform that leverages web 2.0 to produce what I think

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World IP Day: Launching the SpicyIP Website

/ By / Uncategorized

SpicyIP wishes all its readers a very creative World IP Day! May this day bring us together to commemorate the value of intellectual property rights. May this day also help us appreciate that intellectual property rights are but “trees” in the “wood” of innovation and creativity …lest we miss the wood for the trees. May this day help us transition from IP extremism towards a “middle path” position that balances the interest of various IP stakeholders appropriately. May this day

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