UN Regulation: Hindering progress of biotechnology.

In an effort to provide people with clean drinking water, the United Nations Economic Commission on Europe (UNECE) drafted in 1999 The Protocol on Water and Health. However, like other U.N. agencies, the Protocol in question has been criticized severely for having vague goals, and still worse, having no road map to decide the course of action to be taken. Worse yet, there are other programs by the UN that have aggressively charted out their own road- effectively preventing the …

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Extend copyright protection demands the EU.

Linked up to an article of mine not so long ago, the European Union has suggested an extension of the copyright protection and royalties offered to musicians across the continent. In a stand taken by the authorities rather than the artists, the EU Commissioner (the union’s internal market chief) has stated that “If nothing is done, thousands of European performers who recorded in the late 1950s and 1960s will lose all of their airplay royalties over the next ten years”… …

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SpicyIP Tidbit: WIPO DG post race on, but no Indian running

As WIPO Director General (DG) incumbent Kamal Idris’ controversial second six-year term runs out, the longlist of incoming candidates to head the UN IP agency has been released. Of the 15 governments represented for the post, the candidates include two present WIPO depty DGs: Australia’s Francis Gurry; and France’s Philippe Petit, Reuters reports. While Gurry is reportedly a strong contender, he has competition in the face of Mauro Masi, who is the Italian delegate for IP, and represents his government …

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EXPORTING BAYH DOLE TO INDIA: WHITHER TRANSPARENCY? (PART I)

Many of you may have heard of the government’s move to introduce a Bayh Dole style legislation in India. The latest is an article from “Science”, some paragraphs of which I’m reproducing below: “The Indian government is preparing to introduce legislation that it hopes will reverse the traditional hands-off attitude at most Indian universities toward commercializing the results of basic research. The proposed bill, a draft of which was obtained by Science, sets out rules that institutions must follow once …

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Inventor of Indian-origin among NIHF inductees for 2008

Jon Dudas, the Under-Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO was present during the announcement of inductees into National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) for the year 2008. This year’s list has something India can be proud of, for one of the inductees is Amar Bose a.k.a Amar Gopal Bose, founder of the Bose Corporation.  Bose’s list of achievements is staggering among which his patents in the area of loud speaker design and non-linear, two-state modulated, Class-D, …

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SpicyIP Tidbit: IP Delegation from the Land of Rising Sun

For long India has taken comfort from the fact that its record on counterfeiting of goods and protection of Intellectual Property is better than that of China. It appears that the Indian establishment is in for a surprise. As reported by The Yomiuri Shimbun, a 25-member Japanese delegation with a good sprinkling of government mandarins, including officials from the Japanese Patent Office and private manufacturers from the automobiles, electronics and pharmaceutical industries is in India to present its case on …

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Spicy Tidbits: Pharma gets bigger in India

Novo Nordisk and Merck and Co are giving out positive indications with regard to expansion plans in India. Novo Nordisk is motivated by the fact that its status as a leader in the diabetes field will be cemented if it can effectively tap into the Indian market as around 40 million people are suffering from diabetes in India. They have also expressed interest in new drug discovery and manufacturing partnerships. One manifestation of this interest can be witnessed in their …

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SpicyIP Event: International Conference on IP and Technology Transfer

The Society for Technology Management (STEM), a technology transfer forum, will be hosting its flagship international programme, Graduate Course in IPR and Technology Transfer at Hotel Sullivan Court , Ooty from 13-16 April, 2008. The agenda of the programme is to examine, using case studies, the role of IP as a strategic technology transfer tool. Early bird registrations are available till February 29, 2008. Details are available at http://www.stemglobal.org.

Spicy Tidbits: All India Institute of Ayurveda to be established

The Central Government has approved plans to establish an All India Institute of Ayurveday in New Delhi with a budget outlay of Rs 150 crores . The Department of Ayush is scouting for support staff. The Institute will facilitate scientific validation, quality control, standardization and safety evaluation of Ayurveda products. It also aims to have standardised Ayurveda-based tertiary health delivery, promotion of interdisciplinary research and education of Ayurveda at postgraduate and postdoctoral levels. The Institute will be on the lines …

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Spicy Tidbits: Animal testing – the quandary

The Central Government has put up a proposal for an Institute for Alternatives to Animal Experimentation in the 11th Plan. The Indian Council of Medical Research is working alternative ways of testing and substitute technologies despite the fact that animal testing is a requirement for various stages of drug trials and scientists are pushing more relaxed norm. Besides, the DBT has also launched steps to develop in vitro screening system for screening plant extracts having anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-amoebiasis, anti- leishmaniasis, …

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