STRETCHING IP: YOGA, SUKETU MEHTA’s OP-ED AND PROF SAMPAT’S RESPONSE

/ By / Copyright

The controversy surrounding the Yoga guru, Bikram Choudhary and his copyrighting of “hot” yoga poses (perhaps a better term ought to be “sauna yoga”) has reared its ugly head yet again. Talk about ‘stretching” IP!!. Oh well—if a patent can issue on a method of exercising a cat by making it chase a laser beam, what’s wrong with copyrighting a more holistic exercise regimen that does not involve anything as fancy as lasers—and more importantly, one that pertains to human …

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Treading on Traditional Terrain!

/ By / Uncategorized

With many of us into a well deserved summer break after a sensational quarter of pounding patent action, allow me to lead you on, from the provocative world of patents to the softer subjects of religion and spirituality as they exist within the realm of IP. To keep my mind and body muscle agile through the summer, I am signing up for a yoga class. For those of you who prefer more sedate pastimes I suggest Yoga, Inc, a documentary …

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FISHING FOR TECHNOLOGY….OR VICE VERSA

/ By / Uncategorized

The Economist carries an interesting piece on how mobile phones have contributed to increased efficiency(and economic returns) to Kerala fishermen. Somewhat off topic, but an interesting read nonetheless.“YOU are a fisherman off the coast of northern Kerala, a region in the south of India. Visiting your usual fishing ground, you bring in an unusually good catch of sardines. That means other fishermen in the area will probably have done well too, so there will be plenty of supply at the …

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The Bilcare decisions by the Delhi High Court: Preliminary injunctions and the presumption of validity of a ‘new’ patent

/ By / Patent

Two recent decisions of the Delhi High Court discuss the issue of grant of interim/preliminary injunctions in patent infringement disputes. The cases, M/S Bilcare v. M/S Amartara and M/S Bilcare v. M/s Supreme Industries were both decided on March 20, 2007. The key issues discussed in the decisions are: (1) Whether there is any presumption in favor of the validity of the patent for grant of preliminary/temporary injunction in favor of the patentee?(2) What are the grounds for grant of …

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KSR VS TELEFLEX AND PFIZER VS APOTEX: IMPLICATIONS FOR NOVARTIS LITIGATION IN INDIA

/ By / Patent

Its been a while since the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit invalidated Pfizer’s patents covering Norvarsc, one of their best selling drugs used by high blood pressure patients. Close on the heels of this important judgment that in some ways endorses a section 3(d) kind of approach (an issue pertinent to the ongoing Novartis litigation), comes another judgment, KSR vs Teleflex, where the United States Supreme Court raises the bar for “non obviousness”.As some of you may know, …

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INDIAN MUSIC COMPOSERS : "INSPIRATION" OR "COPYING"?

/ By / Copyright

Strangely enough, as Mrinalini has been posting on youtube and copyright issues, I came across these youtube clippings of an interview dealing with the alleged “plagiarism in the Indian music industry”. I’ll briefly describe these interviews, not least because one is not certain when Youtube is likely to be put on notice that these are copyrighted clips. These clips are from an interview that was broadcast on CNBC TV 18 (talk about copyright and youtube!!) by the hard hitter, Karan …

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A rose by any other name, speaks the same???!!!!

/ By / Uncategorized

A short synopsis of an interesting decision on patent law by a court in Bombay: Speaking Roses International Inc. v. Controller-General of Patents & Anr.(Misc. Petition No. 13/2006) Decision date: 12th February 2007 • Petitioners applied for a patent on 19.09.2002 for the method of providing an image on an organic product (flowers) however, the Respondent rejected the application by an order dated 19.04.2006.• The petition came up on board normally but the Respondents failed to appear despite service and …

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You Tube and § 79 of the IT Act – A Second Look

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I was not really expecting any comments on the short note I posted last week on § 79 of the IT Act and Pawan Duggal’s comment regarding YouTube’s liability. However, I did get an interesting observation by email from Mathew Chacko, an intellectual property lawyer in Delhi. I quote from his email: “You Tube’s liabilities are probably going to originate in copyright law and a theory of network service provider liability under copyright law will probably be based on theories …

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"MASHELKAR COMMITTEE EFFECT" ON THE DATA EXCLUSIVITY DEBATE

/ By / Data Exclusivity

In a piece titled “Pharma firms will have to wait a while for data exclusivity norms”, the Economic Times states: “Call it the Mashelkar effect! The Satwant Reddy committee, which is examining whether MNCs should be allowed to guard their costly clinical data from local rivals, is unlikely to take a call on the issue in the near future. The decision has been taken considering the sensitive nature of the issue and the strong opposition NGOs and a section of …

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