One of the first posts on this blog related to Avian Flu. Little did I know that I would have to post again–as the notorious bird flu makes it way to India. As expected, it has brought with it the patent controvery as well. A news item states: “The bird flu threat has become a litmus test for the government on how it would use the patent law flexibility to cope with a public health issue that could potentially be…
CSIR was always part of this list (taken from www.pharmabiz.com). Good to see that Ranbaxy features here too. It will be a while though before we catch up with South Korea which dominates here. “India stands third in the list of international patent applications filed by developing countries in 2005, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Ranbaxy Laboratories are among the top ten users of the PCT from developing countries. The top ten users of the…
A spate of new GI registrations in India. “The Geographical Indications Registry has granted GI certificate to Bidriware from Bidar, Channapatna toys and dolls, Nanjangud banana, Coorg orange, Mysore betel leaf, Mysore rosewood inlay, Mysore traditional paintings and Mysore agarbathi, thereby enabling producers and inventors to prevent others from exploiting their products without permission.” “We have accorded certificates to these items/products. The certificate owners will be the registered proprietors of the GI concerned,” an official with the Geographical Indications Registry…
An interesting piece (titled “India lags in number of IT patents”) on the low levels of software patents in India, despite India’s global excellence “India may be the world leader in information technology but it trails in a big way when it comes to patents in the IT sector. While the top 10 patents holders across the world are IT companies, in India, no IT firm has patents. The list of top 10 patents holders in India comprises only pharmaceutical…
A very Happy New Year to all of you. Thought I would start 2006 with a news item that may bring a few laughs. The Economic Times asks: Should a government servant be awarded a copyright for drafting a document in the regular course of work and can he then charge a fee every time that document is used? Apparently, “the new Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for public-private partnership projects in the road sector has created history as well as…
A good friend of mine, Syed Saif Mahmood (senior partner at Amicus Juris, New Delhi) wrote to inform me of a PIL (public interest litigation) that he filed to ensure that the scary prospect in the title (A bureaucratic babu as IP chief!!) does not translate to reality. This reminds me of another instance where the government wanted to appoint a bureacurat to head the competition commission. The Supreme Court came down heavily on the governments proposal and suggested that…
Yet another case provides an excellent opportunity for the outsourcing sceptics to continue with their “I told you so” attitude.. “According to media reports, the spectre of data theft returned to haunt the Indian BPO industry today with the arrest of four ex-employees of the Indian subsidiary of a US-based company on charges of siphoning off classified information causing loss of over Rs. three crore to the firm. Parsec Technologies Inc, involved in business deals with mortgage originators, which provided…
Came across this wonderful news item today in the Hindu Business Line (the ‘Hindu’ is one of the most reputed newspapers in the country and their editorials generally reflect good scholarship) on how the government is now encouraging what are termed as “bio-diesels”. Coming close on the heels of the earlier post on incentivising bio-resource based innovation, this seems timely. I extract from the news: “THE Minister for Petroleum and Panchayati Raj, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, today announced that a…
It is interesting to see how traditional knowledge and bio-resources are becoming increasingly prominent in international intellectual property and trade negotiations. A recent note in MIP (Managing Intellectual Property) states: “The Indian ambassador to the WTO, Ujal Singh Bhatia, has proposed to the WTO Council that the TRIPs Agreement be amended to force patent applicants to disclose the source of biological material used in their inventions. The Indian delegation wants any declaration issued at the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong…
After all that hardcore IP, I thought this would be a welcome change. Try Dr Phil’s test below (as forwarded in an email from one of my friends, Anil Mani, the “voice over guy“–we went to the same school and though some generations apart, he is much younger at heart than I am). I’m not sure whether I scored a 38 or a 41–as sometimes I’m on my back before I go to sleep and sometimes I’m curled up on…