Cross Retaliation at the WTO: Why I think WIPO is Wrong

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Readers will recollect an earlier post, on a unique WTO remedy involving the suspension of IP rights proposed by Antigua. Read the post here and see my article here, suggesting ways to implement this IP suspension (cross retaliation) model. A WIPO Official recently suggested that such IP suspension will not work, since Antigua will end up contravening its independent obligations under the Berne and Paris Conventions. An ICTSD newsletter reports: “A senior official of the World Intellectual Property Organization last […]

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SpicyIP Tidbit: And now tobacco is medicine.

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The latest news is the Central Tobacco Research Institute has patented ‘Solanesol’- a medical substance from tobacco. This was after a collabarative effort with the Central Drug Research Institute. The substance is used as a cure for cardiac insufficiency, muscular dystrophy, anaemia, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and liver injury, and hoped to be used as an important component of anti-diabetic and an anti-cancer drug. The full article can be found here.

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SpicyIP Tidbit: And the Flame continues to rage…

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The details of the Madras High Court order restraining TVS are available here. The HC has said that Bajaj has established a prima facie case in its favour owing to the fact that its patent was unchallenged for a considerable period. I believe this was an apprehension rightly expressed by Manisha Singh Nair in her article. TVS Motors seems to have contended that use of twin spark plugs in a cylinder of small bore (diameter) size does not amount to

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Spicy Tidbit: Pashmina v. Basmati

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Here’s an encouraging article I came across recently. BBC News reports that India and Pakistan are working jointly to register a GI for Basmati rice. The implications of such cooperation are extremely profitable as Basmati accounts for more than half the rice consumed in Europe and the Middle East. As the Indian share in the Basmati market has increased in the past few years Pakistan has suffered and so this GI will be a real aid to their market share.

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"Patent" Journalist in India Wins Award

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SpicyIP is extremely happy to learn that CH Unnikrishnan of the Mint, by far the most sophisticated “patent” reporter in India, recently won the “best reporter of the month” award. Although an internal award conferred by Mint, what is striking is that the award was specifically conferred for his articles on “patents”. Notably, the ones where he shook up the Indian patent office with his coverage on Roche’s Valcyte patent, where the patent office issued the patent without hearing the

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Bruce Almighty.

/ By / Patent

If there’s a word that could conjure bigger and larger images of quantity other than “Whopping”, it could be “Colossal” or “Humongous”. Either ways, Dr.Bruce Saffran will smile his way to the bank thanks to $501 million he was awarded by jurors in the case against Boston Scientific Corp. in the patent infringement suit involving drug-coated heart stents. Saffran argued that the stents launched by Boston Scientific violated his 1997 patent on technology to deliver medication within the body to

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Applying the brakes to TVS’s manufacture.

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News about the spark plug crash is coming in fast and how! Reported just yesterday, the auto patent scene indeed seems to be heating up. In what is seen as a major setback to TVS, an interim order by the Madras High Court has restrained TVS from manufacturing and selling its new TVS Flame 125 bikes. An appeal by TVS’s lawyers seems almost inevitable now. For all those who don’t remember the exact nature of the dispute a look at

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Digging deep for new developments: To harness the wealth of the ocean!

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The Government of India on a new initiative has decided to bolster India’s position as one of the leaders in deep sea bed mining and provide a competitive edge for pharmaceutical companies in the development of new drugs. The Department of Earth Sciences has launched a new programme to harness new beneficial molecules from the sea for “therapeutic purposes”. Launched by the Government as a long term assignment, the programme is spearheaded by the Central Drug Research Institute, with the

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And the fight gets dirtier.

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In a follow up to a recent post on allegations of collusion between US drug companies and Indian pharma companies with regard to delaying the entry of generic drugs in the US market the US anti-competitive practices watch dog Federal Trade Commission has identified Ranbaxy amongst 4 other firms as being part of the ploy. It is alleged that these companies recieved in excess of $200 million to delay the entry of generic drugs into the US market till 2012

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A spicy GI

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SpicyIP has always had a natural tendency to report on the ‘spicier’ issues of IP law. So just imagine our excitement when we found out about Geographical Indication protection for spices. We however promise to refrain from over-using the ‘spicy’ puns that come to our minds. The latest is Assam’s ‘Karbi Anglong ginger’ which is well on track to receive GI protection. The district administration recently filed an application claiming GI protection for GIs. The Karbi Anglong ginger is supposed

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