Launching the SpicyIP Website: Our Special Note of Thanks

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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

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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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De-Coding the Law: What "Patent Information" Can be Published?

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In an earlier post, we had outlined a plan to send a letter to the Controller General of the Indian patent office on the World IP Day (tomorrow), calling for more “patent information” to be made public. We had referred in the letter to an annexure that would examine the provisions of the Patents Act to determine what kind of information can be made public by the office. Below is a draft version of the Annexure, which we hope to

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Are Patents a Hindrance to Low-Carbon Technology?

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Looks like there will come a day when patents will be held responsible for all the evil in the world. The latest sin it is accused of is hindering access to low-carbon technology, but fortunately it so happens there are a few sensible and lucky people who manage to make their point despite the all-engulfing din. An article entitled “The Debate Surrounding Patents and Low Carbon Technology Is Heating Up” written by Tim Wilson (Director of the IP and Free

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Breaking News: Roche Loses Tarceva Patent Case and Faces Hefty Fine

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The Appellate Bench at the Delhi High Court (consisting of Justice AP Shah and Justice Muralidhar) held in favour of Cipla and against Roche in a high profile patent litigation involving Roche’s patented drug Tarceva. Roche had sued Cipla before the Delhi high court, praying that a temporary restraining order be issued against Cipla. For a history of this case, please see our previous posts. The appeal in question was filed against the order of Justice Ravindra Bhat who had

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Canadian Copyright Board’s Decision on Royalty to Copyright Collectives

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Early this month, the Canadian Copyright Board came out with a decision on royalties required to be paid by satellite radio services, Sirius Satellite Radio and Canadian Satellite Radio, pegging it at 6.2% of the revenues earned from the use of the repertoire of three copyright collectives namely, Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada (NRCC) and CMRRA/SODRAC Inc. (CSI). The decision was given following the filing of applications for proposed

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World IP Day: "Transparency" Letter to the Indian Patent Office

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As the World Intellectual Property Day approaches (it falls on this coming Sunday, the 26th), we wanted to bring to your attention two things. One is a petition that we wish to submit to the Patent Office, as is detailed in this post below. The other is a surprise that will be offered upto you only on the “D” day. Petition for More Patent Information to be Made Public As for the petition that is the subject matter of this

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Intellectual Ventures comes to India and NO its not a ‘Big Bad Patent Troll’

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Intellectual Ventures (IV), an ‘Invention Capital’ company headquartered in Washington, has reportedly entered into an MoU with IIT-B to assist the latter in commercializing its inventions in the market place. As per a press release in regards the MoU, Intellectual Ventures “will both license IIT-B inventions accepted under this program and work on a number of possible commercialization strategies for them. Intellectual Ventures will pay IIT-B fees for such licensing and will also bear the patenting costs associated with these

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The "Mashelkar Committee Report" on Pharma Patenting Resurfaces!

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The Mashelkar Committee Report on pharmaceutical and micro-organism patents, a report that hogged headlines in 2007 for all the wrong reasons was resubmitted to the government recently.The revised committee report reiterates the same conclusions as the earlier report submitted at the fag end of 2006, albeit with more strong reasoning to back up its conclusions. In short, the Committee notes, and rightly so, that any attempt to exclude an entire class of inventions i.e. incremental pharmaceutical inventions would violate the

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The "Kurian" Effect: Increased Efficiency at the Indian Patent Office

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SpicyIP was greatly enthused when Mr PH Kurian was appointed as the first IAS officer to head the Indian patent office. We expressed the hope that: “…Mr Kurian’s appointment will usher in some fresh thinking at the Indian patent office. As many familiar with the Indian patent office are aware, fresh and innovative thinking is an absolute must for this office, which has hitherto been beset with several problems, including understaffing, lack of “specialised” examiners/controllers, sub optimal access to specialised

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