BIO-FUELS: CONTINUING THE DISCUSSION ON INCENTIVISING BIO-RESOURCE BASED INNOVATIONS

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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 […]

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NEW AGE “INDIAN(A) JONES"?: REGULATING BIOPROSPECTING AND INCENTIVISING INNOVATION

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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

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ON A DIFFERENT NOTE–DR PHIL’S PERSONALITY TEST

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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

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One ‘Flu’ over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Of and Unrelenting Roche and an Indian Robin-Hood

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Once again, the relationship between patent rights and public health has made mainstream media –and this time, in the context of the notorious AVIAN FLU, which is spreading rapidly. A recent news item states that Roche, which holds the patent over Tamiflu is unwilling to license it, despite the fact that it cannot produce enough quantities to cater to an outbreak, should one occur. It notes: “Tamiflu, a pricey antiviral pill invented in a Bay Area lab and made in

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Ranbaxy Loses to Pfizer in the UK

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Certainly breaking news!! For those coming in late on this (in true Phantom style), Ranbaxy challenged Pfizer’s 10 billion anti-cholestrol dollar drug (Lipitor) patent, arguing that it was invalid. It was succesful in Austria but lost just yesterday in the UK. A decision is awaited in the US, which incidentally is the main market and where experts expect Pfizer to win (not too surprising, since the US is more pro-patent than is the UK). The UK loss is therefore a

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