"Suicide" Inducing Drug in India: Need For More Stringent Drug Regulation

/ By / Drug Regulation, Patent

Bloomberg reports on a very troubling case of a “suicide inducing” diet control drug, that though not likely to be approved in the US, has been approved in India. It notes, in pertinent part: ” Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Acomplia weight- loss pill, linked to suicide, is becoming popular in generic form in India. That may end the product’s chances of ever reaching the U.S., where it has been delayed by regulators. Cipla Ltd. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. are among six drugmakers […]

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NOVARTIS LOSES AT THE HIGH COURT: FOCUS NOW SHIFTS TO IPAB

/ By / Patent

Many of you may have already heard the breaking news today……..the Madras High Court ruled against Novartis, holding that section 3(d) is not unconstitutional. It also ruled that it is not competent to adjudicate upon whether or not section 3(d) is TRIPS compliant. Not a very surprising result for SPICYIP, which had already predicted this outcome in an earlier post, noting as follows: “Which way is the court/IPAB likely to go? Difficult to tell at this stage, but to the

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Its All In the Genes!

/ By / Patent

There is enough and more reason to celebrate every morning-celebration in lieu of the totality of existence and the existence of the individual self. The Guru of Joy, Sri Sri of the Art of living fame established the U.S.P ‘I belong’…… The simple ritual practiced at the commencement of every Art of Living session where the participants greet each other with a resplendent ‘I belong’ , on deeper analysis comes with a profound metaphysical and scientific import. The ‘cosmic connect’

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NOVARTIS MOVES HIGH COURT TO REMOVE CHANDRASEKHARAN

/ By / Patent

As anticipated by an earlier SPICY IP post, the Economic Times now reports that Novartis filed a writ petition before the High Court challenging the decision of the IPAB to keep Chandrasekharan on the panel. Not a particularly huge fan of “I told you so…”, but SPICY IP had cautioned against the very transfer of the case itself to the IPAB in one of the earliest posts, stating that this was a bad move. We had first noted in April

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BUILDING AN INNOVATION ECO SYSTEM IN INDIA

/ By / Innovation, Patent

An excellent article in the Deccan Herald on the need for building an innovation ecosystem in India by NASSCOM’s VP, Rajdeep Sahrawat. As Sahrawat rightly notes, the ability to take “risks” is a very important factor in incentivising innovation. And this may perhaps explain why despite our software prowess, we are still not known for any significant “innovative” IT products. Rather, the easy money that comes with our “services” model in the IT sector (where we build products for others

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NANDO’S Vs NANDU: SPICY TRADEMARK ISSUE

/ By / Trademark

A note on a recent trademark case from a guest blogger, Akshat Pande, an IP practitioner from Delhi. The note pertains to a famous UK chain, “Nando’s”, that serves absolutely delectable chicken, –better, some would say, than “finger licking wares” dished out by the good ole’ Colonel. Though registered as an Irish company, it’s really Portugese cuisine with some significant South African roots. Anyway, here goes: “I was desperately waiting for Nando’s to open up in India as I have

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Super Basmati hits rough weather

/ By / Uncategorized

Today’s Times of India reports (and correctly, for a change) that the Pakistani Government has allegedly sent a notice to the Indian Government objecting to the latter’s registration of Super Basmati for export. Finally the press seems to have understood that its a GI registration sought by India and not a patent, which is being objected to by Pakistan. The detailed news report is available here.

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IP AND INNOVATION: MAKING TRIPS WORK FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

/ By / Innovation

As a follow up to my earlier post on TRIPS and how best to use “IP” strategically to enhance technological development for developing countries, here is a post on a blog titled “Unheard Voices” dealing with issues in Bangladesh. Intellectual Property Rights: Making Them Work For Us Posted by Amer under Foreign Matters , South Asia “This is a somewhat dated issue, but I recently came across this wonderfully well document example by Abul Kalam Azad of how the WTO

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"Kitney Aadmi The?" – The Sholay story (P.S. Don’t believe what the reporters tell you)

/ By / Uncategorized

After Shamnad’s recent post on the RGV Nishabd case pertaining to copyright in film titles, it is but logical that I tell you the “Sholay” story. But before I begin, let me clarify at the outset that one of the most settled principles of Indian copyright jurisprudence is that there is “no copyright in film titles”. Yet our misinformed press labours on, doggedly exposing their ignorance to their hapless readers. Go ahead, I encourage you to read the story in

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PATENTING PHARMA SUBSTANCES: INDIA AND TRIPS

/ By / Uncategorized

I came across this very incisive piece on pharma patents, TRIPS and India by Prabir Purkayastha in People’s Democracy, a publication of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).. An engineer and a science activist, Prabir is one of the founding members of Delhi Science Forum. Whilst I agree with most of what Prabir states, I have a slight reservation with the highly contentious NCE (New Chemical Entity) vs Salt form distinction and the notion that we can somehow exclude all

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