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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Patent, Trademark Filing goes the E-way!

/ By / Patent, Trademark

In keeping with the trend of adopting all things, ‘E’ and making systems more time e-fficient and e-z…. the Indian Government has introduced the e-filing system for patents and trademarks. E-savvy indeed! An article in The Hindu reports The Government has launched a facility for e-filing of patent and trademark applications to speed up the process of securing exclusive rights over a product or trading symbol. “With the launch of e-filing facilities, applicants can file their patent and trademark applications

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Novartis’ objection to Chandrasekharan dimissed by IPAB

/ By / Uncategorized

Pursuant to my earlier postings on this issue, the IPAB has dismissed Novartis’s objection to the presence of Chandrasekharan as a technical member on the IPAB panel. As many of us expect, this decision is likely to be appealed–and apart from more biiling hours to lawyers involved in this highly politicized case, the delay will do no one any good!! I haven’t seen the IPAB order yet–but it does seem like Novartis has a good case in trying to get

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iPhone and Antitrust Implications: US vs EU vs India

/ By / Competition Law, Innovation

To continue our fascination with the iPhone (see Aysha’s earlier post), I picked up an interesting news item pertaining to the antitrust implications of Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&A (Cingular). If this issue cropped up in Europe, I could bet a thousand horses that the EC Commission will be far more likely to clamp down on the deal and hold that the “exclusivity” agreement between Apple and AT&T violates EU competition law norms. The EC is much more intrusive than

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Exponential damages in Walt Disney civil suit

/ By / Uncategorized

Disney Enterprises, Inc. & Anr. v. Jitendra Aggarwal & Ors.;C. S. (OS) No. 175 of 2006 before the High Court of Delhi A rather unique order was passed on 13th July, 2007 by the High Court of Delhi in a case of counterfeiting of Walt Disney characters by a party who was reproducing them on labels which were then being affixed on baskets and sold in the market. At the first instance it may be pointed out that Disney Inc.

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Update on the Super Basmati.

/ By / Patent

Pursuant to my earlier blog on the Super Basmati, I received queries and clarifications on the patent status On probing and analyzing the issue, I find the Pak allegation that India has filed a patent has trickled down from the Pakistan media and found its way into the Indian Press room. The Indian media(and to some extent I) has quoted them verbatim and fanned the issue without any independent verification On checking the Big Patents Database compiled by Prof. Bhaven

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Genome Valley Bags Certification Mark

/ By / Trademark

Chandrabbau Naidu, the Ex-Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh can wear the moniker ‘Biotech Babu’(‘Babu’ is the Indian honorific for a senior officer) with aplomb and pride. Having spearheaded the Bio-Renaissance in the state, that placed the City of Hyderabad on the Biotech world map, the State ,thanks to the Babu ,has become the forerunner in producing cutting edge innovation and R&D in the fields of bio-all. Bio-all that encompasses the field and flurry in the areas of bio-informatics, medics, agriculture

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COPYRIGHT OVER FILM TITLES?

/ By / Copyright, Trademark

An excellent summary of a recent decision dealing with copyrights over film titles from Manisha Singh, Partner at Lex Orbis, one of the prominent IP law firms from India (as extracted from an IBA newsletter). The decision seems a sound one–as I can’t imagine a court protecting a mere new title as a “literary work” or as operating as a trademark (particularly when it is a new film that hasn’t been advertised for long or is not part of a

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