The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, has introduced draft amendments to the Patents Rules, 2003. These drafts detail various changes proposed by the Central Government, anchored on section 159 of the Patents Act, 1970. The government seeks to amend the …
Joe C Mathew India has rejected German drug major Boehringer Ingelheim's application for a pediatric form of anti-AIDS drug nevirapine bowing to objections from the country's civil society group and also to help local companies continue selling the medicine. The rejected patent application covers the syrup form of nevirapine, which …
Public interest groups and health advocacy firms have raised doubts over the validity of several medicine patents that have been granted by Indian patent offices in recent times. The medicines include tuberculosis (TB) drug moxifloxacin, antipsychotic olanzapine and valgancicloivir, a medicine often needed for HIV / AIDS patients. The groups …
The capacity of countries to take advantage of the patent system bears a relationship with their stage of development. This paper explores the relationship between economic development and domestic and foreign patenting behaviour. The study uses a unique data set covering 55 countries and 24 years. It determines the association …
Even as two multinationals and an Indian pharma company fight over a generic drug to treat stomach acid, a third giant has been pulled into legal battle. Pharma biggie Wyeth had filed a patent suit against Teva Pharmaceuticals and Mumbai-based Sun Pharma for its generic drug, Protonix. Wyeth is now …
The Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) Policy for Kerala puts forth the concept of 'knowledge commons' and 'commons licence' for traditional knowledge. The policy says that all traditional knowledge, including traditional medicine, must belong to the domain of "knowledge commons" and not to public domain. The system should be introduced through …
Public Money: Health groups fear the new bill will facilitate private property with public funds (Pic By Subhabrata Das) In the coming weeks, groups working in the area of public health are expected to voice their concerns on a proposed US-style Indian law being piloted by India's Ministry of Science …
The government on Thursday decided to empower the agriculture export promotion agency(AEPA) to protect India's farm and horticulture products like Basmati rice from anyone patenting them anywhere in the world. The cabinet has approved an amendment in the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act (Apeda), which would …
Ranbaxy Laboratories, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Nicholas Piramal and other pharmaceutical companies are betting on inlicensing or strategic marketing tie-ups to help grow local sales after India banned copying of patented drugs. According to analysts, Indian drug makers are forging alliances with overseas companies such as CD Pharma, Gnosis SpA, Crawford …
A handful of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies are seeking hundreds of patents on gene-altered crops designed to withstand drought and other environmental stresses, part of a race for dominance in the potentially lucrative market for crops that can handle global warming, according to a report being released Tuesday. …
This is a fascinating story of intellectual property rights (IPR) involving one of the greatest national parks in the world, a tiny bacterium found in its fetid bubbling springs and the millions of dollars it has helped to generate for a pharmaceutical giant in another continent. Tied to this saga …
February 27-March 10, 2008. As the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (Class x) exams unfold across government schools in Kerala, students appearing for
After consecutive litigation losses against Pfizer in its bid to grab a market share of the world's largest selling drug, Lipitor, Ranbaxy can now breathe easy. Last week, the Indian company got a shot in the arm, with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issuing a a preliminary rejection …
Intellectual Property (IP) has always been a niche public policy area understood best by policy wonks and lawyers. Unless there is a major controversy, IP tends to escape public consciousness. But that is changing. Over the past few years campaigns to undermine IP have increased and are now reaching a …
the struggle for global open standards has got tougher with India saying no to Microsoft's Office Open xml (ooxml) document format. The decision comes despite attempts by Microsoft to make the format globally accepted. On March 20, the Bureau of Indian Standards (bis), India's representative body at the International Organization …
on april 23, the Delhi High Court will hear a case that is being dubbed as a "conflict between commercial interests and public health'. There are two main players: the Central Information Commission (cic) and the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Corporation Company (mahyco). Fearing that its data on field trials of …
The loom in Aruna Kumari's badly lit, mud-walled house in Epurupalem village runs from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., with either Aruna or her husband working at it constantly. Her ageing grandmother contributes by winding spools of yarn and joining threads of the weft for 10 hours daily. Together, the …
INDIAN Patent Office has granted a record number of 15,262 patents during the financial year 2007-08. This is more than double what was granted during the previous year
Muga silk from Assam, Madhubani paintings from Bihar, Kerala's Malabar pepper and green cardamom and Kovai Cora cotton from Tamil Nadu are among the 31 ethnic Indian products that were given protection last fiscal against anyone getting patents in their names throughout the world. The government granted a record number …
In a move likely to influence future drug price regulation in the country, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has started a process to understand how other countries carry out this function. The authority has already studied the relevant regulatory systems in at least eight major countries. It has also …
