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 …
Another controversy dedicated to Viagra! Pharmaceutical major Pfizer Inc. has decided to battle China's decision to revoke its patent on the product Viagra, granted in 2001. The patent was annulled in July 2004 on the ground that Pfizer had not provided full information about the product. Earlier, some Chinese drug …
With the world becoming increasingly knowledge-driven, protecting the rich traditions of Asia and the Pacific region has assumed great significance. The incomplete mandate of the Doha Round of talks followed by the failure of the Cancun summit last year has widened an already existing divide between the developed and the …
Logjam: A federal appeals court has blocked logging of trees scorched in one of the US's largest wildfires. It is unlikely that the dead trees can be harvested before rotting. The court order came after a two-year old court battle. The 2002 blaze that burnt 202,343 hectares in southwestern Oregon …
the Supreme Court (sc) has issued two notices to the Union government, within a span of two weeks, over the grant of exclusive marketing rights (emrs) to pharmaceutical companies under the Indian Patents Act, 2002. The notices have been issued in response to two writ petitions challenging the emrs on …
lethal teflon: The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has charged the DuPont company with hiding the adverse health and environmental effects of Teflon, used in its non-stick cookware and carpet protection product. In doing so, the company violated the federal Toxic Substances Control Act from June 1981 to March 2001, …
In 1449, England's King Henry VI commissioned Flemish glassmaker John of Utynam to make stained glass windows at Eton and Kings colleges, and to teach his craft at the two institutions. In return the glassmaker asked the English monarch to grant him exclusive rights to manufacture stained glass
On may 21, 2004, the Supreme Court (sc) of Canada ruled that Percy Schmeiser, a farmer, had breached the law by growing canola containing a patented gene without the permission of the patent-holder, Monsanto Company. The court's order implies that patent rights extend to any living organism in which a …
Canada is on the verge of becoming the first nation to honour a World Trade Organization (wto) pledge on making available cheap generic drugs for hiv/aids-afflicted people in developing countries. The Canadian House of Commons unanimously approved a bill (c-9) that would amend the country's patent laws. The proposed legislation …
In 1995many in India were outraged to learn that a university in the US was granted a patent to make and sell haldi (turmeric) for its wound healing properties. Patents are usually given to creations that are deemed
after the Basmati rice row, a similar controversy has cropped up involving an Indian wheat variety. On February 23, the Supreme Court (sc) directed the Union government to contest the patenting of wheat by us food and seed manufacturer Monsanto. The Munich-based European Patent Office (epo) had granted the patent …
India currently ranks amongst the top five manufacturers of bulk drugs in the world. Having muscled out hefty competition from foreign multinationals, the country is almost self-sufficient in drugs. This is largely because Indian drug manufacturers circumvent patent rules by slightly altering their production processes. But they will not be …
food insecurity and chronic poverty could be easily overcome if poor countries are able to improve agricultural productivity. But they do not have access to the necessary tools, especially biotechnology. In its latest report, us-based research institute Resources for the Future accuses the us's patent policy of restricting the use …
inventors worldwide have received a new year bonanza. Protecting their inventions will be easier now with the new rules ushered in by the world's apex body governing the protection of intellectual property rights, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (wipo). Not only will the new procedure save them time and money, …
The ongoing attempts to strengthen intellectual property protection regimes through the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (trips) agreement, are choking knowledge transfers from the industrialised world to developing countries. And with private companies seeking control and monopoly over genes and cell lines, the world is fast moving towards scientific apartheid against …
function openfact(){ var popurl="image/20031130/60.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=700,height=430,scrollbars=yes") } Click here to see graphs • Key economies outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 1 (oecd), now account for 17 per cent of global research and development (r&d;) expenditure • In 2001, China spent us $60 billion (bn) on r&d;, placing it …
In spite of there being several instances of the use of arhar (pigeon pea or Cajanus cajan ) extracts in India, the us Patent and Trademark Office (uspto) has granted three patents on novel invention of the same to Insmed Incorporation of Richmond, Virginia. The patents have been given with …
Most patents are held by Northern corporations and used primarily to control the market as a monopoly. The World Bank data on the number of patents recorded in 91 countries (categorised into those belonging to resident and non-resident applicants) shows that out of 3,125,603 patents recorded, 301,177
Patents on life forms are unethical, contrary to the principles and cultural norms of various societies, and should be prohibited. This was the crux of the argument advanced by a group of African countries at the trips (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from June …
Even as negotiations on the relaxation of international patent protection rules enshrined in the World Trade Organization (wto) remain deadlocked, the eu has adopted a law that will provide 76 developing countries access to cheaper drugs. The affordable medicines will help the beneficiary nations, including India, to combat hiv/aids, malaria …
Monsanto Corporation has been granted exclusive monopoly over all genetically transformed soyabean varieties. The Munich-based European Patent Office (epo) upheld a patent held by Monsanto on transgenic research on soyabean. The patent covers the process that describes genetic transformation of plants and soyabean seeds as well as tissues obtained by …
