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 …
TALL and slender with a luminescent white complexion - this could be a description in a stereotype matrimonial in an Indian newspaper or it could be a vague attempt to describe the king of rice - basmati. The mystical values basmati evokes across the world, other rice varieties do not …
India has again lost a major battle in the global arena with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granting a varietal patent for three basmati rice strains to a US company, RiceTec Corporation. As per the patent, RiceTec cannot sell the strains under the brand name basmati, but there …
the much-awaited Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Bill 1999 was recently passed by the Lok Sabha. The bill, which is the first attempt to protect the rights of farmers, has been termed as
Whether the granting of a varietal patent on basmati rice to an American firm by the us Patent Office is a "victory' as the government maintains, or a defeat as most ngo s maintain, is not the issue. The issue is to chart out a clear and time bound strategy …
The global pharmaceutical industry is feeling the heat. Following the industry's embarrassing withdrawal in April from a case against the South African government over the issue of access to cheap aids drugs, the us government dropped its complaint against Brazil's law dealing with the same issue at the World Trade …
Several eyebrows have been raised over the Cipla offer to supply anti- aids drugs at one-third the current price to developing countries like South Africa. On March 7, 2001 Cipla Ltd of Mumbai, formally requested the South African department of trade and industry to issue compulsory licenses to patents on …
The New Delhi-based National Patent Office has granted a patent of an anti-diabetic medicine to the Kani tribals of Kerala. The medicine, now scientifically proven to be potent and safe, is derived from the roots of the creeper Humboldita decurrens ( Chembravalli in Malayalam). The herb has been used traditionally …
In an unprecedented judgement, a Canadian federal court has directed a farmer to pay US $85,000 to the biotech giant Monsanto for violating the company's patent over genetically modified (GM) canola seed. According to a Canadian patent law, it is illegal to reuse Monsanto's GM seed without signing a licensing …
The term biodiversity, had its origin in us bureaucratic literature in the early eighties. During this period, tremendous economic potential of biodiversity was beginning to become obvious. The far-sighted Americans, using their patriotic think-tanks and foreign aid mechanism advocated the need for a global treaty on biodiversity. Their objective was …
Unlike sub-Saharan African countries, Brazil will not get discounts on two Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (aids) drugs that us-based Merck and Co Incorporation is planning to offer. "The discount on crixivan and stocrin is not applicable to Brazil,' said Marcos Levy, director of corporate affairs at Merck's Brazil unit. Responding …
The ongoing medicinal plants patent controversy has another entrant: ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), a plant that is widely recognised for its medicinal worth and commonly found in India. A study conducted by the Patent Facilitating Centre of the New Delhi-based Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, verified that in the past …
gone are the days when scientists used to experiment on animals. Now human beings are the guinea pigs. Led by the Canada-based Rural Advancement Foundation International, a controversial Human Genome Diversity Project ( hgdp ) is now being undertaken by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology ( ccmb ), …
The Human Genome Project is not all about humans. It is also about mice, chicken, fish and flies. It is about primitive creatures most of us have never heard of. It is also about worms and weeds. As sequencing of these organisms proceeds simultaneously with the human genome, scientists are …
A whole new world is about to unfold. A transatlantic joint announcement on June 26, by US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK, marked the release of the Book of life - the chemical sequence of the human genome. The Human Genome Project (HGP) - …
We have entered an era of great hope and promise, of advancing human health and well-being and of social and economic progress. The shape of things to come can be visualised with a rough timetable. Will the new order of things reduce and eventually eliminate the inequities and disparities that …
after an extensive consultation process involving stakeholders, the Central government has brought about a legislation, the Biological Diversity Bill, 2000, with salient features relating to access to biological resources of the country and securing sharing of benefits with local people. This has come as a result of public pressure and …
the New Delhi-based Patent Facilitating Centre of the Department of Science and Technology has just released a report on the patenting of micro-organisms. The task has been more than difficult because the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights ( trip s) does not provide any guidelines or suggestions about what a …
some meetings are convened to arrive at definite conclusions. But there are those that follow a routine merely to carry forward a tradition. The latter seems to be quite true in the case of the Conference of Parties ( c o p ) to the Convention on Biological Diversity ( …
