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 …
after the Patents (Amendment) Bill 1999 was passed by Parliament in the budget session, the Government of India on June 2, 1999 through a gazette notification, raised the patenting fee. The patenting fee has been raised in different categories which vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 75,000. Experts feel that …
to prevent the patenting of traditional Indian knowledge of medicinal and aromatic plants by multinational companies, the Indian government has set up a task force which will suggest ways to protect the country's legal rights on such plants and also enhance international trade in these items. The task force, which …
On India's biodiversity: India has one of the richest reserves of biodiversity in the world. It is a repository of genetic resources of several life-supporting plants of food and medicinal value that form a substantial base for future crop improvement. But this strength has always been underplayed by the North. …
The Shaman tribe of the Amazon rainforest have sought to revoke a patent granted to businessperson from the us on their most sacred plant, a vine called ayauasca , which has medicinal and ceremonial qualities. The tribe uses ayuhuasca to make a potent hallucinogenic brew for religious rituals. "The vine …
An Iowa, USA, seed merchant has legally challenged the US Patent and Trademark Office, saying it erred in granting patents on modifications to plants such as corn, soyabeans and cotton. The federal court has set October 1999 as the date for hearing the petition. The court's action indicates that the …
the Patents (Amendment) Bill 1999, which was passed recently by the Indian Parliament, seems to have left a number of questions unanswered. Many Parliamentarians, social activists and scientists have voiced their concern over the fallout of this Bill. They have accused the government of ignoring the interests of the nation …
The Union for Protection of New Plant Varieties (upov) is a 23-member Geneva-based organisation which regulates plant breeders rights for the industrial nations. Recently, the Union government of India expressed its idesire to become a memberof this international body. There are many in India who oppose this arguing that the …
Japanese inventor Hikoshichi Takahashi is patenting a wind-powered generator that sits on the roof of a car. The device has either funnels or tubes, or both, which channel fast-moving air into a generator to produce electric power for the car. Excess power can be stored in the car's battery. Sadly, …
patenting of basmati rice by Ricetec Inc of the us has been in and out of the news since February 1998. In response to a public interest petition filed in the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of India says Indian scientists and the best legal brains in the us are …
JAPANESE firm Asahi Chemical Industry has announced that it will sue us-based firm General Electricals (GE) for violating its patent on the production of polycarbonate resin. The company said that it would file the claim against General Electricals Spanish unit, GE Plastics, early next year. In May, Asahi Chemical filed …
Close on the heels of neem, turmeric, basmati and isabgo/, an Us-based company, has filed a patent for Phyllanthus Amarus, a medicinal plant used to cure jaun- dice. This plant is found allover south India and is used for the treatment of Hepatitis B. Meanwhile, several non- governmental organisations have …
The Invention Promotion Company of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has patented a flower garden that func- tions as a clock -a modem version of an idea cooked up by Linnaeus, the 18th-century Swedish botanist and father of taxonomy. The flowers of catnip open between 6 am and 7 am, orange hawkweed …
EUROPE's biotechnology patent laws are to be challenged by the Netherlands in the European Court. The case will restart a longstanding debate over the legitimacy of patenting biotech inventions based on living organisms. This could prove to be a major setback for the European pharmaceutical industry. In May 1998, the …
Pakistan has decided to lodge a formal complaint with the United States Patents Office against a patent given to a US firm, RiceTec Inc. on a premium rice brand originating in the Indian sub-continent. According to the commerce secretary, M Iqbal Farced, a verbal complaint has already been lodged for …
Cellphones are not just a public nuisance - they are also used by lookouts to warn criminals when the police are near. Now Deropa of Boksburg, South Africa, is patenting a transmitter that jams cellphones. All cellphones continually transmit and receive coded signals, with which they communicate with the network …
INDIA will sign the Paris convention for the protection of intellectual property and the patent cooperation treaty. For more than a decade, there has been a debate in India whether it should accede to the convention. This is a significant development, as India has for long resisted recognising global intellectual …
rice tec inc, the us seed company that sent shock waves across India by staking patent rights on a particular variety of basmati rice at the us Patent and Trademark Office, will not be able to pull the same trick on Thailand. Thai farmers have pledged to protect Khao Dawk …
India has few chances of getting the basmati patent cancelled, a leading Indian conservation scientist has said. P Pushpangadan, director of the Tropical Botanical Garden Research Institute in Thiruvananthapuram said, "India may find it difficult to fight the patent if the plant variety contains the gene for aromatic grains that …
