7th July, 2010
Another Bio-piracy attempt stalled
India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) has again helped India to stall a bio-piracy attempt by a Danish pharmaceutical company, Claras ApS. The pharma company had filed for a patent in 2007 at the EPO (European Patent Office) for the fat burning properties of ginger, jeera (cumin), onion and turmeric, claiming the invention to be novel.
Ancient Indian Ayurveda texts like Astanga Samgraha, Yoga ratnakarah, Yoga tarangini and Gadanigrahah dating back to the 5th century contained formulations of these spices as fat burners or slimming agents.
TKDL scrutinized formulations from these ancient texts. The Director of TKDL Dr V K Gupta then informed the examiners at the EPO in August, 2009 that all the four have been known in Indian systems of traditional medicine for their use as slimming agents or fat destroyers and that there is no novelty or inventive step involved in the claims made in the patent. The company withdrew its three-year-old patent application following the objections with sufficient proof put forward by Indian authorities.
Benoît Battistelli appointed President of the EPO
Benoît Battistelli, a French national has been appointed as the President of the EPO. He took up office on 1st July 2010. Elected in March 2010 by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization, the EPO's governing body, Mr Battistelli would serve as the President for five years.
Mr Battistelli in his first statement as President cited the need to improve co-operation with the EPO member states in the European network of patent offices and strengthen international co-operation to reduce duplication of work at patent offices around the world.
A lawyer by training Benoît Battistelli has served as trade commissioner at the French embassies in Italy, India, Turkey and Poland. He served as the Director General of the French National Institute of Industrial Property, as Chairman of the EPO's Administrative Council, and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the European Patent Academy.
Copyright insurance protection offered in China
An insurance product that offers protection for those in the copyright business has been launched in Beijing.
The product which is known as the copyright insurance bond is the outcome of collaborative effort between Cinda Property and Casualty Insurance and Beijing Orient Yonghe International Copyright Trade Centre Co. A copyright purchaser with this bond can seek insurance in the form of compensation, if he buys a copyright that is forged.
The insurance bond compensates for any losses incurred by the purchaser as well as litigation expenses if the actual copyright owner sues him for infringement. Chinese Internet players Sina, Youku.com and Ku6.com include the first group of buyers of the copyright insurance bond.
U.S patent to Patrys for anti-cancer product
Patrys, a biopharmaceutical company has been granted a U.S patent for its pilot product PAT-PM1. It is a natural human antibody useful in the treatment of solid tumors and metastases in pancreatic, lung, breast, colon and gastric cancers.
The claims in the patent cover the PAT-PM1 antibody and prospective competitive antibodies with similar configurations and functions. The patent offers protection through the year 2023. Patrys has filed patent applications for this product in Europe and other major markets. This patent points to the impending patent coverage for the entire pipeline by this pharma company.
The company already has two product patents issued this year and have also filed three new patent applications. Patrys with Headquarters in Melbourne, Australia and units in Europe and USA at present has a patent portfolio covering 13 pipeline products, five novel disease targets, and a natural human antibody manufacturing process.
Century Peak partner awarded ferro-nickel processing patent
Century Hua Guang Smelting Inc. (CHGSI), the partner of Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp.’s (CPMHC) subsidiary has been awarded a patent by the Philippine Intellectual Property Office for ferronickel processing. This patent grants its owner the exclusive right to make, use, sell or import the invention throughout the Philippines.
Mr. Liu Shenjie is the patentee who had given exclusive rights to use his invention on ferronickel processing to CHGSI. CHGSI, registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) as an Ecozone export venture would construct a smelting plant using this patented technology at the Leyte Industrial Development Estate with the approval of the required permits and licenses.
The patent granted in favor of Liu relates to his inventions on a smelting process of ferronickel with nickel oxide ore free of crystal water blast furnace and another on a smelting process of ferronickel with nickel oxide ore containing crystal water in a blast furnace.
HP contributes three Green Patents to Eco-Patent Commons
Hewlett Packard, one of the world's largest information technology companies headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA has released three green patents to the Eco-Patent Commons. The World Business Council on Sustainable Development controls the Eco-Patent Commons, which is a program aimed at encouraging companies to share their innovations that could be beneficial to the environment.
The three patents released by HP include a patent on a battery recycling station that encourages consumers to exchange their used batteries for new ones or for credit, a weld process monitoring system patent that reduces the resource and energy consumption associated with bad welds on assembly lines and a process patent that eliminates the need for anti-oxidant metal coatings during some stages of microchip and circuit board assembly.
The Commons were launched with an aim of making patents available freely to facilitate the development of eco-friendly products by free sharing of these patents, which are available on a searchable website hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony were the first to contribute to the Commons when it was initiated in January 2008. The other companies that followed are Xerox, DuPont, Bosch, Fuji, Ricoh and Taisei.
Mainland, Taiwan Sign IPR Protection Agreement
Chinese mainland and Taiwan representatives have signed an agreement on intellectual property rights protection. According to the agreement, both the regions will enhance mutual aid to increase protection of patents, trademarks, copyrights and plant variety rights (PVR).
The agreement was signed between mainland-based Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to set up a system to fight online piracy, patent imitation and preemptive trademark registration. The ARATS and SEF are authorized by both sides to handle cross-Strait matters.
Both sides have agreed to protect the priority rights of applicants based on the first filing application date of patents, trademarks and plant variety rights from both sides. They together intend to set up a copyright verification system to boost cross-Strait copyright trade. They will coordinate enforcement to protect established trademarks and to reduce piracy and false labeling of agricultural products also.
