7th September, 2009

THE INDIAN PATENT OFFICE REFUSES PATENT PROTECTION FOR AIDS DRUG

The Patent Office in New Delhi has refused to give patent protection to Tenofovir, an anti-AIDS medicine of the US-based Gilead Sciences. This decision is a major triumph for Indian drug companies, as they can now manufacture the medicine for sale in India, and in other least developed countries. Gilead has applied for several patents on the same medicine for different claims. Many Indian companies are at present marketing the medicine through a voluntary licence scheme negotiated with Gilead Sciences.

Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association and a local NGO, Centre for Residential Care and Rehabilitation, while filing pre-grant oppositions, mentioned that a patent in India would have a direct effect on the production of affordable generic versions of the drug. This is the first occasion where a foreign support group has joined with Indian NGOs to in a pre-grant opposition for a medicine patent application in the country.

The Brazilian government had declared Tenofovir to be of 'public interest' in treating people living with HIV, If Tenofovir gets a patent in India, Brazil will not be able to procure generic versions from India. And if the patent is rejected, Indian generic companies would be able to supply Tenofovir to Brazil and other middle-income countries.

MICROSOFT SETTLES PATENT DISPUTE ON IMAGING TECHNOLOGY

Research Corporation Technologies Inc. or RCT, a Tucson-based technology licensing and management firm had sued Microsoft in 2001, accusing it of infringing its patents for creating halftones, pictures broken into dots of varying sizes on computer screens and sought hundreds of millions of dollars as compensation from the world's biggest software maker Microsoft Corp.

RCT had claimed its patented technology was used in the Windows operating system and Office group of software programs. This technology known as the "Blue Noise Mask," combines high image quality with high-speed representation of halftones, or screened images, enabling images with improved quality to be printed faster. The firm claimed that it was entitled to 67 cents for each of more than 427 million units of Microsoft software sold, or about $286 million. Microsoft however mentioned that it did not infringe any of the patents and that they were invalid.

Kevin Parker, one of the inventors, mentioned, "If Microsoft had simply taken a license at the outset instead of spending nine years and $20 million gaming the legal system, then business and science would be much further ahead and justice would have been served".

32ND U. S. PATENT FOR ONCOLYTICS BIOTECH® INC.

Oncolytics Biotech® Inc. has been granted its 32nd U. S. patent by the USPTO. This patent, entitled "Viruses for the Treatment of Cellular Proliferative Disorders" is for the methods of using modified parapoxvirus orf virus to treat Ras-mediated cancers.

These oncolytic viruses can be modified to grow selectively in Ras-mediated cancers,
Oncolytics Biotech® Inc. now has five U.S. patents covering the use of other oncolytic viruses to treat Ras-mediated cancers.  Patents with similar subject matter have been granted in other jurisdictions also. Oncolytics has been granted approximately 200 patents worldwide, including 32 U.S. patents and 11 Canadian patents.

PATENTED CACTUS-BASED CIGARETTES

China Kangtai Cactus Biotech Inc., a grower, developer, manufacturer and marketer of a variety of cactus-based products in China, has produced cactus-based cigarettes and plans to launch two products by the end of 2009.

The patented cactus cigarettes- (i) low nicotine and (ii) zero nicotine cigarettes will be marketed under the registered trademark "Shengcao" brand.
The low nicotine cigarette made from cactus, honeysuckle, ginkgo biloba leaves and a small amount of tobacco leaves lowers tar and nicotine content by 70% and the zero nicotine cigarette reduces harm related to secondhand smoke. China has about 390 million smokers, accounting for 30% of global smokers.

China Kangtai was awarded patents for these two cactus cigarettes from China's State Intellectual Property Office in 2008.

3 NORTHWEST UNIVERSITIES SUED OVER PATENT INFRINGEMENT

Three Pacific Northwest universities face a lawsuit for using a Canadian inventor's patented process to build a better yellow mustard seed with higher yields, without his permission. The University of Idaho used his patent to produce new varieties of mustard, and Washington State University and Oregon State University collaborated with the Idaho University by providing research stations and scientists.

Soheil Sharafabadi, an Iran citizen has a 1990 patent on "Pseudoplastic Yellow Mustard Gum". In the lawsuit, he has named these three universities and agricultural suppliers in Idaho, Washington, Montana and California that sell and distribute the mustard seeds.

According to Sharafabadi, his patent helped researchers produce seeds with higher levels of mucilage, which promotes water storage and seed germination in plants. The University of Idaho had created a popular variety of mustard seed called "Idagold," which yielded about 12 percent more than other yellow mustard varieties commonly grown in North America. The IdaGold seeds were licensed to Montana Specialty Mills, and the Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative with offices in Idaho and Washington.

Sharafabadi, claims sole proprietary rights to Idagold and more than two dozen other mustard seed varieties that were developed using his patent.

IBM’S PATENT APPLICATION FOR TWITTER, FACEBOOK REMOTE CONTROL

IBM has filed for a patent with the USPTO, for a new technology that allows a television remote control to manage social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

This system would enable two-way blogging as users watch television. The patent documents cited that the system "allows a viewer to autoblog about currently experienced media programming in real-time without having to resort to direct interaction with a computer to perform the autoblogging,”

These blog interactions may be accomplished without the viewer having to leave the broadcast receiver of the television. The remote control would be perfect for use with Web sites like Twitter, Facebook and Joost. The six-page patent application is entitled “Automatic blogging during media viewing”.

TOYOTA IN PATENT INFRINGEMENT CASE

Paice LLC has filed a complaint with the U.S. ITC in Washington, claiming that Toyota Motor Corp is infringing its patents and seeks an order to ban imports of products using its inventions.

If Toyota looses his case, it may result in a U.S. import ban on some of its popular hybrid cars.
Paice had earlier won a jury verdict in 2005 that the Prius, Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX400h hybrids used Paice inventions related to drive trains.

The International Trade Commission in Washington is set up to protect the U.S. market from unfair trade practices, including patent infringement. It has the power to order U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to block infringing products from entering the country.