21st March , 2010

Ranbaxy Laboratories settles Actos Patent lawsuit
 
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., a major Indian pharma company based in Gurgaon has settled a patent litigation with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., relating to a generic version of the Japanese company's diabetes drug, Actos.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free license of its U.S. patents covering Actos to Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. under the agreement. The Indian drugmaker can now launch the generic version of Actos on Aug. 17, 2012, or earlier under certain conditions.

Takeda, Asia’s largest drugmaker had sued Ranbaxy, Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Mylan Laboratories Inc. in 2003 to block low-cost versions of Actos. Actos is the world’s biggest selling diabetes medicine in the US and had sales of about $3.4 billion in 2009.

No 'Nexus One’ trademark for Google’s smart phone

Google, the internet giant whose Nexus One smart phone is available in the US and is about to be launched in Europe, has been denied the rights to the 'Nexus One' trademark.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has turned down Google's application as the trademark with 'Nexus' name was granted earlier in 2008 to Integra Telecom, a provider of voice and data services.

The Trademark Office mentioned that similar trademarks would confuse customers as both the companies existed in a similar business channel. The rejection can be appealed by Google in six months time and it can continue using the 'Nexus' One name until Integra sues Google for trademark infringement.

$106 mn patent verdict against Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation, the world's largest software maker was ordered by a federal jury in Texas to pay $105.75 million to Scotts Valley, California-based VirnetX Holding Corporation for infringing two patents relating to communicating over the Internet.

Microsoft will have to pay $71.75 million for infringing a patent relating to a method for creating a virtual private network between two computers, and $34 million for infringing a patent for creating the network using a secure domain name service. The jury found that infringement of the patents by Microsoft was willful.

VirnetX Holding Corporation, a software and technology solutions developer for securing real-time communications over the Internet had alleged violation of the patents by Microsoft Corp. in an amended complaint filed in April 2007.

Core Antibody Technology patent for MorphoSys

The Japanese Patent Office has granted a new patent to MorphoSys, for its core antibody technology, HuCAL (Human Combinatorial Antibody Library). The patent with extended protection covers the production and design of an antibody library based on phage display.

MorphoSys is prosecuting more than 35 different proprietary patent families around the world, in addition to pursuing another 35 patent families in collaboration with its partners. MorphoSys's HuCAL libraries are collections of different, fully human synthetic antibodies, whose modular CDR designs aid in organized engineering of antibody properties.

MorphoSys is a biotechnology company which develops novel antibodies for therapeutic, diagnostic and research applications. Its HuCAL technology is one of the most powerful methods available for generating fully human antibodies and has made the company a leader in the field of therapeutic antibodies.

Venus Remedies gets product patent for Sulbactomax in India

Venus Remedies, located at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, India has been granted a product patent by Intellectual Property Office (IPO), Government of India for Sulbactomax. The patent was filed in 2004 by Venus Remedies and this product was launched after a lot of R&D and DCGI approval after acute/sub-acute toxicity studies and multi centric phase III clinical trials. The patent for this product is valid till 2024

Sulbactomax is a combination of a beta lactam antibiotic - ceftriaxone sodium and a beta lactamase inhibitor - sulbactam sodium in a dry powder form for injection to be used after reconstitution with a super solvent. It is highly effective against betalactamase producing cephalosporin-resistant pathogenic bacteria like K pneumoniae, E.coli etc.

The product is indicated for lower respiratory tract infections, pre and post operative infections, skin and skin structure infections, UTIs, acute bacterial otitis media and other infections caused by betalactamse producing ceftriaxone resistant bacteria.

Sulbactomax is marketed in India and 7 other countries and it was out-licensed to a leading Korean company last year with exclusive marketing rights. Venus has filled patent for this product in 50 countries including US, Europe, Australia, Japan and LA countries and has been granted patent from South Africa.

Japan and China sign copyright deal

When countries around the world are finding out ways to protect their intellectual property, Japan and China have inked a memorandum on copyright protection.

The agreement which is analogous to a treaty was made between China's State Copyright Bureau and Japan's Cultural Affairs Bureau to fight copyright violations. The agreement calls for meetings and symposiums to address copyright issues, training and exchange of government employees and development of a system for copyright protection.

The agreement will be renewed routinely every five years unless one or both of the countries decide to terminate it. This memorandum would enable the export of Japanese intellectual products, including entertainment, to China, where there is occurrence of widespread piracy.

Patent for Pluripotent Rat Stem Cells and Genetically Engineered Rats Granted to StemCells, Inc.

The United Kingdom (UK) Intellectual Property Office has granted a patent to StemCells, Inc. with broad claims covering rat stem cells and genetically engineered rats derived from these cells.

This is the first patent that protects the use of pluripotent rat stem cells and the creation of genetically engineered rats and this technology is of considerable value to academic and pharmaceutical industry researchers as it will allow them to produce new rat models for the study of human diseases. StemCells, Inc. holds an exclusive license to commercialize this technology and is globally prosecuting the patent family that claims it.

The patent has particulars of composition of matter claims to pluripotent stem cells of the rat, including both embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. It also covers genetically engineered rat models derived from such cells, including the generation of both "knock-out" rats which allows the study of effect of gene deletion and "knock-in" rats to study the effect of inserting non-native genes, such as human genes which can be useful for predicting human responses to different drugs.

StemCells, Inc. is engaged in the R&D and commercialization of stem cell therapeutics and facilitates technologies for use in stem cell-based research and drug discovery.