21st May , 2010

‘Kites’ movie in Copyright infringement dispute

A Bihar City civil Court has stayed the screening of the movie ‘Kites’ just prior to its release this month.

The Hrithik Roshan and Barbara starrer has been sued for copyright infringement by Mr.Laxmi Prasad, of Sunbeam Holdings, who claims rights to the action scenes in the film and that the production company owes him Rs 10 crore. Prasad claims to have acquired copyright of storyboard from Happy Hours and Spektrum under an arrangement and Film Kraft was not authorized by him to use the story.

Mr Rakesh Roshan, director of the film claims to have never met the plaintiff. An appeal was filed at the Sitamarhi District court, which disposed the appeal vacating the stay order passed by the civil court. The movie is scheduled to release on the 21st May and the hearing is posted for the 24th of May.

Brazil and India take EU to WTO over generic drug seizures

Brazil and India have filed separate complaints against the European Union at the World Trade Organization over the seizure of generic medicines.

Under the WTO dispute mechanism Brazil has filed a request for consultation with the EU and the Netherlands concerning the seizure of generic medicines during transportation. Brazil claimed that the seizures had a negative impact on legitimate commerce, on south-south trade and national health in the developing countries.

India has filed a separate complaint over the EU seizures of Indian generic drugs, claiming that recurring seizures would hurt lawful trade of generic drugs and universal access to medicines in developing nations.

Ranbaxy's US arm to face patent infringement suit

Purdue Pharma, a US-based pharma company has filed a patent infringement suit against Ranbaxy- India's largest drug company, after the Indian company’s wholly-owned US subsidiary, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc, applied for marketing approval of a low-cost version of Purdue's pain relieving medicine, Oxycodone.

Purdue filed a suit in a district court of New York claiming that Ranbaxy's application attempts to challenge the validity of three patents on Oxycodone in the US. Generic drug makers Mylan and Actavis were also sued on the same patent infringement charges by Purdue. Oxycodone is derived from the opium plant and is given to serious patients with acute pain.

A company applying for marketing approval of a patented medicine should notify the patent holder of its action, according to US laws. This gives the a chance to the innovator to file a patent infringement suit against the generic drug firm and guarantee an automatic stay on the marketing approval for a period up to 30 months.

13 Maharashtrian products have potential for GI registration in India

Thirteen food products, some natural products and others prepared in various parts of Maharashtra, known for their special taste and characteristics, are looking for financial support for securing Geographical Indication (GI) registration. The items include Mahim Halwa, Kandi pedha from Satara, Nagpur orange and Lonavla chikki, among others.

A geographical indication is a name or sign used on products which correspond to a specific geographical location or origin. A GI tag given by the Chennai-based Geographical Indication registry in India certifies that the product possesses certain qualities, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.

A Mumbai-based Great Mission Group Consultancy (GMGC), which had helped the Puneri Pagadi, Solapur's chaddar and towel, Nashik grapes and the Mahabaleshwar Strawberry get the GI recognition, has identified these 13 items. Other products identified by GMGC include Devgad Alphonso, Lasalgaon onion, Saswad fig, Latur Kesar mango, Udgir betel-nut-cutter, Tuljapur paradi (container), Kolhapur sandals, Sawantwadi toys and Kunthalgiri pedha.

AstraZeneca Settles Patent Litigation regarding Entocort EC Capsules with Teva Pharma

AstraZeneca Plc has signed an agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. to settle patent litigation regarding Teva's proposed generic version of AstraZeneca's Entocort ECcapsules.

AstraZeneca has granted Teva a license to enter the US market with its generic version of oral budesonide on 15 February 2012, subject to regulatory approval under the agreement. Teva has agreed that both patents-in-suit in Teva's US Entocort patent litigation are valid and enforceable.

Teva has also accepted that both Entocort patents-in-suit would be infringed by the manufacture or sale of Teva's generic version of oral budesonide. The US District Court for the District of Delaware will enter a Consent Judgment and the corresponding patent litigation would soon be dismissed.

Indian patent to Venus Remedies for painkiller

Drug maker Venus Remedies Ltd has secured an Indian patent for its once-a-day painkiller Aceclofenac injection. The drug making company is also in talks with different drug firms in the South Asian region to license this drug.

Aceclofenac is a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain and inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and also low back pain, dental pain and oncology pain. The injection would give instant relief and remain effective for 24 hours against the conventional forms, which work for only 8 hours.

With this patent Venus Remedies now has 7 national and international patents granted from its pool of 341 patents. The company claims that the drug is the world's first once-in-a-day injectable painkiller expects to capture 10 percent market share in the pain-killer segment in the early years of the launch.

Microsoft pays $200 million to settle patent dispute

VirnetX a software company which owns patents for Virtual Private Networking (VPN) technology had sued Microsoft for infringing on its patents. Microsoft will now settle the suit for $200 million.

VirnetX had claimed that Microsoft was infringing on two of its VPN patents for automatic and secure VPN technology. The technology covered under the patents, created by VirnetX, was part of a security project they were working on for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The software company had filed the original complaint in February 2007 and in March this year a court in Texas ordered Microsoft to pay $106 million.

Microsoft has agreed to end the legal battle by settling with $200 million payment. This will give Microsoft a license to continue to use the technology in their products.