PATENT
RANBAXY OVER CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUG
An Australian court passed a favourable order for Ranbaxy Laboratories in its patent proceedings against Pfizer with regard to ‘Atorvastatin’, a cholesterol-lowering drug. The Federal court had ruled that one of Pfizer’s patents was invalid for inutility, false suggestion and misrepresentation in obtaining the grant of Australian patent. However, the court at the same instant delivered the verdict that a proposed Ranbaxy generic product under a different patent infringed Pfizer’s basic ‘Lipitor’ patent. Mr. Jay Deshmukh, Ranbaxy’s Senior Vice President-Global Intellectual Property, stated “We are pleased with this decision as it stands, as it advances the entry of Ranbaxy’s generic drug ‘Atorvastatin’ in Australia to May 18, 2012.”
GENERIC DRUG COMPANIES MOVE FOR PATENT FILING IN INDIA
Global and Indian generic companies are in a hurry to seek patents for drug in India. Majority of these applications are for process and composition patents. Teva, a Israel based company, Ranbaxy, India’s largest drug maker and Eli-Lily, a US based research company are in the top list, filing 380, 225 and 86 drugs respectively. A total of 10,000 applications are received by the Indian patent office recently in this regard.
DEMAND FOR COMPULSORY LICENSING IN CHINA
According to China Intellectual Property Office’s website, the patients in the country are demanding for compulsory licensing for allowing the domestic companies to manufacture the medicine 'Lamivudine' and market it at a lower price. The drug is used to treat Hepatitis B and HIV. The reason behind such demand is due to the less supply of Lamivudine during the second half of 2007. At present Pharma major GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) owns the Patent and marketing rights for Lamivudine in China.
TRADEMARK
INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE V INDIAN FANTASY LEAGUE-NOTICE TO THE DEFENDANT
BCCI filed a petition against Rediff.com to restrain it from hosting an online cricket game “Indian Fantasy League” due to the similarity in the name and style with “Indian Premier League” and also for using a logo similar to that of IPL. Damages amounting to Rs 10 Lakhs and seizure of all articles, labels, literature and advertising materials bearing the mark “Indian Fantasy League” and its logo have been sought for. BCCI stated that the continued access to the website would lead to confusion in the mind of the people that the said web site is owned by or in some way connected to BCCI. Court admitted the petition and issued notice to the defendants and the matter will be heard shortly.
TRIUMPH OF WIPRO OVER TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT CASE
The Delhi High Court has passed an interim order restraining K.K. Lamps, a Delhi based company from manufacturing GLS lamps under the brand name ‘Safelite’ or any similar brand name. Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting filed an infringement case against K.K. Lamps for selling its product under the brand name ‘Safelife’ which is similar to Plaintiff’s ‘Safelite’ brand. Mr. Anil Chugh, Senior Vice-President, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting contended that the defendant’s action caused considerable damage to the company’s brand image, especially in Andhra Pradesh where the product has a bigger market.
USPTO UPDATES TRADEMARK ELECTRONIC SEARCH SYSTEM BY INTRODUCING “IMAGE LIST” AND “MULTIPLE SEARCHING ABILITY”
The Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) of USPTO has been updated by addition of two new features, the “Image List” and the “Multiple Searching Ability”. The former new feature will allow a user to view the images of Trademarks, appearing in three columns in the search results, while the latter would help in multiple searches at once.
NEW SEARCH SYSTEM FOR AUSTRALIAN PATENTS
An Australian government agency (IP Australia) has developed and released a new search system for Australian patents. This system is named as “Auspat”. This new database system will allow researchers and the innovation industry to use 20 search fields to find patent applications managed in the Patent Administration and Management. “Auspat” crosschecks full text patent applications with records dating back as far as 1904 more easily. Moreover, customizing the “Search Results” page by adding, removing or rearranging columns will also make patent searching less time consuming.
COPYRIGHT
IPRS VS. KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
A suit on copyright violation against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was filed on May 14th, 2008 by The Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS). The allegation was about playing 14 popular Hindi film songs like "Om Shanti Om" during IPL matches at Eden Gardens without permission. The Kolkata High Court refused the application for injunction on the use of the songs and directed the parties to file affidavits. This matter will be heard in the month of June.
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION
TIRUPATI LADDU TO GET GI STATUS
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), that manages the very old hill temple, has made application to the Registry of Geographical Indications (GI), Chennai for its famous and tasty laddu and is now waiting for patent rights. Laddus were introduced by the temple eight decades ago and some 1.5 lakh laddus are made every day at the temple. The Laddus weigh 100gm and are prepared by the archakas (hereditary temple priests) in the potu (kitchen) of the temple in keeping with a tradition which is supposed to be 200 to 300 years old. A super-sized variety called Kalyana laddu weighs 500gm. A national-level experts committee cleared the application for geographical indication. V. Natarajan, assistant registrar at the GI Registry, said ‘the Devasthanam application would be taken up soon and the process would be completed by August’.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
AGREEMENT ON DRUG DISCOVERY
An agreement for undertaking drug discovery research and generating Intellectual Property (IP) came into force in the last week of May between GVK Bio, a Hyderabad-based company and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals .Under the pact, applications for INDs (Investigative New Drug) would be filed with the US Food & Drug Administration by GVK Bio which will be responsible for identifying drug candidates and the clinical studies would be performed by Wyeth. The agreement stipulates on payment to GVK Bio at the initial stage as well as success-based milestone payments (based on the research progressed).
eBAY CONVICTED FOR TRADING ON COUNTERFEIT GOODS
A French court convicted eBay, an online auction and shopping website for selling on its website three Hermes bags that includes two fakes, for a total of 3,000 euros. The court held that the user and eBay "committed acts of counterfeiting and imitation of French brand names ... to the detriment of Hermes international and awarded damages amounting to 20,000 euros to the French luxury group Hermes. The court also required eBay to publish the ruling on its French homepage for a continuous period of three months. The ruling was welcomed by UNIFAB, the French union of manufacturers
WIPO NOMINATES NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL
The Coordination Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) nominated Mr. Francis Gurry as a candidate for the fourth Director General of WIPO. The tentative schedule for the appointment of the next Director General by the WIPO General Assembly will be held from 22nd to 30th September, 2008.
EU COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL MEET IN BRUSSELS
The last EU Competitiveness Council meet was held on 29th and 30th May, 2008 in Brussels. The Council recognized the importance of effective management and protection of Intellectual Property and adopted a resolution and conclusions for the same. Resolutions were passed for inviting the Member States to promote the effective cooperation for the implementation of "IP Charter Initiative". The Code of Practice for universities and other public research organizations were adopted by the Commission earlier this year. Specifically emphasizing on gender equality, the Council called upon Members States for undertaking steps to improve working conditions for researchers and scientists in the EU. Others issues such as the competitiveness and innovation of European industry were also discussed in the meet.
