PATENT

SUVEN GRANTED FOUR PRODUCT PATENTS

Suven Life Sciences has been granted four product patents for its new chemical entities (NCEs), used for treating disorders associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson and Schizophrenia.

The biopharmaceutical company has received two patents each from New Zealand and Eurasia, which are valid until 2022 and 2025 respectively. Eurasia region consists of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

The grant of these patents to Suven Life Sciences for its pipeline of molecules in the CNS field which are being developed for cognitive disorders would boost its global market which has an estimated potential of $ 30 billion. The products of these inventions could also be out licensed at various phases of clinical developments.

US PATENT OFFICE TO OPEN REGIONAL PATENT OFFICE IN DETROIT

The US Patent and Trademark Office's first satellite facility will open in Detroit during 2011, employing around 100 patent examiners with some additional support staff. This will be USPTO's first satellite office outside the Washington, DC area.

Detroit was chosen for the first Regional Patent Office, because of its lofty number of scientists and engineers, access to leading universities, high volume of patent activity and the large number of patent agents and patent attorneys including innovative companies and research partnerships, such as the University Research Corridor. Michigan is ranked seventh among all states in obtaining patents.

The Patent and Trademark Office headquartered in Alexandria, VA, with storage facilities in Pennsylvania and Virginia has nearly 10,000 employees. The new office would probably minimize the backlog of 710,000 patent applications.

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION

TIRUPATI LADDUS AND DARJEELING TEA FACE BATTLE ON GI TAG

The famous Tirupati laddu and Darjeeling Tea are now at the centre of a debate over the grant of geographical indication (GI) tag. The Chennai-based Geographical Indications Registry has issued a notice to Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD) seeking counter-statements to retain this coveted tag.

Tirupati laddu is the sweet offered to devotees as prasadam at the Lord Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. TTD, the trust which runs the world's richest Hindu shrine had applied for the to prevent the laddu from being replicated and sold on the black market by hawkers and middlemen. The TTD had sought absolute monopoly over the production of the laddus, which are actually, made by labourers and workers of the temple (TTD employees) and the application does not list any other beneficiary than the trust.

A Kerala-based IPR activist, RS Praveen Raj,had sought the removal of GI for Tirupati laddu in October this year claiming that GI tag for these sweets point towards the absolute commercialisation of religion and giving the laddus a status of industrial goods.

The Darjeeling Tea (both word and logo) which appears as entry No 1 and 2 on the GI Registry is the other entity for which the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks has taken cognizance of petition for 'rectification' and possible removal of the GI tag on the ground that the Tea Board cannot be GI owner as it is a statutory body meant to regulate its exports and trade and not part of its value chain and/or its producer. A final decision in this regard is awaited after the concerned parties would be given a hearing.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR 'CEYLON TEA'

Sri Lanka has registered a claim locally for intellectual property protection for Ceylon tea under global 'Geographical Indicators' rules which would help market its main export product. The country has also registered the logo for ozone friendly pure Ceylon Tea. The ozone friendly certificate verifies that Sri Lanka tea is grown without use of any ozone depletion substances. The Promotions Director of the Srilankan Tea Board stated that these local registrations are required before making overseas registrations.

In 2007, Sri Lanka had received the 'Montréal Protocol Implementers Award' for not using methyl bromide-an ozone depletion substance used in pest management, after adopting alternative environment friendly technologies. This allowed Sri Lanka to market Ceylon tea worldwide as an environmentally friendly and ozone friendly product.

TRADEMARK

GUFIC WINS TRADEMARK CHALLENGE AGAINST ESTEE LAUDER

A Mumbai-based pharmaceutical and personal-hygiene products company Gufic Biosciences Ltd. has defeated Estee Lauder's Clinique unit in a trademark battle. In 2008 US-based multinational cosmetic major Estee Lauder had asked the Delhi High Court to prevent Gifuc from selling its skin care brand Skinclinique Stretch Nil, alleging infringement of its "Clinique" marks.

A special leave petition (SPL) filed by Estee Lauder arm Clinique Laboratories challenging the April 2009 verdict of the Delhi High Court, which was in favour of the Indian company was dismissed by India's Supreme Court. The Court found that the Gufic product was significantly different from the Estee Lauder product.

The Gufic product, an Ayurvedic drug to treat stretch marks after pregnancy has been sold since 1997 at a price much less than the Clinique products. Skinclinique Stretch Nil 100 ml lotion costs about Rs 245, while Estee Lauder's Clinique brands product are sold for Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,950 for 15 ml and 75 ml.

ONLINE TOOL TO ASSIST IN FILING INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS

WIPO launched an on-line tool - the Madrid System Goods & Services Manager (G&S Manager) on December 20, 2010 to help trademark applicants in assembling the list of goods and services that must be submitted when filing an international application under the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks.

This G&S Manager which can be accessed through the WIPO GOLD portal allows applicants to select the terms that best describe the goods and services relating to the mark. By selecting terms from the G&S Manager, applicants can be confident that no irregularity notice will be issued with respect to the classification or indication of those goods and services.

The G&S Manager, available in English, French and Spanish, the three working languages of the Madrid system, gives access to some 30,000 terms in English and their corresponding terms in French and Spanish.