A rather ridiculous gap

Trademark disputes are the humdrum of intellectual property (IP) litigation. Important, no doubt, for the parties involved but hardly the stuff to get you and me excited. What all we have missed in recent times?

A treaty too many

EU threat to farmers

Why scientists don’t back Novartis claim

The past two weeks have been marked by significant decisions on lawsuits that have put India’s patent regulations to the test. The case in the headlines has been one related to Natco’s compulsory licence for the manufacture of German drug giant Bayer’s cancer treatment drug Nexavar.

Testing the CL route

Last month I ran into Ecuador’s popular president Rafael Correa as he was campaigning for a third term—he has since been re-elected with a record majority—and recalled his path-breaking decision to issue compulsory licences (CLs) to ensure cheaper medicines for his expanding public health programme. The decree, the first such in Latin America, was issued in October 2009 for some much-needed drugs and, six months later, the Ecuadorian government handed out the first CL on US multinational Abbott’s ritonavir, an AIDS medication.

Menacing US diplomacy

There is something that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has in common with US diplomats—or at least the intellectual property (IP) attachés posted at various diplomatic missions: a dislike of NGOs.

New science policy brings in PPP

A patent triumph of public interest

Fresh winds are wafting changes in the stuffy world of pharmaceutical patents. Countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America—there are not too many just now—are enshrining flexibilities in their patent laws to ensure that public interest remains in the legal framework of the patent regime.

Treasure and the tricks

Interviewee:  Debal Deb

Strong medicine for weak drug patents

Two patents being nullified in quick succession may not add up to a trend. But in this season of revocations, patient groups and public health lobbies and, of course, the generic drug industry are sniffing the promise of a new spring in these decisions even though both can be challenged in different forums.