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"Medicine price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has proposed the formation of a centralised agency to negotiate the prices of patented medicines. The NPPA said the agency should estimate the market potential of the patented products and negotiate the prices on the basis of a reference pricing system.

The NPPA’s suggestion is being considered by an official committee assigned with the task of recommending a system of price negotiation for patented medicines to make the prices reasonable for Indian patients.

According to official sources, the NPPA has suggested that the reference prices should be calculated after comparing the prices of the same medicines in other countries with comparable per capita incomes or purchasing power parity. The reference price should be either the lowest of, or an average of the prices prevalent in comparable markets, the NPPA said.

The agency also wanted a nodal agency to be nominated for the bulk purchases of patented medicines to ensure that supplies are delivered at the negotiated price. An NPPA note to the committee suggested that the nodal agency release the medicine for retail sales through normal trade channels at the procurement price."

IP patent NPPA drugs price-control

In a simultaneous search conducted at various locations in the city, the police teams seized over 1,300 CDs of newly released Tamil movies among others and arrested seven persons on Wednesday.

Following complaints, special teams were formed. Based on specific inputs, they searched at Meenakshi Bazaar, CD parlours and outlets in Anna Nagar, Karimedu, South Gate, Tallakulam and Sellur areas. The police also seized obscene movies meant for sale in Anna Nagar.

Nine cases

Nine cases were registered and the names of the accused were given as Kumar of Villapuram, Thangaraj from Meenakshi Bazaar, Illangovan and Manickam from Karimedu, Moideen of B.B. Kulam, Thirumurugan and Mohideen from Sellur, Saktivel from Anna Nagar.

raid piracy IP CD Tamil Madurai TN Copyright

Apple has thrown the music industry another life vest. Its new iTunes Match service lets users listen to songs on any device for $25 a year. Significantly, it also works as an amnesty of sorts for customers with ill-gotten tunes in their hard drives. It looks a concession to piracy — but it at least offers a path to more revenue.

While other music services, such as Amazon’s, allow customers to store music remotely, Apple’s offers a clever twist.

It compares digital signatures of music already stored by customers to the 18 million songs it sells on iTunes. If there’s a match, the user gets rights to listen to that content on any device. That makes it quicker and easier than services that require files to be uploaded. It also doesn’t distinguish between legal and illegal content.

IT IP copyright music Apple ICloud piracy media

To overcome the weaknesses of the publicly funded health structures that restricted research in priority health areas, the Union Health and Family Planning Ministry has finalised the National Health Research Policy. It would maximise the returns on investments in health research through creation of a health research system to prioritise, coordinate and facilitate conduct of effective and ethical research and its translation into products, policies and programmes aimed at improving health especially of the vulnerable population. It proposes to ensure at least two per cent of the national health funding is utilised for research.

india health policy research IP

Punjab'suous history has been a major roadblock in its run for geographical indication (GI). Due to invasions by foreign rulers, Partition of the country and then reorganisation, Punjab’s traditions and art forms are a common legacy of other states and countries.

After the GI of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999 was enacted, all states were asked to identify products from their regions that could be protected. The Patent Information Centre (PIC) of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST) identified Phulkari, inlay work done on furniture in Hoshiarpur, dhoda (a sweetmeat) made in Kotkapura and handmade strings of Patiala. While Hoshiarpur inlay workers did not evince interest in getting their art protected, it turned out that the other goods were made in Haryana and Pakistan, too.

Punjab recently got GI for Phulkari after five years of legal battle.

Head of Punjab PIC Dr Neelima Jerath says: “Invaders had not only influenced the art and tradition of Punjab, but also taken a leaf out of it. This diluted the originality of our state’s traditional art forms and food. Besides, due to Partition of the country, both Punjabs share the legacy.”

GI IP Punjab

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has undertaken disciplinary action against top officials of the Patents & Designs office in Chennai for alleged irregularities in granting patent to German medical device maker B Braun for an intravenous device.

In response to an RTI application, the DIPP informed that while one officer has been suspended, disciplinary action is being taken against two officials. The case dates back to September 2007 when the Chennai patent office granted patent to B Braun for its intravenous device. A preliminary enquiry conducted by the Controller General of Patents Design and Trade Marks, Mumbai, revealed that prima facie material and procedural irregularities had occurred. It was found that the requ

india IP patent DIPP Braun

Horticultural crops that receive the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for their exclusivity will have new owners. The Horticulture Department, which secured GI tags for nine crops, will transfer the “ownership” (GI) rights to farmers' societies, to be formed soon.

GI IP crop-varieties Geographical-Indicators

Duplicate electrical products and auto parts of leading companies were seized at Hosur in Krishnagiri district and Dharmapuri town in Dharmapuri district recently.

Police personnel conducted raids at electrical shops and on auto parts sellers along with members of a private firm Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights and recovered fake products worth Rs. 3.95 lakh.

In Hosur town, police raided the shops on Old Bangalore Road and seized duplicate products worth Rs. 75,000. Two persons - Prakash Chand (22) and Karnaram (45) were arrested. Police have filed cases under Sections 486 and 420 of IPC and Sections 77, 78 and 79 of Trade and Merchandise Marks Act.

In Dharmapuri town, police raided electrical and automobile parts shops on Arumaga Achari Street and Rajagopala Goundar Street and recovered duplicate products worth Rs. 3.20 lakh. Krishna Ram (21), Pasupathi (48) and Pandurangan (52) were arrested in this connection.

Police have filed cases under Sections 51 and R/W 63 of the Copyrights Act.

trademark ip fake

Two weeks ago Justice S Ravindra Bhat of the Delhi High Court dismissed with costs the writ petition filed by the German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer Corporation against the Union of India, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and Cipla. The importance of Justice Bhat’s judgment cannot be overestimated. It is a clear — and sharp — judgment that puts paid to attempts by foreign companies to modify India’s regulations to suit their commercial interest.

The judge characterised the litigation as “a speculative foray; an attempt to ‘tweak’ public policies through court mandated regimes” and, in a first of its kind, awarded costs of Rs 6.75 lakh. The amount, far from being punitive, is to be shared by the government and the third respondent Cipla, one of India’s top drug companies. However, the point that the judgment makes is strong: Companies with deep pockets may “achieve short term goals of keeping out competitors through interim orders” but the court will impose ‘realistic costs’.

IP patent marketing approval DCGI drugs

Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s controversial book on M A Jinnah is selling not only in its original form at legitimate bookstores, but also in pirated prints on the pavements.

Jinnah India-Partition Independence costs Rs 695 if you want an original from Rupa Publishers. The cost of a pirated version varies, as low as Rs 150 for those who can bargain and as high as Rs 250 for those who cannot.

At Bandra station, outside the ticket booking office on the west side, a street stall owner says he has not stopped selling copies for a week. “Every morning, I get around eight to 10 copies; by 5 pm, they are all sold out,” he says.

This vendor starts off by asking for Rs 250. “It costs Rs 700 in a big store,” he says, but later agrees to sell for Rs 180. By 3 pm on Sunday, he has just two copies left. He refuses to say where the stock comes from.

At Colaba, Fountain and Churchgate, at railway stations and signals, bargains are being sealed between Rs 150 and Rs 250. A buyer at Fort says, “The cover and the pages are of poor quality and the print is smudged at places, but it’s Ok for a quick read.”

ip piracy jaswant singh

Anti piracy has again come to the fore for the Hindi film industry. The anti-piracy arm ICRA (Indian Cinema Rights Association) set up by some of the big companies in the industry, UTV Motion Pictures, Big Pictures and Moser Baer have stepped up its drive in Delhi and Mumbai—the hubs of film piracy.

To sharpen intelligence gathering, ICRA has roped in a Delhi-based consultancy called Assiduous, which has a network of people in places like Hyderabad and Mumbai. ICRA was set up about a month ago. Officials recently conducted raids in Maharashtra and Haryana, which resulted in seizure of close to 60,000 CDs and DVDs of various movies, including the recent releases Kaminey and Agyaat.

The anti-piracy efforts have reasons to be stepped up. A report published by US-based think tank RAND Corporation says video piracy worldwide is becoming a conduit for terrorism. For India therefore the implications are significant.

piracy IP terrorism RAND ICRA

As many as 26,665 VCDs containing pirated version of latest Tamil and other language films were seized in a State-wide raid conducted by the Crime Branch CID police. Under the instructions of the Additional Director General of Police (Crimes) R. Sekar, special teams arrested 41 persons for indulging in the manufacture and sale of pirated VCDs.

Besides the VCDs, computers and electronic gadgets used by the suspects were also seized, a press release said.

piracy raid ip copyright

Expanding the scope of India’s current patent regime to include incremental pharma innovation would benefit the domestic pharma players, according to a study commissioned by the US India Business Council, which was released on Wednesday.

Citing statistics from the National Knowledge Commission's studies, which show that around 76.4% of Indian pharma companies have introduced incremental pharma innovation in recent years while only 37% of them have been able to manage breakthrough innovation, USIBC makes a case for patent regime, which doesn’t entail wholesale exclusion of patent based on modifications, new dosing, new delivery system, the most common forms of incremental pharma innovations.

Further, the USIBC projects that by 2015, the share of incremental pharma market would account for $7 billion, almost 30% of the total pie of $20 billion Indian pharma market.

Traditionally, the government, the policy makers and the judiciary have not favoured grant of patent to incremental pharma innovations.

ip incremental pharma

pharma drugs ip

Music licensing bodies The Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) and The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) have started a radio campaign across the country to create awareness about the issue of music royalty.

The campaigns, that began this week, are being aired on Reliance ADAG's Big FM and Sun Network’s SFM which promise a pan India presence and will be on air for one month, mainly targeting event organisers in view of the upcoming Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Comments PPL CEO Vipul Pradhan, “We have started campaigning on radio to educate the laymen that although they are not directly involved in paying the royalties, they have to make it a point that the organisers pay the requisite royalty fees during the New Year celebrations. PPL would be airing 30 second ads around 20 times a day.”

IP IP-ization radio broadcast IPRS PPL royalty

MUMBAI: Roche Ltd, the Indian arm of Swiss drugmaker F Hoffman La Roche Scientific, has won a trademark-infringement case against Cipla Ltd over its anti-infection drug brand-named Valcyte.

The Bombay High Court found Cipla’s brandname ‘Valcept’ —- for the generic version of the drug valganciclovir —- infringing upon Roche’s trademark rights.
The court has given Cipla three weeks to change the brand-name of its version.
Generic drugs are copycats versions of innovator drugs, and are sold far cheaper. Cipla’s Valcept is priced at Rs 245 per tablet against Roche Valcyte’s Rs 1,000.

trademark IP generics Cipla Roche valcyte valcept

he Indian government plans to bring a new law to create a mechanism to transfer intellectual property (IP) created by public funded research to beneficiaries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Wednesday.

"We are looking at passing legislation that will create appropriate mechanisms and incentives for transfer of intellectual property by publicly funded research to beneficiaries," Manmohan Singh said inaugurating the centenary celebrations of the premier Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at the J.N. Tata auditorium.

IP public funded R&D Bayh-Dole

The risk of India’s generic drugs being labelled counterfeit under the new definition proposed by WHO has receded, a government represe
ntative concerned with the issue said. This would ensure that India’s manufacturers continue to sell their drugs in foreign markets.

The WHO-funded International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) had proposed a new definition of counterfeit drugs as medical products with a “false representation about their identity, history or source”.

drugs generics WHO IMPACT counterfeit pharmaceuticals IP

The Registrar of Trademarks has said that Mount Everest Mineral Water cannot register names of mountains as trademarks, dealing a blow to the Tata Group firm in its tussle with Ramesh Chauhan’s Bisleri over the name Himalaya.

Citing the Geographical Indications Act, the office of the Registrar of Trademarks has maintained that names of mountains are not acceptable for registration as trademark for agricultural and natural products.

Himalaya Geographical-Indicators IP trademark

French cosmetics and toiletries giant L’Oreal has hauled discount retailer MyDollarStore to court over issues relating to intellectual pro
perty rights (IPR) and illegal imports, it is learnt. The company has filed a case against MyDollarStore in the Delhi High Court recently, sources said.

In recent times, MNCs have been upset over the move by retailers to import top global brands, claiming that this leads to loss of business opportunity, unfair competition and product cannibalisation. However, sources said hectic parleys are on between the two parties and the talks could lead to an out-of-court settlement. L’Oreal officials did not reply to an ET query on the subject. MyDollarStore officials were also unavailable for comment.

IP customs MyDollarStore L'Oreal trade IPR Enforcement Rules 2007