Gilead To Appeal India Patent Rejection, Hails Regulatory Approval 16/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Pharmaceutical manufacturer Gilead has given its side to this week’s story of the rejection of its patent on a hepatitis C treatment in India, and it insists it will prevail in making its medicines available in India on its terms.
Key Hepatitis C Patent Rejected In India 14/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 10 Comments Today’s rejection by the Patent Office Controller of India of a patent application by Gilead company for a key drug against hepatitis C is being hailed by advocates as a path to dramatically lower costs of treatment for the disease. Hepatitis C has been noteworthy for exorbitantly priced medicines over the past year. A look at the decision shows that a provision in India’s law continues to stop patent applications if they fail to show sufficient novelty and inventive step – and are subject to opposition.
India’s Draft IP Policy Shows Major Changes Coming, While Fitting IP System To Local Needs 08/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments The first draft of a national intellectual property rights policy being developed by a “think tank” of Indian IP experts shows adherence to the country’s principles of bending the IP system to its local needs. But it also shows signs of major change toward more international goals of enforcement and promotion of strong IP rights.
Most-Read IP-Watch Stories In 2014: A Tale Of Staff Issues, India, Hot-Button Topics 07/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment All year long, Intellectual Property Watch expends great energy and resources to bring hundreds of carefully written, detailed stories on policymaking – technical committee meetings, legislation, negotiations, legal cases, and latest reports and papers. But in what is perhaps typical of readers everywhere, many of the best-read IP-Watch stories of 2014 were those few that involved elections and personnel issues and India, followed by a range of hot button issues such as high-priced medicines, copyright and knowledge access, patent valuation, or internet surveillance.
Report Explains Rapid Rise In Chinese Patents; Compares Innovation Quotient 11/12/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 10 Comments China has been filing patents at far greater rates than any other nation on earth in recent years. This week, a Thomson Reuters report broke down that growth and compared it with other leading nations on the basis of innovation.
Will India, US Bridge Divide Over Intellectual Property Rights? 10/12/2014 by Patralekha Chatterjee for Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments There is an uptick in India-United States relations. US President Barack Obama will be in India in January as the chief guest at the country’s Republic Day Parade. Obama, who hosted India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington in September, will become the first US president to attend such a celebration, a display of India’s military might and ethnic diversity, as well as the first to visit India twice while in office.
WIPO Seminar: For Access To Hepatitis C Treatments, Look At HIV Lessons 08/12/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A seminar on innovation and access to medicine last week examined the issue of access to hepatitis C treatment, looking at the HIV/AIDS path. Voluntary licences, such as the one entered by Gilead for its hepatitis drugs, have been applauded but such licences often do not cover middle-income countries, which are home to the bulk of hepatitis C patients, and whose poor populations remain unable to access treatment.
China Establishes Patent, Trademark And Copyright Integrated Office 28/11/2014 by Mingjiang Liu for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment China has set up an administrative office called the Shanghai City Pudong New Area Intellectual Property Office, integrating patent, trademark and copyright administration in the Pudong New Area in Shanghai city.
USTR Froman Presses India On IPR Regime 24/11/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments “Nearly one-third of all Silicon Valley start-ups have an Indian-American co-founder,” United States Trade Representative Michael Froman said in remarks on India today. The country of India is also innovating, but it must do more to have and enforce a world-class intellectual property rights regime, he said.
US IP Industry Meeting With Indian Judges A “Ruse”, Activists Say 17/11/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Public health activists and others have been watching closely in recent months as United States government and industry officials meet steadily and intensively with Indian counterparts to press change in that country’s intellectual property policy toward greater protection and recognition of western IP rights. A particular area of concern has been in pharmaceuticals, as India is said to be the world’s top supplier of affordable generic versions of drugs under patent that otherwise would be out of reach for millions of poor patients. Several activists have raised alarm over a meeting this week of US IP industry representatives with top judges in India.