Celebrating 20 Years of IP Excellence

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Patent Exhaustion in India

  First Publication Date: 7th October 2010   A patent grants the Patent holder exclusive rights to prevent others from making, using, selling, offering for sale in the territory of patent grant or importing an invention into the territory of patent grant. Once an unrestricted sale of the patented invention is made, the rights of the patent holder with respect to the product are exhausted and this is called as the Doctrine of Exhaustion or First Sale Doctrine. As per the Doctrine of…

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Musli

Indian Herbal Viagra Receives Patent Grant

First Publication Date: 5th October 2010. Kunnath Pharmaceuticals, Kerala recently received a patent for their product, Musli Power Xtra, an Indian herbal aphrodisiac for men and women. Musli Power Xtra popularly known as the ‘Indian Herbal Viagra’ is  reportedly India’s first ayurvedic herbal formulation to receive a patent for the treatment of sexual dysfunction. The herbs and ingredients which form part of the formulation includes the following: Chlorophylum borivillianum (Safed Musli), Mucuna purita, Withania somnifera, Moringa oleifera, Embilica officinalis, Tribulus…

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The featured image shows the word patent written in blue on a white background. The post is about the latest Patent updates. To know more, please click here.

Patentability of scientific principles and natural relationships in the light of Laboratory Corp. v Metabolite

First Publication Date: 2nd October 2010 Introduction The scope of patentable subject matter in USA can be considered to be the broadest in the world. The US patent system has been responding to new technologies faster than that of any other country. The US was the first to open its gates to patentability in fields such as Biotechnology, Information Technology or Business Methods. The adaptive and flexible nature of the patent regime can be attributed to the open language used under section…

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Bilski’s Invention Falls, Business Methods Survive

First Publication Date: 29th June 2010 The much awaited Bilski decision has been pronounced by the US Supreme Court (Bilski v. Kappos). This closely watched and highly discussed case revolves around patentability of Bilski's hedging of risks business method invention. From the day when the patent examiner rejected Bilski's claims calling them 'mere manipulation of an abstract idea' the controversy has given rise to a lot of potent questions including the likes of patentability of software and business methods and restrictions…

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This image depicts a heard of cows. This post discusses the patents that have been filed for the composition of cow urine and its uses. Click on the image to read the full post.

Another Patent Granted Over Medicinal Value of Cow’s Urine

First Publication Date: 24th June 2010.   A patent was granted to CSIR with respect to a composition useful for protecting and/or repairing DNA from oxidative damages. The value of cow's urine has been emphasized in ancient Indian texts including the rig veda. Cow's urine is known to not only have medicinal value but is also used to purify ayurvedic medicines. The patent granted to CSIR claims a composition for preventing and repairing damage to DNA due to oxidation. The patent…

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IP in Everyday Life – Godrej Tribolt

First Publication Date: 27th May 2010   I noticed this Godrej Tribolt lock (which can be seen below)     carrying prominent notices about the Intellectual Property related to it (seen below)   The above notice is an example of a good patent notice, in that it complies with S.111(1) of the Indian Patent Act, 1970, which reads as In a suit for infringement of a patent, damages or an account of profits shall not be granted against the defendant who proves that at the date of the…

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Genetic Patentability  x

Natural or Man Made

This post was first published on April 4, 2010.   This is in furtherance of Mrs. Vinita Radhakrishnan's post regarding the US District Court decision on BRCA gene patents. Under the US Patent Law, anything that exists in nature is not patentable subject matter. This is also referred to as 'Product of Nature Doctrine'. The test for determining whether something exists in nature or not as laid down in Chakrabarty's case is whether a hand of man is involved in creating…

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Something More About Swiss Type Claims

This post was first published on February 25, 2010.   On reading Siddharth’s post on the 19th February decision (G02/08) from the Enlarged Board of Appeal regarding the Swiss type claims, I got motivated to write something about the Swiss type claims and the reason for its birth and death. Like in India, Method of Treatment and Method of diagnosis (in vivo) has always been non patentable subject matter in Europe (Article 52(4)). Furthermore, before the concept of Absolute Novelty was introduced by…

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Swiss Claims are History!

  This post was first published on February 24, 2010.   If the 19th February decision (G02/08) from the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) at the EPO is to be simplistically interpreted, “Swiss” Type claims are indeed history. As most of our readers must be aware of the nature of a “Swiss” type of claim language. A “Swiss” type claim is essentially used to cover the so called Second, Third and Subsequent uses/medical indications of a known substance or composition. Taking our readers a…

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The image depicts a sign of 'at your own risk' in a yellow diamond.

Model to Combat Patent Risks in Open Source Software

This post was first published on May 10, 2010. Professors at University of California Berkeley are proposing a defensive licensing scheme to fight patent risks in development and use of open source software. In one of my earlier posts, I wrote about the risk of patent infringement with respect to use of open source software and steps to mitigate the same. The model being proposed by Professor Jason Schultz and Professor Jennifer Urban may play an important role in minimizing patent…

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