Patent Circle

Monday, December 12, 2011

India IP & Innovation Forum

Managing IP and Patent Circle gladly invite you to the inaugural India IP & Innovation Forum on February 28, 2012 in New Delhi. The forum is designed to provide the best platform for IP counsel, their advisers and leading officials to meet and debate the latest legal issues and practical strategies for IP owners in India, from patent prosecution to portfolio management strategies. Here are the complete details.

India IP & Innovation Forum

www.managingip.com/IndiaIP2012

Regency Hyatt Hotel, New Delhi

February 28, 2012

Easy ways to register

Visit www.managingip.com/IndiaIP2012

Email mfabri@euromoneyplc.com

Call +852 2842 6995

Agenda topics:

Patent prosecution tips
Defending your copy right
US focus – recent patent reform and implications for Indian IP owners
The Indian Patent Act and software patentability
Litigation in life sciences – lessons learnt from recent cases
Trade mark protection in India
Portfolio management strategies

Speakers include:

Viswanathan Seshan, head of IP&S India, Philips Electronics India
Keshav Dhakad, director, IPR & license compliance, Microsoft India
Anshuman Sharma, country general & legal head, Novartis
R Parthasarathy, partner, Lakshmi Kumaran & Sridharan
Rajiv Chauhan, VP and general counsel, Pernod Ricard
Aravind Chinchure, assistant vice president, Reliance Industries Ltd
V Lakshmi Kumaran, managing partner, Lakshmi Kumaran & Sridharan

For more information about the agenda, please see the brochure here: http://www.managingip.com/pdfs/IndiaIP.pdf

Don’t forget that the forum is free for IP counsel. Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis, register today to secure yours.

Advisers, consultants or private practitioners can SAVE US$200 by registering before December 23, 2011.

We look forward to meeting you in February.

Kind regards,

James Nurton

Managing editor

www.mangingip.com

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Compulsory licensing: some thoughts!

For some time now, we have been reporting on compulsory licensing case filed by Natco Pharma with respect to IN215758 for anti-cancer drug Nexavar marketed by Bayer. Natco mainly relied upon on the issues of (1) excessive pricing, (2) non-working of patent, (3) limited circulation of patented product, and (4) public requirements not reasonably satisfied. However, Natco provided no factual evidence/data to support most of its argument but merely relied on secondary sources that suggested statistical data about cases and deaths reported in India for Hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer) and renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer), particularly in the year 2008.

In this post, we are not to discuss the merit of compulsory licensing case made by Natco but will discuss whether mere presumptive data or mere statistical data taken from secondary sources are sufficient to make prima facie case for compulsory license.

In its application for compulsory licensing, Natco categorically highlighted that –

18043 reported cases of death in India due to Hepatocellular carcinoma (numbers taken from secondary sources).
5733 reported cases of death in India due to kidney cancer (numbers taken from secondary sources).
Over 24000 patients die in India every year due to different types and forms of renal cell carcinoma and hepatic cell carcinoma (numbers seem to be presumptive based on Natco’s business presence in the treatment of cancer for over 20 years).

None of the above statistical data was supported by any factual data collected from the field study/research. In India, it is more than a customary practice that drugs are prescribed by practicing doctors and that also prescribed using brand names (unlike US or Europe where drugs are prescribed using generic names). Also, in many cases, doctors have privilege to choose from various choices of prescription drugs depending on patient’s affordability quotient. For example, a doctor while prescribing medication for a diabetic patient in India does consider financial affordability of a patient and accordingly prescribe a drug to the patient. Not all patients in India are prescribed comparative expensive Vildagliptin for treating diabetes, most doctors prefer and still continue to prescribe cheaper alternatives like metformin and glipizide.

Now let us suppose that a generic company files an application for compulsory license for Vildagliptin by mere highlighting alarming number of diabetic patients in India or high pricing of Vildagliptin, does that mean that all diabetic patients are prescribed and/or in need of Vildagliptin? Whether high pricing of Vildagliptin prevent diabetic patients from treatment of diabetes or from taking any cheaper alternatives?

In short, mere presumptive or statistical data lacking factual evidence cannot be relied to make a prima facie case for compulsory license. Now coming back to Nexavar, it is not that all patients suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma and renal cell carcinoma go for drug medication. In many cases, patients are treated with surgery and radiotherapy. A mere presumptive or statistical data cannot differentiate the numbers where patients have undergone or likely to undergo for surgery/radiotherapy and patients are in need of or being prescribed Nexavar.

The Controller of Patents probably must take into account some of these facets before examining the case of compulsory license or else it would be no surprise that the compulsory license may often be misused by providing presumptive and possibly deceiving numbers.

Friday, December 09, 2011

FICCI launches Online Certificate Course on IP

We are lately being informed that FICCI IPR Division has launched an Online Certificate Course on Intellectual Property (IP) with an objective to create IP awareness as well as to develop a pool of professionals in the area of IPR. The Course is designed for and can be pursued by the students from law, science and related disciplines, lawyers, patent agents, professionals from industry fields, such as electrical, computer, chemical, mechanical, R&D and other scientific domains, enforcement personnel, etc.

We are further informed that the study material is industry oriented and has been prepared by well known experts from law firms and academic institutions. The course further have interactive features like forum, weekly updates on IPR to registrants and one day interactive session with IP experts to address doubts/issues of participants.

The course is likely to offer a wide exposure to the IP areas including patents, trademarks, copyright, designs etc. covering various aspects of prosecution, enforcement, appeals, remedies, best strategies and practices, case studies and so on. The course would be conducted twice a year in the months of January- March and July-September.

The registration for January 2012 is already in progress and interested applicants may register their seats by submitting details here.