Patent Circle To Resume Blogging

Dear Readers,

Thank you for all your support and encouragement to our blog. We sincerely and heartily appreciate your comments and requests to reconsider our decision to stop blogging. After weighing requests made by our readers and well-wishers we have decided to put back this issue and temporarily resume back to blogging. We feel absolutely sorry for the unfortunate incident which could definitely be avoided. Though we have decided to put end to this but still would like to make our position clear in whole episode.

In last few months, particularly after internal circular issued by newly appointed Controller General of Patents, Mr. P.H. Kurian instructing officials to clear pending opposition decisions by the end of March 2009, the Indian Patent Office decided and published number of opposition decisions, both pre- and post-grant. Keeping our usual practice of tracking and bringing notice of patent office decisions and granted patents (though we later stopped reporting granted patents), we kept track of most of the opposition decisions. We particularly took note of notable pharma pre-grant opposition decisions that include (1) rejection of crystalline adefovir dipivoxil application (712/DEL/2002), (2) rejection of tenofovir intermediate application (963/DEL/2002), (3) rejection of erlotinib polymorph application (IN/PCT/2002/507/DEL), rejection of oseltamivir application (396/DEL/1996), (4) rejection of alpha crystalline imatinib application, (5) rejection of amlodipine and atorvastatin combination application (2571/DEL/1998), (and also noted couple of Controller decisions under section 15) (6) rejection of budesonide and formoterol aerosol HFA combination (2145/DELNP/2004) and (7) rejection of rosiglitazone ethane sulphonate salt (295/DELNP/2003). However, we only reported four decisions, namely, (1) alpha crystalline imatinib rejection, oseltamivir rejection, amlodipine-atorvastatin combination rejection, and (4) rosiglitazone salt rejection. We believed that information regarding rejections of these applications (and in sequence) was first made public by our blog.

After a couple of days of our posts on these rejected applications, SpicyIP in its two posts mentioned about these rejected applications (interestingly in same sequence). This gave us an impression that possibly SpicyIP has referred this sequential rejections information from our blog. So in good faith, we wrote a friendly comment to SpicyIP as reproduced below.

“Shamnad,

I would surely be happy if you could acknowledge

Patent Circle

for Caduet and Oseltamivir pregrant oppositions as wellas Glaxo’s rosiglitazone salt decision. Apart from our blog these info is not available anywhere.”

In our comment, we just made friendly request. Obviously it was put to SpicyIP to consider or not. Same day we saw an Anonymous comment being made to our comment --- raising issue of Patent Circle watermark and making personal remarks against us. It was shocking to us. We were not shocked about Anonymous comment but on SpicyIP decision not to moderate the comment and made it public. Immediately we made another comment replying to Anonymous issue of watermark and also requesting SpicyIP to remove the comment made by Anonymous. Following our second comment, Shamnad replied to let us know that his knowledge/information does not come from our blog and also give supporting evidences of DWS website (they also borrowed news from our blog only) and Shamnad personal contacts in law firms who keep him updated about Glaxo’s patents.

We believed Shamnad words (may be it was a big coincidence that same decisions mentioned in similar sequence) but we felt bad that still SpicyIP not removed Anonymous comment. We made yet another comment (third one) yet again requesting SpicyIP to remove Anonymous comment but again no action by SpicyIP. In response we decided to stop blogging and took off all our past posts from

Patent Circle

. Following that we received a partially friendly and partially unfriendly personal email from Shamnad which he later made public on SpicyIP. In his email, he admitted to have extremely sour opinion about us after parallel imports post and also accused us of sending flunkeys or masqueraded myself to post some very disparaging comments about his blog. To put this loud and clear --- someone cannot accuse us of an act which he himself is involved on his blog. We have all the guts and knowledge to comment in our own name. Also, we are hardcore patent practitioners not having time for such stupid gimmickry. One can make facts sound spicy but cannot change the reality. This is not the first time that SpicyIP has unprofessionally targeted us, earlier also SpicyIP targeted us in their post on parallel importation.

All said and done, finally that Anonymous comment is now removed by SpicyIP (that also considering Anonymous comment) after further commenting that the word “selfish” used by Anonymous is very mild. If SpicyIP had issue with acknowledgement then they should have restricted to that only. Why to make personal remarks? And if accidentally such comment got published then why SpicyIP not bothered to remove it after our couple of friendly requests? As far as reporting of patent office decisions are concerned let us consider that it is coincidence that SpicyIP also reported same decisions in same sequence. We hope we have made our stand clear to our readers in whole episode. Yes we do accept that decision to stop blogging was more emotional, irrational and not professional.

However, in whole incident one thing that really concerns us is comment made by SpicyIP that “friends of mine that deal with this case keep me appraised of all the developments re: this patent and other related patents of GSK.” The GSK rosiglitazone salt application was decided on January 06, 2009 and got published soon thereafter. We reported rosiglitazone salt rejection decision on April 16 and SpicyIP reported on April 18 (two days after our post). If SpicyIP had access of rosiglitazone decision through his friends then why SpicyIP posted rosiglitazone information after three months, and that also after our post? Secondly, this is quite concerning and unfortunate to know law firm/agent representing Glaxo’s patent applications in India are indulge in leaking and disclosing confidential information (even undecided matters) to outsiders.

Thank you,---

Patent Circle