Colgate-Palmolive's Attempt of Patenting Toothpaste Formula

By creating a robust intellectual property structure, a high-quality job future can be secured and sustained. Therefore, promotion to innovation/invention requires adequate protection. The multinational giant Colgate- Palmolive can be seen caught up into legal dispute where accusation is over the company for having purloined an archaic formula to have its roots to ancient times, and also being used by Indians for generations. India foiled an attempt by consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive to patent a mouthwash formula containing herb extract by citing ancient texts that show it was traditionally used in ancient medicinal practices. Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR-TKDL) had submitted proof in the form of references from ancient books, which said the herb and its extracts in Indian systems of medicine. The proactivness of Indian community to safeguard its traditional knowledge obstructed the profit-making strategy of the company.

Product Patent in Pharmaceuticals and Compulsory Licensing

The issue of patenting is a contentious issue. Different stakeholders hold opposite views. The pharmaceutical giants demand for stricter and longer Intellectual Property Protection for the promotion of research and development. They contend IP protection to be the “bedrock of their business”. While the health activists and governments of developing nations want greater flexibility in intellectual property protection and shorter patent period protection. Article 31 of the TRIPs agreement provides certain flexibilities to cater to certain situations. The countries are free to determine the grounds to issue provisions like compulsory licensing. But despite the provisions very few countries have used them. Pharmaceuticals giants with the backing of developed countries always try to denounce the practice of compulsory licensing with economic and political pressure. This chapter explains the concept and significance of Intellectual Property with reference to Pharmaceuticals. It also traces the little history of TRIPs agreement and explains the concept of Compulsory Licensing with trends in its use. It also discusses the few instances where compulsory License has been issued in different countries and tries to find the reasons of non issuance of Compulsory License.

Compulsory Licensing of Patents in India

Compulsory licensing is defined generally as the granting of a license by a government to use a patent without the patent-holder's permission. As applied to international intellectual property rights, it allows governments to grant licenses for patent use in situations where the patent-holder is either not using the patent within the country or is not using it adequately. Most of the drugs for which compulsory licenses have been granted in India are used for treatment of life-threatening diseases. The pharmaceutical companies however object on the ground of violation of their patent rights. This chapter discusses the provisions for compulsory licensing in TRIPs and the India patent system.

Exclusions on Patentability

Exclusion of patentability finds its justification in philanthropy and public welfare. Time and again this approach has been endorsed and upheld by the eminent jurists. However, the “US Supreme Court in the case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty” endorsed a controversial view holding that “anything under the sun made by man” is patentable, but the situation was however rectified subsequently in “Diamond v. Dier.” The Boards have gone a step forward in being very selective while granting patents excluding “Plant and Animal varieties” and also other immoral procedures, for example the process of cloning human beings etc. from the scope of patentability. The chapter will take up the study relating to the provisions of exclusions in patentability in international and national regime. The chapter will further highlight the emerging grey areas on the exclusions of patentability.

Parallel Import in India

People often say that the world is not only “Black and White” but there are many other shades which pose difficult question. Parallel import, which is also known as “Grey area” is one of them. Parallel imports are goods produced genuinely under protection of a trademark, patent, or copyright, placed in one market, and then imported into another market without the approval of the Intellectual Property Right holder. Through this chapter, the Author(s) have tried to give an insight on parallel imports by discussing all possible national and international issues related to it. Some principal concepts like exhaustion, regional and global have acquired considerable space in the chapter. A brief contemporary view on parallel import has also been taken by the author(s). The contradictory views; one which favours the Parallel imports by endorsing that it enhances the local competition; and another which condemns parallel imports are covered in the later part of the chapter.

Impact of National and International Regulations on Indian Generic Drugs Industry

This article looks at evolution of the intellectual property right laws in India with regard to pharmaceutical drugs, and their impact on the pharmaceutical industry in India. The amendments to Indian Patents Act 1970 as a result of India's obligations towards the TRIPS agreement while balancing the need to safeguard the interests of its population and domestic industry have also been looked at. International laws and treaties that impact the Indian industry have been analysed.

Medical Patents and Impact on Availability and Affordability of Essential Medicines in India

This paper discusses the Pharmaceutical patents in India and its effects. The definition of patents and its aspects, registration patent bodies, and the time period aspects are studied. The need of patents in the pharmaceutical industry is discussed in detail with cases. Regulatory bodies and their relevance as the majority of revenue for Indian pharmaceutical companies are studied. The intent of the government is to control the prices of a few drugs and to make basic drugs affordable to the common public.

An Interface Between Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Traditional knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), both are supplementary and complementary to each other. The aim of traditional knowledge is to promote community interest and protect indigenous rights against bio-piracy and bio-prospecting. On the other hand, IPR guarantees monopoly of a product or service to an organization and empowers it to profit from it. This article studies the present Indian IPR system to understand whether it is capable to handle traditional knowledge or should it be amended to incorporate a separate law to protect traditional knowledge. Besides, a large-scale commercialization and unauthorized use of traditional knowledge has been observed, which gives rise to the need to screen and protect it. This article also takes into consideration the Bonn guidelines and Indian Biodiversity Act 2002 and the issues related to traditional knowledge, and finds that the current issues cannot be resolved by the existing IPR regime.

Influence of Patent Law on Price of Medicines

There is a great deal of disparity between the availability and affordability of medicines in least developed, developing and developed nations. Patents are one of the major reasons of this difference. The pharmaceutical industry spends over US$10 billion to fund some 90% of 40,000-80,000 randomised controlled trails being conducted across the world at any given time. A United Nations AIDS study reported that the number of people in poor countries who have access to anti-retroviral medicines remains extremely low; only 30,000 received medication in 2002, out of an estimated 5 million in need. The proposed chapter aims to study effect of patent law on pricing of medicines. The legal and regulatory policies such as TRIPs jointly introduced by various nations to regulate the pricing of patented products will be elaborated in this chapter. Apart from national and international policies, the behaviour of pharmaceutical companies also affect price of patented products. The chapter will also cover various techniques pharmaceutical industry adopt to control price of patented products such as proliferation of me-too drugs, product reformulation, prolonging patent rights, biasing research and large promotional expenditures.

Various Tools Available to Access Patent Information in India

The 21st century has seen the emergence of global economy where world has moved from information to knowledge. Innovation and Creativity indeed has become the necessity for organizations to gain competitive advantage. The sustenance of this competitive advantage requires the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) which an individual or an organization possesses. In order to protect their Intellectual Property, Innovators needs to apply for patents. A patent which is an exclusive right granted for an invention needs to be novel. Hence, one of the important steps in patent filing process is “searching”, which is very much required to see whether the concept or product has been already patented and publicly made available before claiming the originality. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application. This information is available from both free and fee-based sources across globe. This chapter attempts to presents different databases and tools available in India for Patent Search.