SpicyIP Weekly Review ( 17th January – 23rd January)

Our SpicyIP Highlight of the Week was definitely Balaji’s post breaking the news of the IPO’s rejection of Lee Pharma’s application for a Compulsory License against AstraZeneca’s patent for the anti-diabetic drug Saxagliptin (see here). He notes that the rejection signals the end of the third compulsory license application in India, after Natco v. Bayer and BDR v. BMS. He goes on to discuss the details of the order in his next post.

Next, Shruthi announced the commencement of the registrations for FICCI’s two IPR courses- Online Certificate Course on Competition Law & Intellectual Property Rights (IPComp) and Online Certificate Course on Intellectual Property Rights (IP). Registrations for both the courses close on 15^th February, 2016

Shruthi then put up another post announcing the opening of registrations for the ITechLaw India Conference on “How Technology is Changing the Digital Life, Lifestyle Business and the Underworld”, scheduled to be held in Bangalore from January 27-29, 2016.  Register soon – SpicyIP readers get a special discounted ‘Member / Affiliate’ registration fee!

In our next post for the week, Shruthi announced the opening of applications for two courses organised by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) having strong IPR components – Certificate Course in Competition Law (CCCL) and Advanced Professional Course (APC) in Competition Law & Market Regulation. As an added perk, both courses have an optional International Immersion Programme scheduled in July 2016.

Finally, Balaji, in a follow up to his post here, explored the nuances of the IPO’s order rejecting LeePharma’s Compulsory License application against AstraZeneca’s patent for Saxagliptin (Swaraj and Balaji had earlier considered the merits of LeePharma’s application here, and concluded that its success remained largely improbable). He noted that the IPO’s reasons for rejecting the application remained the same as those mentioned in the prima facie notification it had earlier issued, rejecting the application.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

1. Spotify sued by musician for copyright infringement (again)
2. Nike files patent infringement suit against Sketchers’ use of Nike’s patented Flyknit designs on its shoes
3. Apple wins smartphone patent battle against Samsung
4. Nestle to appeal a London High Court’s rejection of its application to trademark the shape of its four fingered Kit-Kat
5. Metallica sends Canadian Tribute Band a cease-and-desist-letter