Exclusive Interview with Mr V Rengasamy, Retd. Deputy Controller of Patents. Designs and Trademarks, Indian Patent Office

This section is an initiative by Origiin to introduce latest innovations and valuable expert opinions on protection, exploitation of Intellectual property by Intellectual Property experts to provide inspiration to the readers and also make our readers aware about the emerging technologies, products and innovations. This section also aims at bringing out the importance of patent protection and the way such innovations make difference in evolution of scientific progress in the country.

In this issue, we are extremely happy to publish interview of V Rengasamy, Retd. Deputy Controller of Patents, Designs and Trademarks.

Mr Rengaswamy examined the most talked about patent application of Novartis and raised objections based on section 3 (d) of Indian Patent Act. Though his decision was appealed at various forums including IPAB, High Court and Supreme Court, but Mr Rengaswamy’s observations & analysis on section 3 (d) was found to be valid by Supreme Court.

Mr Rengaswamy is post-graduate in Chemistry from Madurai-Kamaraj University. He started his career in 1977 at Central Drugs Laboratory, Govt. of India, Kolkata. Then he moved to National Test House, Govt. of India, Kolkata in 1982.Mr Rangaswamy joined the Indian Patent Office, Kolkata, as Examiner of Patents & Designs in 1983 and later in the year 1985 he got transferred to the Indian Patent Office, Chennai. Mr Rengaswamy has attended many seminars and training programmes such as Orientation Seminar on General Aspects of Industrial Proper at WIPO, Geneva, Switzerland; training course on Patent Examination at the Netherlands Patent Office,training course on Intellectual Property at Colombo; attended Europe Asia Patent Information Conference at Singapore;attended WIPO Regional Forum on ESTs at Colombo etc.

Below are his expert opinions on various issues of patents particularly in pharmaceutical area falling under section 3 (d) of Indian IP regime.

Origiin: Hello Sir. It is a great pleasure and honor for us to interact with you and publish your thoughts in our newsletter.

Mr Rengasamy: Thank you. I feel privileged to share my views and thoughts with your esteemed organization.

Origiin: During your tenure as Assistant Controller at Indian Patent Office, Novartis filed for patent application related to anti cancerous drug Glivec. You were the first one to reject the application on the ground of section 3 (d). Your decision was even upheld by Supreme Court on further appeal by Novartis. It was indeed a big news all over the world.  Would you like to share your experience regarding this case?

Mr Rengasamy: Surely, I would like to share my experience on this historic judgment by our Supreme Court. I had been fortunate to have handled this case right from day one. Also by chance, I happened to be the Controller for that case. Just to brief you on the case: Novartis claimed beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate salt, in their anti-cancer drug Glivec. This was a very fit case to be rejected on the ground of section 3 (d) of the Patents Act, 1970 as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005; because they could not prove any improvement in the therapeutic efficacy of the beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate salt over the known forms of imatinibmesylate salt. Moreover, the specification itself stated that beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate can be equally used where imatinib base is used. This proved that there was no inventive step in their invention and it is a clear case of ever-greening.

In my 35 years of career in this field, I felt so accomplished and honored, when our Supreme Court gave this historical judgment, upholding my decision.

Origiin: Do you think the perception that United States IP model is logical and needs to be changed? Recently when whole world was questioning Indian IP policy, many big players like Honeywell, Boeing and Abbot came forward and supported Indian IPR regime saying that Indian IP framework is very much adequate to protect IP with no known cases of IP violation. Is this a good sign to believe that perceived philosophy will change gradually?

Mr Rengasamy: I quite personally believe that this perceived philosophy will always change gradually.

Origiin: Indian Patent Act 2005 is in compliance with WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) but does not comply with WTO plus, which gives protection to even incremental innovation and this has been a prime demand from global Pharma companies. Is there any likelihood of this in near future?

Mr Rengasamy: It is a policy decision that government has to take. In my personal opinion, I don’t think that there is any possibility that our government will go for WTO plus in the near future.

Origiin: Although the number of patents filed in India has been increased significantly for past 3-4, years yet we are way behind compared to China and other counter parts. Is it because of lack of innovation or lack of awareness?

Mr Rengasamy: It is both. Most of the research scholars in India are reluctant to apply for a patent even when there is a patentable innovation. This can be gauged from the fact that only a few patent applications are filed by research scholars in India whereas their strength is in thousands. The story is the same in the case of big corporate too.

Origiin: Despite India being a potential growth market, foreign companies that are controlled by US trade lobby are speculative about coming to India owing to India’s strict IP laws. Is this an unfavorable condition towards Indian economy?

Mr Rengasamy: In my personal opinion, this is partly true. India is still a developing country with huge population. Health care for every Indian is still a distant dream, unlike other developed countries. Unless our government makes health care either free or affordable for every Indian, our government may not be in a position to embrace strict IP laws. This is a huge challenge for us. I personally foresee many years to go by, before we reach this situation. Having said that, I acknowledge that we are on the right track towards free/affordable health care for every individual, as we see from the trends of various State governments offering cheap health insurance to cover every citizen.

Origiin: What would be your message to Indian innovators?

Mr Rengasamy: Every Indian innovator should come forward to protect their innovation. Different government agencies should do their best to increase awareness about intellectual property, particularly patents, among research scholars.I would also like to add that IP Offices in India in collaboration with various Industry bodies reach out to various educational institutions as well as corporate, to spread awareness and encourage protecting their IP rights.

During my tenure at Patent Office, I personally had been part of many such activities, visiting various educational institutions as well as corporate.India has immense talent and the same has to be brought out and protected through IP. This is my message to all.

Origiin: Thank you so much Sir for your valuable thoughts.

Mr Rengasamy: Thanks for the opportunity. It has been a pleasure to be part of this interview.

Innovative Product of the Month

Gecko – a product to make your smart phone much smarter

In an attempt to feature one innovative product of the month, this time, we bring to our readers a unique product called ‘Gecko’, invented by a Bangalore based innovative start-up company, Connovate Technology Private Limited, founded by Mr Bahubali Shete. The product Gecko makes your smart phone much smarter. Gecko can add all smart features to the smart phones, such as, it can secure, trigger, remind, capture, track and even find the objects in case of lost.

The product is equipped with accelerometer which enables users to connect Gecko with smartphone via low energy Bluetooth. This, in return, helps Gecko to control gesture and triggers many activities. The device is packed with a TI CC2541 SoC, removable coin cell battery along with a buzzer and LED lights for sending alert signals. Gecko along with Gecko app can make life much easier as it creates endless possibilities by enabling number of applications like, by sending you an alarm if you have missed your daily dose of medicine, or letting you know if your pet or kid tries to sneak out of the house or to catch an intruder if the door opens without the owner’s knowledge. Gecko also comes with an extension port that helps to connect with other devices and trigger actions. This is useful for controlling music on phone such as changing volume or switching track by just a flick of your hand without taking out the phone from pocket. The hand-held Gecko is great to trigger the camera to snap a picture, shoot a video or even trigger multiple photos taken at set intervals. All this you can do by simply waving the arm with Gecko in your hand and it will trigger the picture. The device comes with four available gestures, including turning it to the left and right and shaking it once or twice. The best part of Gecko is that the Gecko app tell the owner where he has left his Gecko by remembering the last location where it went out of your phone’s range in case he has lost the Gecko itself.

So, this small and handy device with all of its state of the art technologies and which makes sure that you never lose anything in real world is surely an innovative one.

Interview

Exclusive Interview with Dr MS Swaminathan, the Father of Green Revolution

This section is an initiative by Origiin to introduce latest innovations and valuable expert opinions on protection, exploitation of Intellectual property by Intellectual Property experts to provide inspiration to the readers and also make our readers aware about the emerging technologies, products and innovations. This section also aims at bringing out the importance of patent protection and the way such innovations make difference in evolution of scientific progress in the country.

In this issue, we are extremely happy to publish interview of Dr M S Swaminathan, the Father of India’s Green Revolution.

Dr Swaminathan who holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, was the former director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research as well as of International Rice Research Institute. He also became president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1988. He has also served as Independent Chairman of the FAO Council, along with as the Chairman of the UN Science Advisory Committee set up in 1980 to take follow-up action on the Vienna Plan of Action. Dr Swaminathan, a plant geneticist by training with a Ph.D. from Cambridge University has established the National Bureau of Plant, Animal and Fish Genetic Resources of India and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, besides serving as the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Dr MS Swaminathan has got many prestigious awards and fellowships. He was awarded the First World Food Prize in October 1987 and has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as “the Father of Economic Ecology”, besides being one of three Indians to be included in TIME Magazine’s 1999 list of the “20 most influential Asian people of the 20th century”, along with Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. Life Time Achievement Award of All Indian Management Association,Ramon Magsaysay Award for community Leadership and many more he has been awarded. He has many books to his credit. An Evergreen Revolution, I Predict: A Century of Hope Towards an Era of Harmony with Nature and Freedom from Hunger, Gender Dimensions in Biodiversity Management, Agro biodiversity and Farmers’ Rights, Sustainable Agriculture: Towards Food Security are some of his notable books.

Below are expert opinions of the “Living Legend” himself for various issues in food security, agricultural policies and biodiversity.

Origiin: Hello Dr Swaminathan. It is a great pleasure and honor for us to have opportunity to interact with you and publish your thoughts in the form of this interview.

Dr Swaminathan : Thank you and my best wishes are with Origiin.

Origiin: The world look upon to you as the “the Father of Economic Ecology” and refers you more popularly as the “Leader of Green Revolution”. You have been extensively associated with sustainable agriculture and food security. Please let us know how has your journey been so far in projecting food crisis to the world?

Dr Swaminathan: There is much greater understanding of the basic fact that where hunger rules, peace cannot prevail.  Also my message that the future belongs to nations with grains and not guns is now making an impact worldwide.  We are today much better prepared to face famines and food crisis than we were at the time of the great Bengal famine of 1942-43.

I give below an extract from my speech at the Indian Science Congress held at Varanasi on January 3, 1968.

“Exploitative agriculture offers great dangers if carried out with only an immediate profit or production motive. The emerging exploitative farming community in India should become aware of this. Intensive cultivation of land without conservation of soil fertility and soil structure would lead, ultimately, to the springing up of deserts. Irrigation without arrangements for drainage would result in soils getting alkaline or saline. Indiscriminate use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides could cause adverse changes in biological balance as well as lead to an increase in the incidence of cancer and other diseases, through the toxic residues present in the grains or other edible parts. Unscientific tapping of underground water will lead to the rapid exhaustion of this wonderful capital resource left to us through ages of natural farming. The rapid replacement of numerous locally adapted varieties with one or two high-yielding strains in large contiguous areas would result in the spread of serious diseases capable of wiping out entire crops, as happened prior to the Irish potato famine of 1854 and the Bengal rice famine in 1942. Therefore the initiation of exploitative agriculture without a proper understanding of the various consequences of every one of the changes introduced into traditional agriculture, and without first building up a proper scientific and training base to sustain it, may only lead us, in the long run, into an era of agricultural disaster rather than one of agricultural prosperity.”

The above is the basis of the concept of the ever-green revolution viz increases in productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm.

Origiin: Can you please throw us some light on the role of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) towards development of Indian Agriculture and its policies on patent issues, plant variety protection, in situ and ex situ conservation, and the dissemination of information on CGIAR genetic resources research.

Dr Swaminathan : CGIAR has been playing a major role in genetic resources conservation and plant variety protection through Biodiversity International. I played an important role in setting up the International Board of Plant Genetic Resources in 1972-74, an organization now known as Biodiversity International. As Chairman of the CGIAR Genetic Resources Policy Committee for over 10 years, I helped to develop procedures for defensive patenting of important scientific material, so that they are always available for public good and not for private profit.

Origiin: Where does India stand in terms of Plant Variety Protection and Farmer’s right compared to her other counter parts? Are Indian farmers and breeders much aware of this privilege and Biodiversity Act?  

Dr Swaminathan : India is the only country in the world which has an integrated legislation on breeders’ and farmers’ rights.  The Act is known as Plant Variety Protection and Farmers’ Rights Act. I prepared the first draft of this integrated Act. In my view, farmers and breeders are allies in the struggle for food security. Therefore their rights should be mutually reinforcing and not antagonistic. Also we should rename UPOV as the International Union for the Protection of Breeders’ and Farmers’ Rights.

Origiin: Indian Cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge is counted as one of the world’s top ten hot spots of biodiversity. But there has been a substantial amount of IP infringement and attack on national biodiversity due to various external and internal instances. How strong is Indian Biodiversity Act to protect local flora and fauna?

Dr Swaminathan: India has a rich heritage in biodiversity based on culture, culinary habits and medicinal applications.  The Indian Biodiversity Act in whose formulation also I played a major role is very strong in the areas of conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits.

Origiin: Agricultural lands are being snatched away by large scale industries, real estate and infrastructure development leaving a little space for cultivation. How do we cope up with this problem?

Dr Swaminathan : At the moment, land is becoming a very expensive commodity.  Therefore there is tendency for land grab. We have dealt with this in detail in the report of the High Level Panel of Experts to the Committee on Food Security (of which I was Chairman until recently). We have shown that converting prime farm land for fuel production may lead to food shortages, particularly in an era of climate change.

Origiin: Is there acute shortage of investment in agriculture compared to other sectors in the country?

Dr Swaminathan : Investment in agriculture is rather low.  We need more investments particularly in the areas of rural communications, grain storage, soil health care and enhancement and water conservation and sustainable use.

Origiin: Sir, you had supported the government’s decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. What steps should state government take in order to safeguard the interest of farmers?

Dr Swaminathan : I did not support FDI in Retail except where it is going to help improve rural infrastructure in post harvest technology.  FDI should be a win-win both for rural families and for the commercial firm.  It should be based on a participatory process with emphasis on the livelihood security of the poor and on ethical behavior.

Origiin: What is your take on Genetically Modified Food? Recently America introduced the bill “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act” in order to prevent maximum level of accidental GMO presence.

Dr Swaminathan : Genetic modification is a very important tool in all the sectors like medicine, industry and environment. Bio-remediation is important to control pollution.  However in the case of food biotechnology, there is need for caution. We need an effective regulatory mechanism in the areas of biotechnology and bio safety which can help to measure risks and benefits objectively and in a transparent manner.

Origiin: Do we see a second green revolution in India in near future?

Dr Swaminathan : I do not believe in a second green revolution.  What I would like to see is an ever-green revolution which leads to improvement in productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm.  We must mainstream ecology in technology development and dissemination.

 Origiin: Thank you so much Sir, for your valuable inputs.

Innovative product of the month

nonClonableID™ technology

To combat the global threat of counterfeiting of goods from every sectors like Pharma, Automotive, Agricultural, Defence, Luxury goods etc, Bicare nciD technology has come up with a unique system that implements brand security through nonClonableID™  technology. The said technology comprises of a unique fingerprint that can be seamlessly integrated with products, ID cards and documents to provide a totally secure and reliable identification and authentication solution. The product employs a unique materials-based fingerprint that are prohibitively difficult to copy. These tamper-evident fingerprints are irreproducible and cannot be duplicated even by Bilcare.The core technology used in the product relates to a randomly distributed micro and nano particles that generate the machine readable fingerprints that enable an object for real time authentication through hand held portable device. These fingerprints can be integrated with overt systems like barcodes/ RFID tags etc. and within any existing software/hardware infrastructure. Subsequently the scanning device scans the fingerprint and communicates the encrypted information with a secure server through mobility platforms such as GPRS, 3G or Broadband. By implementing this technology Bilcare offers a foolproof end-to-end solution to combat this growing problem of counterfeited goods.

Currently the technology is deployed in many sectors and ensures enhanced brand recognition in the market place, brand loyalty from patients and ensures proper dispensation of medication and compliance with medication regimen. For Agrochemicals,  it increases visibility across the supply chain whereby consignments can be tracked down to individual Stock Keeping Units. It also offers an integrated authentication and inventory system for the protection of heritage assets. For government sectors, the technology is offering solution to different areas like in document security, security forces duty management, property registration, currency registration etc.

With such innovation oriented features the nonClonableID™ technology surely deserves accolades and proves to be a great innovative product.

Bilcare Technology, recently received the Nation IP Award 2014 by Indian Patent Office under the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, on 26th day of April 2014,the day which is recognised as International IP Day.

Good Read

Name of the Book:“Jugaad Innovation- A Frugal and Flexible Approach to Innovation for the 21st Century”

Author: Navi Radjou, Simone Ahuja, Jaideep Prabhu

About the book: As the name suggests the book “Jugaad Innovation” published by Random House India primarily focus on new approach to frugal and flexible innovation. The authors emphasis that companies which adopt jugaad innovation stand the best chance to succeed in hypercompetitive world. Whilst grassroots entrepreneurs across India have been the traditional practitioners of jugaad, the authors argue that Indian companies must also adopt the jugaad principles to innovate frugally and flexibly in today’s fast-paced economy. The book shares many untold stories of resourceful jugaad entrepreneurs and innovations across India and how to bring the jugaadmindset and practices to the corporate organizations.

About the author: Simone Ahuja, JaideepPrabhu and NaviRadjou bring a varied and rich set of personal and professional experiences to bear on this project, including academic, consulting, business and media acumen.

NaviRadjou, an innovation and leadership strategist based in Silicon Valley is a Fellow at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and a World Economic Forum faculty member. Most recently, Navi served as the Exec Director of the Centre for India & Global Business at Cambridge Judge Business School.Navi has consulted with leading organizations―including Ernst & Young, GM, Hitachi, IBM, Infosys, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, SAP, TCS, and Wipro. He has been named by BusinessWeek as an ‘expert in corporate innovation’.

JaideepPrabhu is the first Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business and Enterprise and Director of the Centre for India & Global Business at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.With specific research interests in marketing, innovation, strategy and international business, he studies various cross-national issues concerning radical innovations in sectors such as e-commerce, banking, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.His work has been published in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing and has been profiled on BBC News 24, The New York Times, MIT Sloan Management Review, BusinessWeek, and The Economist amongst others.

Dr Simone Ahuja is the founder and principal of Blood Orange, a marketing and strategy consultancy with expertise in innovation and emerging markets.  The company creates related multimedia products including video to help clients share knowledge quickly and effectively.  Blood Orange uses agile and cost efficient production processes built upon principles learned while working in India, including jugaad.Simone has served as an advisor to the Centre for India & Global Business, University of Cambridge and an Associate Fellow for the Asia Society, NYC.

New Book Launched

Name of the Book: “All you want to know about PATENTS”

On the occasion of International IP day on 26^th April, Origiin IP Solution LLP Bangalore, has launched a book named “All you want to know about PATENTS”. The book which is a compilation of various articles published from Origiin IP Solution aims to provide a clear understanding of patents and highly relevant matters of patent. This book emphasis on how IP protection is critical in fostering innovation. It covers some of the simple yet relevant topics like importance of patent search, compulsory licence, how to minimize patent infringement, where to file your patent etc.The book is designed to be accessible and readable for IP professionals in the industry as well as to students who would like to explore the area IP. We hope everyone would enjoy the reading and reap the benefit out of it.

Interesting Patent of the month

Title: Toe shoe

Publication number:       US6895694 B2

Publication type:            Grant

Application number:       US 10/299,554

Publication date:            May 24, 2005

Filing date:                     Nov 19, 2002

Inventors:                     William S. Nye

ABSTRACT: A toe shoe capable of providing support to a ballet dancer’s foot while dancing en pointe. The toe shoe preferably includes a toe box in the toe of the toe shoe, an upper, and an outer sole. Support structure within the toe shoe includes a longitudinal support member, a foot encirculating tubular sleeve, and/or a toe ridge. In a first preferred embodiment, the support structure includes the longitudinal support member, foot encirculating tubular sleeve, and toe ridge. In a second preferred embodiment, the support structure includes the longitudinal support member and foot encirculating tubular sleeve. In a third preferred embodiment, the support structure is the longitudinal support member and toe ridge.

News from Indian Patent Office

Indian Patent Office JPO/IPR Training Program for Fiscal 2014

The office of Controller General of Patent, Design, Trade Mark and Geographical Design has issued a public notice whereby applications are invited for JPO/IPR Training Program for Fiscal 2014. Realising the importance of IP protection and its key role in promoting foreign investment and technology transfer for boosting nation’s industrial development, The Japan Patent Office has been providing support since 1996 for human resource education in order to reinforce the IP protection in developing countries. The Training programme is funded by the JPO, while its operation is entrusted to JIPII & HIDA.

For more details on can refer to the following website; http://www.training-jpo.go.jp/en/

GI Tags for Indian Products 

The celebration of International IP Day on 26^th of April has brought immense joy as the Indian current list of Geographical Indication has got few new additions to it.

The proud owners of latest GI tags are the world famous juicy orange of Nagpur, the famous tribal Warli Art, the unique Dharmavaram saris with brocaded gold patterns, Kerala’s Kaipad rice, the famous Moradabad metal craft and glass work from Utter Pradesh, the Kanpur Saddelary, Saharanpur wood craft, the Kangra paintings from Himachal Pradesh, the Thewa Art work from Rajasthan and the three diversified knit from Manipur namely- ShapheeLanphee, WangkheiPhee, and MoirangPhee.

The recognition of GI status has bought bounty cheers and happiness to the farmers and cultivators of Nagpur Mandarin who usually suffer from poor irrigation facility and insufficient exposure to proper marketing facility. The GI status would give them the privilege to sell their oranges in both domestic and international markets with a GI tag. This would usher value to their cultivated orange which they would be selling with a distinctive logo bearing the picture of white orange in an orange background. The formal application for GI tag of Nagpur Orange had come from Agriculture Research Council (ARC) ofPanjabraoDeshmukhKrishiVidyapeeth (PDKV), Akola, in 2011. So the entire scientific community are welcoming the news with whole heartedly.

In India the first GI was granted to Darjeeling Tea in 2003, and later on many subsequent entries were made to the list. Currently the GI list of India includes 191 products from across the country.