Roche will not pursue an Indian patent for its breast cancer drug Herceptin. Currently, no approved biosimilars of Herceptin are available in India, though two Indian firms are developing generic equivalents. Roche cited India's "harsh" patent laws as the reason for not pursuing the patent, though Herceptin will remain on sale in India until global patents expire in 2019. More than a million Indian women suffer from the type of breast cancer Herceptin treats, but less than 10% can afford it due to the high price of over Rs. 6-8 lakhs per dose. Cancer patient advocacy groups have challenged the patent, arguing the price is excessive for India.

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India has experienced enormous economic growth over the past two decades due to the
economic reforms that opened India‟s markets to global investors. During this time,
India has worked hard to balance the rights of patent holders and meet the needs of its
socio-economically backward population. But from time to time; India has faced severe
criticism from other nations like US for not abiding the patent laws. The Supreme Court
ruling of April denying US multinational Novartis‟ request to retain the patent on a
cancer drug was disliked by America‟s corporate and they alleged India as a Nation
extremely hostile towards patent laws. Indian ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao,
thus intervened in the matter and assured US that this is hardly evidence of a climate
hostile to either innovation or US-based companies.
Indian Patent Office issued more than 4000 patents from 2005 to 2011 for
pharmaceutical inventions. Of those granted, 20-30% was awarded to US-based
companies each year.
Citing this case, she explained that Indian court ruling only reinforced the premium that
should be placed on actually novel patents, strengthening, not weakening, the sanctity
of patent laws. Besides this, in past six decades, India has issued one compulsory license
on a compound pharmaceutical not to weaken but only strengthen the patent laws.
To further assert India‟s commitment to enhance India-US strategic partnership as they
cooperate on health care, disease control and prevention, she added that Indian
Intellectual property laws passed over past forty years have extensively protected
patents and trademarks. The amendments to Patents Act of 1970 in 1999, 2002 and
2005, is exemplary in the developing world. Also, India is committed to comply with
international treaties such as the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
agreement of the World Trade Organization.
S A G A C I O U S
U P D A T E S
Sagacious Welcomes New
Batch of 1o Techn0-Legal
Patent Analysts In Its
Team
Sagacious Research recently
hired 10 Patent Analysts in
multiple domains. These
analysts come from renowned
colleges like BITs- Pilani,
National Institute of Technology,
IIIT & IP-University. With this,
Sagacious Research is now
having a team of over 70 techno-
legal experts divided in multiple
teams.
India’s Assurance to US
– Patent Laws Are
Complied
“The Patents Act of 1970,
amended in 1999, 2002 and 2005,
is considered a model in the
developing world. Critics who say
otherwise are simply wrong.”-
Nirupama Rao
Vol- 1, Date: 23rd August, 2013
G E N E R A L N E W S
Follow Us at:
We Believe in Building
Trust…

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The data sourced from the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, India reveals that on August 13, 2013, 1,
58,449 patent applications, where requests for examination have been filed, are pending in India. Delhi has maximum number (57,385) of
pending patent applications and is closely followed by Chennai (52,891), Kolkata (29,223) and Mumbai (18,950).
Government has blamed the shortage of patent examiners and substantive increase in filing of patent applications in India for this dismal
scenario. Government also claims that it has completed the process of selection of 248 patent examiners. But, the fact is that its close
competitor China has recently updated its patent system while India has not taken any concrete move in this direction.
It is a fact that the grant of patents is a quasi-judicial process and is inherently time-consuming as it involves execution of a process
including several steps such as filing of requests for examination, examination of the application, publication of the application, and
disposal of filed pre-grant oppositions. Already, India has been constantly facing severe criticism from the side of US Pharmaceutical
multinationals and US Govt. for having harsh patent laws and not working towards creating a favorable IP environment. So, if urgent
counter-measures are not taken, it will adversely impact the image of Indian patent system on the global scale.
U.S. consumer electronics giant filed 259 invention patent applications and 132 design patent applications outshining all other foreign
countries. Samsung, its most powerful competitor stands second in terms of design patent applications and ranks 16th among foreign
applicants in the invention patent category.
Earlier Apple did not file many patents in Taiwan. But taking heed of the mounting competition in the smartphone market in recent
past, Apple made a conscious decision to follow the aggressive approach of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. and began
seeking more protection for its Intellectual Property. In a bid to outshine its competitors like HTC and Samsung, Apple filed 65 times
more design patent applications and almost equal number of invention patent applications in 2013. In contrast, only 124 invention
patent applications and 32 design patent applications were filed by HTC while Samsung Electronics Co. filed 93 smartphone-related
patent applications and 85 design patent applications in this six-month period.
Filings on Rise but 1.58L Patent Applications Remain Pending in
India
Delhi has 57385, followed closely by Chennai 52891, Kolkata 29223 & Mumbai 18950
It is high time that Indian Government realize that patent system of country plays a
vital role in strengthening the economy and a favorable IP environment brings in
more FDI. As such, every country across the globe is committed to update and
strengthen its patent system while India is still lagging behind.
In already grim Indian IP environment, a recent and shocking revelation that around
1.58 lakh patent applications are awaiting examination in all the Indian Patent Offices
spread across Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai comes as a big blow.
The written reply of Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, EM Sudarsana
Natchiappan, to the Parliament of India has revealed a grim picture at Indian Patent
Offices.
IPO Statistics Revelation- Apple Tops Foreign Patent Filings in
Taiwan
U.S. consumer electronics giant filed 259 invention patent applications and 132 design patent
applications.
In the recent report of Intellectual Property Office (IPO) for the January-June period
of 2013, Apple Inc. has conquered the top slot for foreign patent filings in Taiwan.
IPO‟s statistics report for the first half of this year has recently released. It reports
that Apple has filed maximum patents in both patent application categories for the
very first time in Taiwan.

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A gazing log will be made accessible to users by Google which will track the identified items viewed by them and exactly tell what they
were looking at for a specified amount of time.
What comes as a great relief is that this method would not tell what you looked at, but only that for how long you looked at it. Then,
Google will be able to charge advertisers based on time a user spent looking at, say an advertisement, in some Google application.
The whole idea is genuinely interesting though the practical implementation and feasibility of this method remains questionable until
Google implements it in the public domain.
The oldest Jobs-contributed patent application dates back to Sept. 26, 2002, and the most recent was filed a year after Steve Jobs died.
Many of these are yet to be reviewed and it‟s impossible to tell when and which patent will be Steve Jobs‟ last.
STOP STARING!
GOOGLE’s creepiest patent is watching you.
A crazy and weird patent has been filed by Google in the area of wearable technology. A
method has been developed by Google to exactly tell what users are gazing at and for how long.
In their patent filing, an explanation of this method is given which uses a front facing camera
and a camera that tracks eye movement.
In this method, a gaze tracking technique is implemented that uses a head mounted gaze
tracking device communicating with a server. The server receives scene images from the
tracking device which captures external scenes viewed by a user wearing it and also receives
gaze direction information. This information indicates where exactly the user was gazing while
viewing the external scenes. An image recognition algorithm is executed on the scene images to
identify items within the external scenes viewed by the user.
T E C H N O L O G Y
Steve Jobs Still Earning Patent
USPTO has recently granted a design patent in his name. This design patent is for an
ornamental building panel for a store
USPTO records have revealed some incredible information about the
Intellectual Property in name of legendary Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs is still earning patents in his name and USPTO has recently
granted a design patent in his name. This design patent is for an ornamental
building panel for a store. The first patent granted in his name, in contrast,
was for an ornamental design of a computer.
Steve was a legendary inventor and majority of his patents are design patents
only. As per USPTO records, Steve Jobs name appears on 402 patents of
Apple as inventor.

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title of ruling head in the world of digital communication devices. The plot of their war revolves much around the story of Pacific Rim,
where the aliens unlock their bio weapons Kaijus to conquer the Earth and the human join hands to create Jaegers, oversized
humanoids piloted by two humans whose brains are connected to each other by neural bridges. Kaijus, the colossal monsters make
multiple attempts in various parts of the world to destroy the humanoids, the establishments made by the human kind but on their way
stood these gigantic humanoids, invented specially to protect the human race from the constant and repetitive conquests made by
Kaijus.
Similarly, the US tech giant Apple and the Korean tech giant Samsung seem to be in a constant war to accrue larger market share, larger
share of profits and to pull each other‟s products off the market shelves.
The saga began in April 2011, when Apple accused Samsung for copying design of the hardware and software features like double-tap
zooming. Samsung counter-sued Cupertino-based Apple for infringing on its software patents. Samsung was found guilty of the
infringements by courts of law and thus Apple was awarded with over $ 1billion for the damages, this was later on reduced to just over
$450 billion as the jury was found to have committed an error in determining the damages.
In June 2011, Samsung alleged that iPhone4 and iPad2 violated patents of the Korean company. The International Trade Commission
happened to favor Samsung by imposing a ban on the sale of Apple phones in US jurisdiction. Just a week after Samsung sued Apple in
the ITC court, Apple filed a suit against Samsung citing several patent infringements on the hardware designs on the iPhone. Continuing
the battle, Apple filed another law suit in California district accusing Samsung of infringing on utility patents in Samsung‟s new
products. Samsung reverted back stating that “all generations” of iPhone & iPad infringe on its own patents. By this time the war had
already reached the peak, but, Apple kept on adding new Samsung products to the list as and when they were launched in the market.
Just as we see intense use of nuclear warheads and machine in the movie, in this tech giant‟s war we witness persuasive arguments
between lobbyists, policymakers, media, trade officials and government agencies. Although the giant machines, fireworks, flames VFX
effects in the smartphone war of Apple and Samsung is missing but the war between lawyers in multiple courts across the oceans and
both the giants claiming for settlement of multi-billion dollars for the damages look no different from an intense war scene from Pacific
Rim.
Redefining Apple & Samsung Patent Disputes in Hollywood
Movie, “Pacific Rim” Style
USPTO has recently granted a design patent in his name. This design patent is for an
ornamental building panel for a store
Apple & Samsung smartphone battle is the most popular patents
infringement tussles till date that has left no leaf unturned with respect to
smartphone aesthetics. Be it software or the hardware, both Apple and
Samsung have spilled law suits over each other worth multi billion dollars in
multiple regions and for multiple attributes.
The Samsung and Apple patent war in smartphone domain seems just like a
war between gigantic Karjus and Jaegars of Pacific Rim, who are fighting for
their pride, safeguarding their business and future interests so as to attain the

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Currently no approved bio-similars of Herceptin are available in India though two Indian firms are working on its generic equivalents.
Time and again, western drug manufacturers in India have been accused of greedy pricing. As far as Herceptin is concerned, it has been
Roche‟s third-biggest seller notching global revenues of 3.08 billion Swiss francs just in the first half of 2013.
Amidst all these accusations, Roche decided not to pursue the patent and held the general intellectual property (IP) environment in
India accountable for their decision. However, Roche‟s Herceptin would remain on sale in India as its global patents expire in 2019.
Roche stated that India‟s patent laws are quite harsh compared to other countries as India attempts to make vital medications
affordable to its enormous poor population. This, probably, is also the biggest reason behind on-going intellectual property battles of
Western drug-makers in India.
More than a million women in India suffer from aggressive HE2+ breast cancer since this patent has been in force (from 2006) and less
than 10% of them were able to get access to Herceptin. Consequently India‟s Cancer Patients‟ Aid Association have challenged this
patent arguing that a drug whose single dose costs Rs. 6-8 lakhs is excessively priced for a country like India. Till now, Roche had not
disclosed its price for Trastuzumab in India, sold under the brand name Herceptin. Herceptin is an extremely efficient drug for the
treatment of breast cancer. It can be administered alone, along with chemotherapy and after surgery. It even helps to avoid surgery, in
many cases.
L I F E S C I E N C E S
Patent Granted for a “Death Test Device” to Two Lancaster University
Professors
“Death test device” can analyze tiny endothelial cells inside the ¬capillaries to determine the
aging pace of one’s body.
Two Physics professors at Lancaster University have come up with a revolutionary
invention. Aneta Stefanovska and Peter McClintock have patented a “death test device”
that can analyze tiny endothelial cells inside the ¬capillaries to determine the aging pace
of one‟s body.
The device, which is expected to be out in a wrist watch-style, will use a painless laser
beam to examine the cell functionality and estimate how long a person will live. The
estimation will be given grades from 0 to 100 (Grade 0 meaning death and 100 meaning
optimum function). The beam can also be used to test for diseases like cancer and
dementia.
They will also create a database where data of every person could be maintained and
used as reference against others to predict years left with someone before he will die.
The device is expected to be available to doctors within three years.
Roche not to pursue Indian patent for breast-cancer drug,
Herceptin
USPTO has recently granted a design patent in his name. This design patent is for
an ornamental building panel for a store
In earlier this year, Indian health ministry committee had urged the
Government of India to issue a “compulsory license” that would pave way
for a licensing agreement between Swiss drug-maker „Roche‟ and some
indigenous drug manufacturer of India and facilitate manufacturing of
cheaper generic version of its top-selling breast cancer drug, “Herceptin”.

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Roche‟s generosity to give up the Herceptin patent is a welcome move. However, to solve the accessibility issue of such an important
life-saving drug, there is an urgent need of pro-active support of Government to the pharmaceutical sector to find the breakthrough bio-
equivalent of Herceptin.
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