ONLINE FACILITY LAUNCHED TO CORRECT ERRORS IN THE DATABASE OF INDIAN TRADE MARKS REGISTRY

By virtue of a Public notice dated September 17, 2012, the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trade Marks of India (CGPDTM), launched an online tool for making request for correction of clerical errors in the records the Trade Marks Registry’s database. In order to attend to such request for correction, a link has been provided for in the official website of CGPDTM.

The notification provided by CGPDTM points that in case of any clerical error in the data entry of a pending application for registration of trade mark or in the records of Trade Marks Register in respect of a registered trade mark, the applicant/proprietor or their authorized agent may avail this facility and request for the desired correction through the online tool. However, such request for correction has to be on the basis of supporting documents, which is also required to be uploaded through that tool.

Once the request for correction has been made, the competent officer of the Trade Marks Registry will scrutinize such requests on the basis of the existing records and supporting documents uploaded by the applicant/proprietor/agents and in cases of genuine errors, such officer shall correct the relevant records.

The notification also clarifies that this online tool is meant only for the correction of clerical/typographical errors that have crept in during the data entry stage and not for the recordal of any change or amendment that has taken place during the course of prosecution of an application or grant of registration of a trade mark.

Roche Vs. Cipla : Court rules in favour of Cipla

In an infringement action initiated by F. Hoffman-La Roche Holding AG against generic drug company, Cipla Ltd for manufacturing and marketing the generic version of its patented anti-lung cancer drug Erlotinib Hydrochloride, the Delhi High Court on September 7, 2012 has held that Cipla’s drug, Erlocip, did not infringe the Roche’s patented drug, Tarceva. The court also said that Roche's patent over Tarceva is valid in India.

The 280 page decision pronounced by Justice Manmohan Singh is the outcome of the infringement action initiated by Roche in January 2008. The court observed that Cipla’s generic version drug was a polymorph B variant of Roche’s patented drug and that such drug has not infringed upon Roche’s patented drug. Section 3 (d) of the Indian Patents (Amendment) Act 2005, allows patenting of inventions which are variants of a basic compound if such versions results in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance.

Roche's Tarceva is priced at Rs.1.40 lakh ($2,533) for a month's treatment, while Cipla's version cost about Rs.25,000, i.e., approximately six times cheaper for the same dosage.

Now, Roche has the option to challenge such decision as appeal to a division bench of the Delhi High Court.