Sunday, August 02, 2015

Fwd: India wins patent war on hair loss formula


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michel Danino

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-wins-patent-war-on-hair-loss-
formula/articleshow/48312427.cms


India wins patent war on hair loss formula
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Aug 2, 2015, 12.02 AM IST

Based on India's evidence, the patent application was finally "deemed to be
withdrawn" by the applicant on June 29 this year.

NEW DELHI: India scored an important success when it fully protected its
traditional knowledge by stalling a leading UK-based laboratory's move to
patent a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea
for treating hair loss. The move comes just days after India foiled a
similar attempt by US-based consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive from
patenting a mouthwash formula containing herbal extracts. 

The vigilance of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) of the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) helped protect the
Indian products as the council in its submission to the European Patent
Office managed to prove that turmeric, pine bark and green tea were being
used as a treatment for hair loss in Indian systems of medicine like
Ayurveda and Unani since ancient times. 

The UK-based company - Pangaea Laboratories Limited - had filed the patent
application in February, 2011. The CSIR-TKDL unit had, however, objected to
it and filed evidence on January 13, 2014 once the patent application got
published in the European Patent Office website.

Based on India's evidence, the patent application was finally "deemed to be
withdrawn" by the applicant on June 29 this year. 

The back-to-back victories in thwarting the attempts of the two big foreign
entities (Colgate-Palmolive and Pangaea Laboratories Limited) adds another
feather to the cap of TKDL's which has tasted success now in about 200 such
cases without incurring any cost to the public exchequer. 

Recently, it had frustrated a move by Colgate-Palmolive to patent a
mouthwash formula containing herb 'Jayaphal' (Nutmeg) extract. "The
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, headed by senior scientist Archana Sharma, had
submitted proof in the form of references from ancient books, which said the
herb and its extracts of 'Myristica Fragrans' were used for oral diseases in
Indian systems of medicine", said an official note. 

The TKDL is a pioneering initiative to prevent misappropriation of country's
traditional medicinal knowledge at international patent offices. It has
structured and classified the Indian traditional medicine system in
approximately 25,000 sub-groups for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga. 

It is proving to be an effective deterrent against bio-piracy and is being
recognized as a global leader in the area of traditional knowledge
protection. 





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sent from samsung galaxy note3 neo, so please excuse brevity

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