Article
Pioneering work in the field of mRNA-based innovations – A case study
By Dr. Malathi Lakshmikumaran and Supriya Ramacha
Dr. Katalin Kariko and Dr. Drew Weissman have been named the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their innovations concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. The article in this issue of IPR Amicus traces the various developments made by Dr. Katalin Kariko in the field of RNA based therapeutics. The authors note that Kariko’s objectives aligned with BioNTech’s mission to improve public health at large, and how their approach to exploit the full potential of the immune system to effectively recognise and combat external and internal threats has been successful in crystallizing on novel therapeutics for cancer and vaccines to combat Covid-19.
Ratio decidendi
- Patents – Explanation to Section 3(d) is not applicable to enzyme/biochemicals – Madras High Court
- Patents – Improved thermostability gives ‘enhancement of the known efficacy’ of substance – Madras High Court
- Patents – Determination of foetal fraction is related to diagnosis but is not ‘diagnostic’, and hence is patentable – Madras High Court gives elaborate decision clarifying on scope of word ‘diagnostic’ in Section 3(i)
- ‘Appropriate Office’ under Patents Rule 4 is not dispositive of jurisdiction of High Court under Article 226 of Constitution – Madras High Court
- Patents – Divisional Applications – Disclosure of plurality of inventions in provisional or complete specification is sufficient – Delhi HC Single Bench decision in Boehringer Ingelheim overruled – Division Bench of Delhi High Court
- Trademark ‘Vajirao & Reddy’ is not deceptively similar to ‘Vajiram’ or ‘Vajiram & Ravi’ – No likelihood of confusion between ‘Vajiram’ and ‘Vajirao’, despite structural similarities – Delhi High Court
News Nuggets
- Stay of civil suit during pendency of rectification petition whether required after abolition of IPAB? – Question referred to Division Bench
- Copyrights – Right in public performance of a song is incapable of exploitation without rights in underlying works
- Trademark passing off – Provisions of Section 124 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 are not applicable
