The High Court of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits, 2020

The High Court of Delhi is in the process of framing Rules under Section 158 of the Patents Act, 1970. A draft of the proposed “The HighCourt of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits, 2020” was circulated.

In the last 10-15 years, the Delhi High Court has witnessed a high growth in the number of patent infringement actions filed before it related to various scientific and technological fields including pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, mechanical engineering, telecommunications, electrical/electronics, wind technology etc. The need for the present Rules has been felt due to the complexities that have arisen in dealing with patent suits and actions. The Delhi High Court Patent Rules, 2020 shall govern the procedure for adjudication of all patent suits. The substantive provisions governing patent suits are contained in The Patents Act, 1970. Patent suits being civil in nature are also governed by The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) as amended by The Commercial Courts Act, 2015. 

Documents to be filed along with the Plaint: The documents to be filed with the plaint shall include, inter alia,

i) certified copies of the certificate of grant of patent along with payment of annuities thereof. 

ii. complete patent specification including title and description of invention, claims, the abstract and drawings as granted. 

iii. a list of all corresponding patent applications/grants in various countries, if any, along with their current status in a tabulated form. A standard template for the said table is below. 

iv. If a decision has been given by any patent authority in another jurisdiction, a link to the same can be provided in the table. 

v. A summary of the technology shall be annexed either as a note or as a power point presentation printed with two slides per page. 

vi. Copies of any decisions of courts or patent offices in respect of the suit patent or any corresponding patent in any jurisdiction, including decisions in pre-grant, post-grant oppositions or revocation proceedings, shall also be annexed. 

vii. Any expert report relied upon for infringement analysis. 

viii. Copies of all relevant correspondence 

ix. In case of license agreements being relied upon, copies of the license agreements redacted or otherwise. Notes on justification for license fee, if claimed. 

x. Laboratory analysis reports, if any.

Green Ammonia

Ammonia is a pungent gas that is widely used to make agricultural fertilisers. Green ammonia production is where the process of making ammonia is 100% renewable and carbon-free. One way of making green ammonia is by using hydrogen from water electrolysis and nitrogen separated from the air. These are then fed into the Haber process (also known as Haber-Bosch), all powered by sustainable electricity. In the Haber process, hydrogen and nitrogen are reacted together at high temperatures and pressures to produce ammonia, NH3. However, the process of making ammonia is currently not a “green” process. It is most commonly made from methane, water and air, using steam methane reforming (SMR) (to produce the hydrogen) and the Haber process. Approximately 90% of the carbon dioxide produced is from the SMR process. This process consumes a lot of energy and produces around 1.8% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

The first  ammonia plant was established at Rjukan , Norway in 1927, following a 1925 agreement between IG Farben of Germany, who transferred the Haber patents to Norsk Hydro in exchange for a quarter ownership, and the distribution of the products through them. During the 1930s other products came into production, including hydrogen and other gases, and from 1934 as the first plant in the world mass-produced heavy water, following a production plan by Leif Tronstad and Jomar Brun.  Together they drew up a plan for the industrial production of heavy water with hundreds of combined electrolysis, combustion and condensation cells into a cascade process, coupled with recycling, culminating in more than 99 % pure heavy water. This was the first industrial scale production of heavy water in the world. Norsk Hydro built a plant according to Tronstad’s and Brun’s design, next to the generator building at Vemork, just outside Rjukan in Telemark County. By January 1935 the material was becoming available in amounts of more than 100 g at 10 % of the American price at the time, and in 1938 about 80 kg was produced. After the German capture of the Rjukan heavy water plant in May 1940 and its efforts to replicate same in Germany worried allies and the plant was sabotaged & bombed by applies in 1943.

In India, first plant using electrolysis had come up at Nangal in 1962. It had a design capacity of 310 tons per day (tpd) of ammonia, was based on water electrolysis. Heavy water, used in the atomic energy industry, was also produced from the hydrogen gas obtained from electrolysis. Ammonia was converted first to nitric acid and then to calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN). Since the electrolysis of water is a highly power intensive process, the company had important energy needs (149 MW); these were being met by the hydroelectric plant of the Bakhra Dam located a few miles from Nangal. Power shortage led to change in feed stock and technology with addition of 1000T plant in 1978. With commissioning of this facility, hydrogen generation through power intensive electrolysis route was to be stopped which would have resulted in stoppage of Heavy Water production also. However, in order to continue heavy water production, electrolysis plant was continued to run on reduced load. With this production of Heavy Water got reduced from 14 Te./Yr. to 7 Te/year. 

Draft Data Centre Policy

MeitY has drafted a Data Centre policy to benefit the Data Centre park developers/Data Centre operators as well as the allied ecosystem of Data Centre sector. The policy intends to ensure sustainable and trusted Data Centre capacity within the country. This policy framework shall be followed by a detailed scheme with implementation guideline document providing the particulars of various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to be provided to the sector by the Central and State Government. Download The Policy document. Pl send your inputs and feedback within 15 days to:- uma.chauhan@meity.gov.in, cmo@meity.gov.in.

Promote indigenous technology development, research and capacity building 

5.4.1 Promote local manufacturing

 5.4.1.1 Promote and encourage use of indigenous hardware (IT as well as non-IT equipment) and software products used in the Data Centres, thereby reducing the overall import burden of the country. 5.4.1.2 Extend fiscal incentives to domestic start-ups and MSMEs to develop solutions for Data Centre usage.

5.4.1.3 Incentivize global equipment manufacturers to set up manufacturing units of IT/ Non-IT components in India, catering not only to local demands but also for export purposes. 

5.4.1.4 Strengthen the testing and certification framework for the Data Centre ecosystem, including for the IT and non-IT equipment and software products pertaining to Data Centres operations.

 5.4.2 Encourage joint ventures between the foreign investors and domestic companies to promote participation from Indian companies, in the development of Data Centres. This would enable long-term capacity building of the domestic companies operating in this space. 

5.4.3 Promote R&D in Data Centre ecosystem 

5.4.3.1 Promote setting up of R&D units to create an ecosystem that will promote development of Data Centre components within the country. 

5.4.3.2 Promote technology firms to produce innovative products and services for the Data Centre ecosystem and facilitate their commercialization for sustainable growth.

 5.4.4 Promote Adoption of Established Global Standards

 5.4.4.1 MeitY shall publish and mandate minimum standards for Data Centres / Data Centre Parks in the areas of build, IT, non-IT and security. 

5.4.5 MeitY to promote global adoption of services from state-of-the-art Data Centre infrastructure available in India, through various inter-governmental initiatives / MoUs. 5.4.6 Capacity Building and Human Resource Development 

5.4.6.1 Collaborate with Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and leading academic institutes to impart large scale trainings to workforce on Data Centre, Digital and Cloud technologies, and facilitate sector linkages for such trained workforce. 

5.4.6.2 Promote skill development and upgradation initiatives aimed at addressing the skill gap of trained manpower to be able to meet the demands of Data Centres and Cloud Computing Platform. Data Centre Policy 2020 DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION Page 12 of 16 

5.4.6.3 Provide assistance for these programs through Skill Development Mission at National and State Level. 

5.4.6.4 Design programs for continuous capacity building amongst government officials and personnel on Data Centre and cloud technologies, data classification, storage policies, data security and other allied technologies.

Dragon Multinational from Turkey- Arcelik

White goods industry collapsed in India after globalisation, how did the Turkish firm survive and prosper? Internationalisation and investment in R&D are two main reasons.

Internationalisation

Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) enables both small and large MNEs to potentially enhance their competitiveness through securing access to new markets, technologies, brand names, resources and strategic assets abroad. In their constant search for better exploiting, consolidating and expanding their capabilities (or resource base), firms pursue a variety of strategies, which include product and technological diversification across fields and geographical sites . These potential enhancers of competitiveness would not be available to firms that elected to stay focused on their own domestic economy. Moreover firms that stay focused on the domestic market increasingly miss out on opportunities that are available only to firms that are prepared to internationalize – opportunities such as becoming integrated in global value chains or attracting global customers. In this paper -ACCELERATED INTERNATIONALIZATION BY EMERGING MULTINATIONALS: THE CASE OF WHITE GOODS- the authors document the rise of Haier, Mabe and Arçelik (from China, Mexico, and Turkey, respectively), as successful examples of latecomer firms that managed to upgrade their operations, evolving from the production of simple goods, generally as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) subcontractors, into new product lines developed through their own design, branding and marketing capabilities.

Read : http://www.oecd.org/development/pgd/36317032.pdf

Arçelik was founded in 1955 to produce metal office furniture, and moved quickly into home appliances, manufacturing Turkey’s first washing machine in 1959 and first refrigerator in 1960. By the early 2000s it had seven production plants in Turkey to produce a complete range of home appliances.9 The company, producing 7.5 million units in 2004, is the leading firm in Turkey’s consumer durables, accounting for more than 53% of domestic sales and 54% of exports. A OEM contract in the United States was secured with Sears Roebuck in 1988 to supply refrigerators under the Kenmore name, followed a nine years later by a similar, but much larger, European deal with Whirlpool for dishwaters. Arcelik made major purchases of brands in 2002 – Blomberg (a subsidiary of Brandt) in Germany, Elektra Bregenz and Tirolia in Austria, and Leisure (cookers) and Flavel (appliances and TV sets) in Britain. In 2004 Arçelik acquired the brand name Grundig, after the German firm went bankrupt. (Arcelik had been an OEM supplier to it previously.)
 

Investment in R&D

R&D and innovation were examined in- The role of innovation in the effective international expansion of an emerging-country firm: The case of Arçelikby .

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812008968

The impending entry into its largely protected domestic market of major foreign competitors once the Customs Union went into effect was another factor that necessitated quality improvements. The establishment of a Research and Development Center in 1991 appears to be the most critical decision pertaining to Arçelik’s strategy of international expansion. Arçelik A.Ş., which holds the most patent applications in Turkey, ranks 74th among 270 companies on the Global Patent Filings list published in 2017 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Today Arçelik A.Ş. owns one out of every three global patent applications submitted from Turkey.

Patent battles

Patent suits are inevitable part of global domination.  Arcelik, filed a case for patent infringement against South Korean appliances manufacturer LG Electronics and its subsidiaries in France and Germany. Arcelik claimed that LG Electronics used the Turkish firm's washing machine technology, named 'Direct Drive', in its devices under another name -- '6 motion'. LG filed a lawsuit against Arçelik and its German affiliates Beko Deutschland GmbH and Grundig Intermedia GmbH in connection with freezer door-ice making technology in LG Side-by-Side refrigerators. This was followed by infringement lawsuit against Beko Deutschland GmbH in Mannheim District Court in Germany for infringement of a patent for steam technology that protects certain garments from damage.

 

The Copyrightability of Illegal Works

 Eldar Haber addresses this issue at length in article `Copyrighted Crimes: The Copyrightability ofIllegal Works' (2014). Abstract of this article is as under:

Copyright law does not explicitly impose content-based restrictions on the copyrightability of works. As long as a work is original and fixed in a tangible medium of expression, it is entitled to copyright protection and eligible for registration, regardless of its content. Thus, child pornography, snuff films or any other original works of authorship that involve criminal activities are copyrightable. Such work can be highly profitable for its makers even though society does not necessarily benefit from, and might even be harmed by, the work. Along with revenue from sales, the author of an illegal work may also be able to collect damages for infringement. 

The author also explains current position in USA on content-based restrictions in Intellectual property.  Trademark law is not content-neutral, non-registrable marks usually contain a reference to drugs, sex, religion, race, or scatological imagery.  The idea that an invention, within the meaning of the patent statute, must meet standards of morality was referred to as the “moral utility” doctrine and was invoked in many cases for over 150 years. In recent years, however, courts have abandoned this doctrine,  and the current interpretation of patent law suggests that it requires only that an invention be put to a single lawful use, lacking moral examination. Hence, immorality is no longer considered a restriction in United States patent law.

An Indian perspective was posted in SpicyIP blog: https://spicyip.com/2018/09/obscenity-and-morality-under-ip-law.html.  The act prohibits the registration of a trademark which consists of “scandalous or obscene matter”. scandalous marks are ones which offend “accepted principles of morality”. IPO denied patent grant to a creative and unique sex toy.  It held that the sex toy was not patentable according to Section 3(b) of the Indian Patents Act since its use would affect “public order” and “morality”. Claiming that sex toys were neither “useful” nor “productive”, it went on to brand sex toys as “obscene” objects and state that the sale and import of them would be illegal under Section 292 of the IPC. Indian Copyright Act makes no mention that the content which is sought to be protected must be “lawful”. No legislative or judicial clarification has, however, been given on the same and hence, the question of whether the legality of content impacts copyright protection in India remains an unsettled one.

Hypothetical case on copyright.

S Yuvarajaa, an IIT Kharagpur graduate was recently arrested by RPF for allegedly making two railway ticketing applications that were faster than IRCTC website. He created ‘Super Tatkal’ and ‘Super Tatkal Pro’, which enabled users to book Tatkal rail tickets faster than the official app of IRCTC. He has been accused of bypassing the IRCTC’s ticket booking system. Yuvarajaa was arrested under Section 143(2) of the Railways Act which penalises for “unauthorised carrying on of the business of procuring and supplying railway tickets.”  

Earler media reported  TravelKhana and Rail Yatri, were sued by IRCTC for being unlicensed food delivery on trains, with both companies then compelled to apply for licenses to continue operating. 

If courts agree on illegality of Yuvarajaa mobile applications, then what happens to is copyright?

Technology for Indian Bio-refinery with bamboo as feed developed at Oulu, Finland by Chempolis

The biorefining technology company Chempolis, the Finnish energy company Fortum, and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), a state-owned Indian oil company, have formed a joint venture to construct a biorefinery in the state of Assam in Northeast India.The biorefinery will use 300,000 tons of bamboo annually from the vast natural and cultivated bamboo reserves of Northeast India. The plant will produce annually 60 million liters of bioethanol, 19,000 tons of furfural, 11,000 tons of acetic acid, and 144 gigawatt hours of green energy. Chempolis was founded in 1995 with headquarters in Oulu,Finland.

Pilot project entitled “Torrefaction of Bamboo” has been successfully carried out at IISc with funding DST.This project was taken to enhance the storability of bamboo and also generate a product which can be a cheaper substitute for applications where black charcoal is currently being used. GP Green Systems Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata, had set up three of gasifiers (nominal capacity 600 kg/ hr biomass) at Mangaldoi, Assam, to produce gas having calorific value 1,250– 1,350 kcal/Nm3 (or 5.25 MJ–5.65 MJ/ Nm3 ). This gas was meant to replace high speed diesel (HSD) used as a fuel in the biscuit plant of ITC. The venture proved to be a great success to the satisfaction of the customer. The plant at Mangaldoi was commissioned in June 2016 and since then it has been in continuous operation.

In October 2006, the Government of India (GOI) had launched the National Bamboo Mission (NBM) on the basis of the National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development Report, 2003. The NBM’s key objective was to address issues relating to the development of the bamboo industry in the country, provide a new impetus and direction and enable the realisation of India’s considerable potential in bamboo production. Multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional in its approach, major interventions planned under it were to focus on research and development, plantation on forest and non-forest lands through Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) or Village Development Committee (VDCs) and to ensure the supply of quality planting materials by establishing centralised and kisan/mahila nurseries. 

Global Game of SEP litigation and How India is drawn into it

Standards are technical requirements or specifications that seek to provide a common design for a product or process. Patents which are essential to a standard and have been adopted by a Standard Setting Organization (SSO) are known as SEPs. However, the exclusive rights conferred by patents on inventors may defeat the object of making standards available to all for public use. In order to address this problem, most SSO’s have defined IPR policies where SSO members must commit to licensing their SEPs on terms and conditions that are “Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory” (FRAND). These commitments are meant to protect technology implementers while ensuring that Patent holders receive an appropriate reward for their investment in research and development. SSOs can be governmental, quasigovernmental or private. These are responsible for setting, developing, coordinating, interpreting and maintaining standards. The Bureau of Indian Standards is India's national SSO. In the Information and Communications Technologies sector the Telecom Engineering Centre is the only formally recognized telecom standards/ specification/type approval body in India. Global ICT Standardization Forum for India, Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI), and Development Organization of Standards for Telecommunications in India are private SSOs in the Indian ICT sector.The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and International Telecommunication Union are prominent SSOs in the cellular and Wi-Fi space. Licensing SEP on FRAND terms is a voluntary contract between the SSO and the SEP holder. However, the meaning of FRAND has not been defined by SSOs; it depends upon the nature of the transactions between the SEP holder ("licensor") and the SEP implementer ("licensee"). The first SEP dispute in India was Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) v Mercury Electronics, in which Ericsson filed an infringement suit against Mercury Electronics and Micromax Informatics Ltd, claiming infringement of its eight SEPs used in 2G, 3G and 4G devices. Read here.

Anti-Suit injunctions or ASIs have extended judiciary decisions beyond country borders. courts in the U.S. and UK adjudicating cases involving standards-essential patents and FRAND licensing commitments have increasingly issued injunctions preventing one party from pursuing parallel litigation in another jurisdiction. After all, the notion that ASIs sought by SEP implementers can be acceptable and compliant with patent law has been confirmed by a US court in Microsoft v. Motorola (see the first instance ruling (W.D. Wash. 2012), affirmed on appeal (9th Cir. 2012)).The UK suit was recently decided by the UK Supreme Court, [2020] UKSC 37, which held that a UK court has the authority to set a global FRAND royalty rate between the parties, notwithstanding its lack of jurisdiction over patents outside the UK. Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China followed with ASIs. Conversant sued Huawei in the District Court in Düsseldorf, Germany, alleging infringement of several European patents. On August 27, 2020, the Düsseldorf court granted Conversant an injunction against Huawei’s sale, use or importation in Germany of devices infringing patent EP1797659 (the German Patent). On the same day, Huawei applied to the SPC seeking an “act preservation” ruling (a judicial action roughly equivalent to an ASI) to prevent Conversant from enforcing the Düsseldorf injunction until the conclusion of the Chinese proceedings.  The SPC granted the ASI after an ex parte hearing in which Conversant did not participate. 

Anti-Anti-Suit Injunction (AASI)  followed ASIs, initially in Germany and France, landed now in India. The dispute between InterDigital, a U.S.-based patent assertion entity, and Xiaomi, a Beijing-based electronics firm, relates to five InterDigital patents covering the 3G and 4G standards.   When negotiations for a license failed, on June 9, 2020 Xiaomi sought a declaration by the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court of the appropriate FRAND royalty rate for the patents.  On July 29, InterDigital sued Xiaomi for infringement in the Delhi High Court in India, seeking monetary damages and an injunction. In response, on August 4, Xiaomi asked the Wuhan court for an “act preservation” ruling (ASI) preventing InterDigital from enforcing the injunction while the Wuhan proceeding was in progress.Accordingly, on September 23, the Wuhan court (a) ordered InterDigital to withdraw its requests for injunctive relief in India, (b) prohibited InterDigital from seeking injunctive relief in China or any other country with respect to the 3G/4G patents currently at issue in the Wuhan case, and (c) prohibited InterDigital from asking another court in China or any other country to determine a FRAND royalty rate or resolve a FRAND dispute relating to the 3G/4G patents at issue.In response to the entry of the ASI by the Wuhan court, InterDigital disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (first reported by IAM) that on September 29, it filed for an anti-anti-suit injunction (AASI) in the Delhi High Court to prevent Xiaomi from enforcing its Chinese ASI.   

SEP owners are in USA and Europe ,China has large licensees. Position may change with Chinese firm owning SEPs in future. India has neither SEP owners nor manufacturers needing SEP.

Reference

https://spicyip.com/2020/10/china-enters-the-realm-of-anti-suit-injunctions-in-standard-essential-patent-sep-cases.html

https://conflictoflaws.net/2020/anti-suit-injunction-issued-in-china-comity-pragmatism-and-rule-of-law/

https://patentlyo.com/patent/2020/10/contreras-injunctions-litigation.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Learning Content Management System (LCMS)

DSIR under PATSER funded many `State-Of -Art' technologies, often ahead of `State- Of- Market' requirement in India. LCMS was one such project. It was implemented by APTECH and IIIT Allahabad. Prof M Radhakrishna was the architect. He could foresee need for Author content management module as part of LCMS and developed Authoring System ver 2.0 with SCORM packaging. It was released in 2005.

https://www.aptech-worldwide.com/pages/media/press-releases/2005/press-releases-2005-28nov.html

Dr Radhakrishna Born on 14th July 1941. Father Sri M. Narasimha Chari, Mother Smt M. Kamalamma . Had school education in Bhadrachalam, his ancestors’ place, in Telugu medium, in Govt. schools.  Maringanti Radhakrishna, with a very ordinary family background, made Telugus proud by achieving an international fame.  He had working visits to about 70 countries,  and  rendered his invaluable services in more than 20 countries, with India being the principal centre for his services. After finishing his MSc in Nuclear Physics from Andhra University  in 1962-63, he  brought his multifaceted talents to the core by working in varied and diverse fields. He is among the first generation Indian Computer scientists who entered Computer field  during 1960s.

Dr MeenaKumari , Dr Jyoti Jagasis from APTECH and VK Varun from DSIR worked closely with Prof Radhakrishna. 

Primer on 5G Technology for India from nitindesai research group

 There are many reports on 5G, most talk on need for Government to adopt the new technology to reap various benefits. There are few reports on technology, standards and SEP. This one from nitindesai.com is a a primer on 5G technology in non-technical terms, overview of extended 5G applications for various sectors, the regulatory landscape for 5G in India, and finally outline various important strategic, policy, regulatory, technical and behavioral considerations.

5G is going to revolutionize not just the mobile telecommunications sector but also how we use technology in our businesses and lives. The implications are far reaching.

 

It is a comprehensive report. Download from:

https://www.nishithdesai.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/Research_Papers/5G-Technology-in-India.pdf

Story of how South Africa developed Coal to Liquid Fuel (CTL) technology in 1950

Considering the long discussion we have in India on Coal Liquefaction, it is pertinent to learn how another developing country, South Africa developed its own CTL technology in 1950.

Coal liquefaction is a process of converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons: liquid fuels and petrochemicals. This process is often known as "Coal to X", where X can be many different hydrocarbon-based products. However, the most common process chain is "Coal to Liquid Fuels" (CTL). Coal liquefaction was an important part of Adolf Hitler's four-year plan of 1936, and became an integral part of German industry during World War II. The best-known CTL process is Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FT), named after the inventors Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in the 1920s. In 1914, Friedrich Bergius, a teacher at the Technische Hochschule in Hanover, built a 40-litre vessel into which he put coal that had been dissolved in recycled oil, then added hydrogen. His catalyst was iron oxide. With the vessel loaded with these three ingredients, he raised its internal temperature to well above 400°C and increased the internal pressure up to 700 atmospheres (where one atmosphere is equal to air pressure at sea level). The result was petrol, diesel and recycle oil – and, in 1931, a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Carl Bosch, who had worked on developing high-pressure vessels for the Bergius and other synthesis processes. Fischer and Tropsch were granted a patent on their process in 1925.

Dr PN Lategan, working for the Transvaal Coal Owners’ Association in Johannesburg in the early 1920s wrote his doctoral thesis for the Imperial College of Science in London on The Low-Temperature Carbonisation of South African Coal. In the course of his research he visited Germany and, on his return home, tried to get some of the methods he had observed there to work. The next close investigation of the idea came from Dr F Meyer, working as technical adviser to the Department of Commerce and Industries. He wrote a White Paper for government in 1927, describing various oil-from-coal processes being used overseas and their potential for South Africa. Then in the 1930s, unreported by the press, a young student named Etienne Rousseau obtained his MSc degree from the oldest and most prestigious of the Afrikaans universities, Stellenbosch. Rousseau would become Sasol’s first managing director. In retrospect, that could seem almost inevitable, for the subject of his master’s thesis was The sulphur content of coals and oil shales, a highly relevant matter for anyone wanting to produce synthetic oil.

Read Sasol story `Mind over matter'.

Student Idea competition-India

 Ministry of Education (MoE), Govt. of India has established ‘MoE’s Innovation Cell (MIC)’ to systematically foster the culture of Innovation amongst all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The primary mandate of MIC is to encourage, inspire and nurture young students by supporting them to work with new ideas and transform them into prototypes while they are informative years. Outcome of Smart India Hackathon 2019:

34 Themes

806 ideas

565 for government agencies

241 for Industry.

Check the Idea description and team details: https://www.mic.gov.in/micoutcome

Verified agricultural carbon credits.

Carbon farming practice is now a reality. indigo is one the service providers: https://www.indigoag.com/for-growers/indigo-carbon

Indigi AG announced first corporate carbon credit buyers. Each credit is priced at $20 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent sequestered in the 2020 growing season. To generate credits, Indigo is implementing what it describes as two novel methods for measuring and verifying the net on-farm GHG emissions impact of management practice changes. 

https://agfundernews.com/carbon-harvest-indigo-ag-nori-announce-first-corporate-carbon-credit-buyers.html?

US Department of Agriculture runs COMET-Farm tool which estimates the ‘carbon footprint’ for all or part of your farm/ranch operation and allows you to evaluate different options, which you select, for reducing GHG emissions and sequestering more carbon. General guidance is provided about potential changes to your management practices that are likely to sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

In India, Saguna Rural Foundation,  provides technical support to farmers, collect soil samples, and distribute the carbon checks at year’s end based on increases in soil carbon. The verification and validation of the soil increases would be conducted independently by Zenith Energy Climate Foundation, Hyderabad. The team launched one project in 2019 in Maharashtra.

Niti Aayog estimated carbon credit market as 50-60 billion 

Non-Personal Data (NPD) Governance Framework

The Committee of Experts on Non-Personal Data (NPD) Governance Framework, constituted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released its Report on July 12, 2020. The Report purports to be a framework for governance of NPD, meant to grant access to NPD to industry players and the government for overarching public purposes. In order to increase the competitiveness of local and small enterprises and spur innovation, the Report is aimed at mandatory sharing of data to create economic advantages that are currently precluded due to data monopolies of a few dominant players. 

The Committee has defined three categories of Non-Personal Data – 1) Public Non-Personal Data 2) Community Non-Personal Data & 3) Private Non-Personal Data.  The Committee has also defined a new concept of ‘sensitivity of Non-Personal Data’, as even Non-Personal Data could be sensitive from the following perspectives – 1) It relates to national security or strategic interests; 2) It is business sensitive or confidential information; 3) It is anonymised data, that bears a risk of re-identification  The Committee recommends that the data principal should also provide consent for anonymisation and usage of this anonymized data while providing consent for collection and usage of his/her personal data.

Download report: https://static.mygov.in/rest/s3fs-public/mygov_159453381955063671.pdf 

Auctions theory and patent auctions

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 to Paul R. Milgrom Stanford University, USA and Robert B. Wilson Stanford University, USA. Laureates have studied how auctions work. They have also used their insights to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies. 

Can auction format be used for patents?

Yong-Gil Lee, Inha University addressed Patent auctions in his paper `Different characteristics between auctioned and non-auctioned patents'  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220364908.

Any researcher studied auction theory for Intellectual Property?

German firm VERBIO Ag solves Delhi's smog problem with patented research and EU funded pilot plant in Germany.

Problem: 

Every winter, not just Delhi but also large parts of north India are frequently enveloped in a thick blanket of smog, caused by air pollution from vehicular and industrial emissions mixing with fog. The burning of post-harvest paddy stubble in the agricultural fields of Haryana and Punjab is often cited as a major cause of this unhealthy smog. In 2013, under the Air Act, 1981, the Punjab government banned the burning of crop residue in the fields. Later, in 2015, the National Green Tribunal prohibited the burning of paddy straw while directing the government to help farmers manage the paddy straw using specialised equipment like Happy Seeder that chops paddy straw, sows wheat seeds and layers the straw as a mulch. Other machines like Rotavator, that bundle the straw into bales to be transported, were also to be procured and used.

Solution:

VERBIO Vereinigte Bioenergie AG is a bio-energy company established in 2001 started with bioethanol in 2005. Applied for patent `Method and plant for producing biogas from lignocellulose-containing biomass' in 2012 (EP2935595A2), published in 2015 and granted in 2020. Main claim- 1. A process for the production of biogas from lignocellulosic biomass, preferably from straw, which comprises the following steps:  a) mixing the lignocellulosic biomass with a  average particle size less than 200mm, preferably less than 20mm, with aqueous solutions at a temperature of 60-100 ° C, in particular from 70-85 ° C, in particular with process water and / or with the aid of steam;  b) heating the lignocellulosic biomass to 130-200 ° C,  preferably 150-180 ° C, and lingering so heated  lignocellulose-containing biomass for a period of 5-120min, preferably 10-30min, expediently in a continuously flow-through reactor space for thermal digestion  c) anaerobic fermentation of the thermally treated lignocellulosic biomass using microorganisms and recovery of the resulting biogas.

Within the framework of the EU funding programme NER300 the European Union supports the further development of VERBIO’s innovative technology to produce biomethane from 100% straw at it’s production site in Schwedt/Oder with up to EUR 22.3 million during 2014 – 2019. The funding amount is based on a fixed rate for biomethane fed into the gas grid.

The Union government is setting up the first compressed biogas (CBG) plant in north India in Lehragaga of Sangrur and it is expected to be commissioned in March next year. The CBG plant, being set up under the ‘Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (Satat), will convert straw into CNG. According to sources, the plant authorities have started collecting paddy straw to store it at the plant, as 300 tonne stubble will be used per day in the plant to produce 31 tonne CBG per day. The plant is being set up by Verbio India Pvt Ltd.

Primer on atmospheric water harvesting technologies

Indian Prime Minister Modi was reported enquiring whether a turbine could be used to harvest water from moisture in the air and oxygen too, thus serving as a three-in-one machine. Three components of the system , Wind mills, Atmospheric water generator, Water splitting to produce Oxygen, Hydrogen are well known.

Here we look at review paper on atmospheric water harvesting technologies.

The scope of this paper is to review different types of sustainable water harvesting methods from the atmospheric fogs and dew. In this paper, we report upon the water collection performance of various fog collectors around the world. We also review technical aspects of fog collector feasibility studies and the efficiency improvements. Modern fog harvesting innovations are often bioinspired technology. Fog harvesting technology is obviously limited by global fog occurrence. In contrast, dew water harvester is available everywhere but requires a cooled condensing surface. In this review, the dew water collection systems is divided into three categories: i) dew water harvesting using radiative cooling surface, ii) solar-regenerated desiccant system and iii) active condensation technology. The key target in all these approaches is the development of an atmospheric water collector that can produce water regardless of the humidity level, geographical location, low in cost and can be made using local materials.

Download paper: https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/15/2/253/5718410

Premature Deindustrialization, India and South Africa

 Dani Rodrik introduced the concept of Premature deindustrailisation. (https://drodrik.scholar.harvard.edu/files/dani-rodrik/files/premature_deindustrialization.pdf)

The term deindustrialization is used today to refer to the experience mainly of these advanced economies.In the United States manufacturing industries’ share of total employment has steadily fallen since the 1950s, coming down from around a quarter of the workforce to less than a tenth today.In Great Britain, at the other end of the spectrum, deindustrialization has been both more rapid and thorough. Manufacturing’s share of employment has fallen from a third in the 1970s to slightly above 10 % today, while real MVA (at 2005 prices) has declined from around a quarter of GDP to less than 15 %. Developing countries are turning into service economies without having gone through a proper experience of industrialization and this is called  “premature deindustrialization". Developed countries face unemployment deindustrialization without output deindustrialization.As developing countries opened up to trade, their manufacturing sectors were hit . Those without a strong comparative advantage in manufacturing became net importers of manufacturing, reversing a long process of import‐substitution.

Premature Deindustrialisation in India was studied by Sudip Chaudhuri. (Sudip Chaudhuri. Premature Deindustrialization in India and Re thinking the Role of Government. FMSH-WP-2015-91. 2015.)  In India , the share of manufacturing in GDP has stagnated around 15-16% since 1991. The share of manufacturing in GDP is 31% in Korea and 30% in China. Even Germany with much higher wage costs has a share of 21%. If domestic manufacturers are unable to withstand international competition and if domestic users start relying on imports, then what follows is not better utilization of existing capacities and greater efficiency but under utilization of existing capacities, decrease in production and rise in unemployment. Decay of existing industries which are unable to survive without protection does not automatically lead to the creation of new capacities in new industries.

Is sub-Saharan Africa deindustrializing is paper by Emmanuel B. Mensah (UNU MERIT working paper #2020-045. Important finding- East Africa is industrializing, whereas Southern Africa is the only region that seems to be deindustrializing.imports from both the North and South have negative effect on relative manufacturing employment suggesting that the competition effect is stronger than the spillover effect in the context of Africa. African countries can offset the negative effect through competition policies such as subsidies and local content laws that have minimum requirements for the procurement of locals and services, local employment opportunities, technology, and skill transfer, etc. Finally, as the results of the drivers show, promoting manufacturing exports is important for the industrial development of the continent.

National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for management of Covid-1 9

 This consensus document is developed by expert committees from All India Institute of Ayurveda (AMA), Delhi, Institute of Post Graduate Training and Research in Ayurved (IPGTRA), Jamnagar, and National Institute of Ayurveda (NlA), Jaipur Central Council for Research in Ayurveda (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN), other national research organizations. This protocol is for management of mild COVID-19. Moderate to Severe COVID-19 individuals may have informed choice of treatment options. All severe cases will be referred. General and Physical measures 

1. Follow physical distancing, respiratory and hand hygiene, wear mask 

2. Gargle with warm water added with a pinch of turmeric and salt. Water boiled with Triphala (dried fruits of Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula, Terminal/a bellerica) or Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra) also can be used for gargling. 

3. Nasal instillation/application of medicated oil (Anu taila or Shadbindu Taila) or plain oil (Sesame or Coconut) or nasal application of cow's ghee (Goghrita) once or twice in a day, especially before going out and after coming back to home. 

4. Steam inhalation with Ajwain (Trachyspermum ammi) or Pudina (Mentha spicata) or Eucalyptus oil once a day 

5. Adequate sleep of 6 to 8 hrs. 

6. Moderate physical exercises 

7. Follow Yoga Protocol for Primary Prevention of COVlD-19 (ANNEXURE-1) and Protocol for Post COVlD-19 care (including care for COVlD-19 patients) (ANN EXURE-2) - as applicable 

Download report: 

CRISIS TRIGGERED INNOVATIONS FROM INDIA

Beginning of COVID 19, expectations are rampant on India resorting to compulsory license to protect its large population from virus carnage. Also price controls on drugs and medical devices seemed to work against Indian patients getting proper healthcare based on new technologies. But what happened was different- it seems COVID crisis spurred Indian innovators into action mode with flood of innovations emanating from India. What factors worked as enablers? Is it sustainable? Has India finally discovered mantra for innovation!

Download Paper from SSRN .(https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3701450)

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF COMMERCIAL KITS FOR REAL TIME PCR FOR COVID BY ICMR IDENTIFIED VALIDATION CENTRES

 Till end of September 255 RT-PCR kits have been evaluated by ICMR validation centres, and 126 were found to be satisfactory. They include kits developed in India, Korea, UK, China, Turkey, Italy, Iran, Finland, Japan, Singapore, France, Taiwan, Czech republic and Russia. Real-Time PCR kits which are US-FDA can be used directly after due marketing approval from DCGI.

Check ICMR approved kits here.

Solutions Library at Engineering For Change

Engineering for Change (E4C) mission is to prepare, educate and activate the international engineering workforce to improve the quality of life of underserved communities around the world. We do this by providing resources and platforms that accelerate the development of impactful solutions and ensure public health and safety around the globe.

The E4C Solutions Library is a living database of products and services that are intended to be accessible and appropriate for those living in resource-constrained environments. The data in the Solutions Library is curated technical and market performance information that is normalized across all products, enabling side-by-side comparison and analysis of market influences.

Check the data base: https://www.engineeringforchange.org/solutions/products

Emergency Global Supply Chain System (COVID-19) catalogue

 The following catalogue lists all medical devices, including personal protective equipment, medical equipment, medical consumables, single use devices, laboratory and test-related devices that may be requested through the COVID-19 Supply Portal.

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/emergency-global-supply-chain-system-(covid-19)-catalogue

Agriculture Technologies on offer from ICAR labs

Processes for formulation of donkey-milk based cosmetic products – bathing soap, body butter, lip balm

In view of the promotion of donkey milk along with generating awareness among equine farmers and donkey keepers for benefits of donkey milk and getting economic gain from it, ICAR-NRCE has standardized the formulations and technology for production of Donkey milk-based soaps, body butter and lip balms. The soaps were made by HP and CP methods utilizing the benefits of olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil and essential oils along with other key ingredients. Fresh frozen donkey milk and freeze-dried donkey milk was used for making the formulations and soaps have been tested for organoleptic properties, cleansing, and lathering properties. The body butter was made by using freeze-dried donkey milk, beeswax, coconut oil, clarified butteroil, Shea butter, vitamin E and aloe vera gel along with essential oils and lip balms were made by using freeze-dried donkey milk, coconut oil, clarified butteroil, shea butter, vitamin E and sweet almond oil along with essential oils.

This is one among the many technologies on offer from ICAR labs.

Check technologies http://www.agrinnovateindia.co.in/technologies

 

BARC offers technologies to MSMEs under AKRUTI Scheme

AKRUTI ( Advanced Knowledge and RUral Technology Implementation ) is program of BARC. Under this program, BARC offers technology & consultancy in Biodegradable waste processing, Water, Food and Agriculture.

HOW INDIA REDUCED PATENT APPROVAL PERIOD FROM 80 MONTHS TO 8 MONTHS

 Indian patenting process received much flak for long period and stringest criteria for innovative step. While not diluting position on incremental innovations, computer related innovations, genetically modified seeds/ plants/ organs, Government of India has taken several steps to benefit startups, defined as firms within Rs 100 crore turnover. In addition to liberal funding and tax benefits, the Government announced 80% rebate in patent filing fees and 50% rebate in trademark filing fees. Large number of Patent facilitators(425) and Trademark facilitators (606) have been empaneled under this scheme to provide free-of-charge services to Startups. Additionally, Startups are considered for expedited examination of patent applications to reduce time taken in granting patents. This paper summerises Indian patent system drawing out negative list, explains the patenting methodology, analyses impact of pre-grant opposition and closes with remarkable turnaround with provision for expedited examination.

Download paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3694424

Global Innovations for Local Entrepreneurs

 

COVID crisis has seen a sudden spurt in innovations and technology licensing in India. 

Is the market for technology trade coming of age? Download presentation.

CSIR Technologies for COVID-19 Mitigation, July 2020

CSIR has developed several COVID-19 focused technologies and products ranging from sanitizers & masks to improved tests and diagnostics and ventilators, buildings and structures. The technologies, products and processes listed in the compendium are available for non-exclusive technology transfer. Out of 105 technologies and products in this compendium, 58 have been transferred to various industry partners. For the others, the technologies are in different stages of readiness, the most basic being a working prototype. Interested start-ups and industries may contact the concerned CSIR laboratory for further discussion, and technology transfer.

The updated list includes:

• Rapid and Economical Diagnostics (7),
• Development of Repurposed Drugs/New Drugs & Vaccine (8),
• Hospital Assistive Devices and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (49),
• Supply Chain & Logistics Support Systems (3)

Telemedicine and telehealth

The guidelines in the 2020 document distinctly define the concepts of telemedicine and telehealth.

Telemedicine: The delivery of healthcare services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and for the continuing education of health care providers, all in the interests of advancing the health of individuals and their communities. 

Telehealth: The delivery and facilitation of health and health-related services including medical care, provider and patient education, health information services, and self-care via telecommunications and digital communication technologies. The categories of medicines that can be prescribed are :

List O: It will comprise those medicines which are safe to be prescribed through any mode of tele-consultation. In essence they would comprise of o Medicines which are used for common conditions and are often available ‘over the counter’. 

List A: These medications are those which can be prescribed during the first consult which is a video consultation and are being re-prescribed for re-fill, in case of follow-up.

List B: Is a list of medication which RMP can prescribe in a patient who is undergoing follow-up consultation in addition to those which have been prescribed during in-person consult for the same medical condition.

Yet to come are guidelines on Data Protection and Doctors' liability.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare drafted the Digital Information Security in Health Care Act to secure confidentiality and privacy in health-care systems. Meanwhile, the judiciary has attempted to safeguard an individual’s right to privacy. In Justice K.S. Puttaswammy v Union of India, it was held that right to privacy was a facet of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. It further held that “the right of an individual to exercise control over his personal data and to be able to control his/her own life would also encompass his right to control his existence on the internet.” 

On Doctors' liability -The conduct of medical malpractice was brought under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, due to the landmark case of the Indian Medical Association vs. V. P. Shantha & others, The judgment in this case defined medical care as a “service” that was covered under the Act, and also clarified that a person seeking medical attention may be considered a consumer if certain criteria were met.

 

Development of the Farm Machinery Industry in Japan : A Case Study of the Walking Type Tractor

Indian Government is reported contemplating restriction on import of Chinese Power Tillers. India has been assembling power tillers for decades and most of them are based on Japanese technology.
This case explains how Japan developed Power Tiller/ Walking type tractor.

The evolution of the walking type tractor occurred in three phases. The first phase involved the actual transfer of technology from abroad. Garden tractors such as Bee Man, Utilitar and Simar were imported in the early 1920s and demonstration of cultivation was performed in some prefectures. The imported tractors turned out to be inappropriate for the natural, economic, and social conditions of Japanese agriculture. The import of garden tractors thus ended within a short period. The second phase saw the invention of a Japanese type tractor called the "power tiller." It incorporated some of the designs of imported garden tractors built before World War II. The power tiller was subject to several defects and was used only in limited areas. This led to the third phase in which walking type tractors were invented and widely diffused. These tractors signified the completion of an appropriate technology for Japanese agriculture. The defects of the power tillers were corrected and hand tractors and tailor type tractors were also developed with reference to imported garden tractors. The quality of these walking type tractors were good enough to replace draft animals completely. These walking type tractors were diffused at a high speed and reached their peak in 1974 when 3.4 million such tractors were in use in Japan. Export of the walking type tractors started increasing in the mid-1960s. In 1982 about 30 percent of the total production of walking type tractors was exported. 

The Role o the Public Sector in the Development f of the Walking Type Tractor
 Pre-War period:  an agricultural experiment station carried out a comparative examination of imported garden tractors in 1922. Although the results of the study suggested that imported garden tractors were not well suited to Japanese agriculture, the study made clear the importance of developing a cultivating machine which was adapted to local agricultural conditions. Secondly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry promoted the diffusion of the power tiller by holding national machinery and implements fairs.
Post-war period:With the enactment of the Farm Mechanization Promotion Law in 1 9_ 53, the farm machinery testing scheme was legalized.Secondly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry entrusted the Okayama Prefectural Experiment Station to conduct research on small-scale power tillers from 1947~48. In this way, the transmission clutch was improved and engines were made smaller and lighter. 
Down load the paper.