The Copyright Amendment Act, 2012 has been enacted by the Government of India bringing changes to the Copyright Act, 1957. The amendments make Indian copyright law compliant with the Internet Treaties, WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). The amendments grant performers’ rights to performers. While introducing technological protection measures, the law ensures that fair use survives in the digital era by providing special fair use provisions.

As researchers find more uses for data, informed consent has become a source of confusion. Something has to change.

German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG has formally lodged a challenge against a landmark Indian ruling that allowed a domestic generic drug-maker to produce a low-cost version of an anti-cancer drug for the Indian market. The appeal was filed on Friday 4 May with India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

Liberalisation measures in the pharmaceutical sector have brought about major changes in the industrial licensing policy, import restrictions, foreign direct investment and production controls. It was feared that firms would shift from indigenous production to imports, especially of bulk drugs, and this concern was aggravated with the change in the patent law. This paper finds that these apprehensions have only partly come true. Exports of formulations have grown faster while their imports have not registered any jump, keeping the balance of trade positive.

The compulsory licence issued to Natco for manufacture of the anti-cancer drug Nexavar is a landmark decision on many grounds – the first one in India since the 2005 amendment to the 1970 Patents Act and the fi rst in the world issued to a private party. There are some ambiguities in the order, but the door is now open for issue of CLs for a number of patented drugs that are not being worked.

Health is a crucially important social and economic asset - a cornerstone for human development. Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) call for specific health improvements by 2015: reducing the child and maternal mortality and slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The compulsory licence for Nexavar is only the beginning of a new battle over drug prices. (Editorial)

In January 2005, drug product patent protection was reintroduced in India to comply with the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. How are the multinational pharmaceutical companies responding to the new policy environment? Is India likely to see monopolisation of the industry and high prices, which was the pattern before 1972 when India had product patent protection? Will the positive features of the post-1972 process patent era be diluted or negated?

In a landmark move, the Indian Patent Office announced on Monday that it has issued its first compulsory license to a domestic generic drug-maker. The decision effectively ends German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG's monopoly over an anti-cancer drug and authorises the production of a low-cost version for the Indian market.