Roche Ltd, the Indian arm of Swiss drugmaker F Hoffman La Roche Scientific, has won a trademark-infringement case against Cipla Ltd over its anti-infection drug brand-named Valcyte
MUMBAI: Roche Ltd, the Indian arm of Swiss drugmaker F Hoffman La Roche Scientific, has won a trademark-infringement case against Cipla Ltd over its anti-infection drug brand-named Valcyte.
The Bombay High Court found Cipla’s brandname ‘Valcept’ —- for the generic version of the drug valganciclovir —- infringing upon Roche’s trademark rights.
The court has given Cipla three weeks to change the brand-name of its version.
Generic drugs are copycats versions of innovator drugs, and are sold far cheaper. Cipla’s Valcept is priced at Rs 245 per tablet against Roche Valcyte’s Rs 1,000.
Earlier, Roche had filed two petitions in the Bombay High Court alleging patent and trademark infringements over Valcyte.
The first petition alleged that Cipla violated Roche’s patent covering valganciclovir (the active pharma ingredient) by launching a generic version. The second petition alleged that Cipla violated Roche’s trademark by launching a product with a confusingly similar sounding name.
The petition on the patent is still undecided. “It is a victory for us. The Bombay High Court has respected intellectual property rights,” said a Roche official. The implications of this. The judgment wouldn’t mean a major loss to Cipla other than a change in the name of the product.
According to Shamnad Basheer, who is the ministry of human resources’ chair in intellectual property law at the National University of Judicial Sciences, this is not a final order, but only a temporary injunction.
“It is quite possible that after a full-fledged trial, the court may find that Valcept does not infringe trademark rights over Valcyte.
Cipla is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court, according to sources. Cipla managing director Amar Lulla could not be reached for comment. “The trademark issue, though significant, is not half as important as the patent issue. If Cipla loses the patent issue, it will suffer losses, as it has to then stop selling the drug altogether,” says Basheer.
This is the second case involving Roche and Cipla. Earlier, Roche had challenged the launch of the generic version of its lung cancer drug Tarceva. That case is still pending in the Delhi High Court.
The Madras High Court had recently set aside the patent covering valcyte on grounds of procedural irregularity and asked the patent office to consider the matter after hearing an opposition.
Basheer said a fresh decision from the patent office is awaited by January 2009 before ruling on the patent issue.
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