The claim
made by a US company on the usefulness of
lotus and cowhage (a herb) for
treatment of obesity and hunger at the European Patent Office (EPO) has been
foiled by India, largely because of submission of prior art evidence from
ancient Hindu texts that refutes the claim of novelty.
The US
based company Somalab had filed a patent publication no EP2419508 at the
European Patent Office (EPO) in 2010. The patent titled ‘Method for the
induction of a reward response by modulation of dopaminergic systems in the
central nervous system ‘ had claimed the usefulness of lotus and cowhage in the
treatment of obesity and hunger control as novel. The patent was ‘deemed to
have been withdrawn’ through a communication by EPO on August 13, 2014.
The
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a unit of Council of Scientific
& Industrial Research had submitted prior art evidence in the form of
references from ancient books and texts citing evidence that the plants have
been used alone or in combination along with few other ingredients for the treatment
for the treatment of obesity, polyphagia/excessive hunger and for satiating in
the traditional Indian system of medicine.
Confirming
that the patent has been deemed to have been withdrawn, an EPO spokesperson
said: “The exact reason for the applicant losing interest in their patent
application cannot be known for certain. It is true that evidence provided by
TKDL was used by the EPO examiner in their examination report, objecting to
aspects of the Somalab’s patent application and subsequently Somalab’s application
was deemed withdrawn for failure to respond. They have a few weeks to react,
but if we do not get a response, the application will be terminated.”
Former
TKDL director VK Gupta had on his last day in office submitted all evidence
which specifies that these plants were used traditionally for treatment of
obesity and hunger control.
“The
claims of the usefulness of a combination of plants — sacred lotus and cowhage
for treatment of obesity, polyphagia/excessive hunger and for satiating when
the therapeutic effects of claimed plants are already known as traditional
knowledge cannot be considered as inventive,” Dr Gupta had said in his letter
to EPO.
Source:- http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/1263835.aspx?s=p
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