Pharmaceutical company Natco Pharma has sued Shamnad Basheer, the founder of the Intellectual Property focused blog Spicy IP, in Delhi High Court, seeking a permanent injunction and Rs 25,00,000 in damages for allegedly publishing defamatory and libelous statements about the company, reports LegallyIndia. According to the lawsuit uploaded by LegallyIndia, Natco claims that Shamnad had published defamatory and libelous articles against the company in his blog, and had given his opinion to several electronic & print media including newspapers, which contains false, derogatory and defamatory statements about them, which were reckless and callous and have therefore caused incalculable damage to them. Natco-Bristol-Myers Squibb lawsuit: At the crux of it seems to be the SpicyIP's coverage and analysis of the Natco and the US-based pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) lawsuit. For those whose are not familiar with the lawsuit, Natco had developed an anti-cancer product called dasatinib monohydrate, which was to be used to treat blood cancer. However, BMS currently holds a patent (No 209237) in India with respect to dasatinib while Natco had no such patent yet. BMS filed a lawsuit against Natco in 2009, alleging that Natco had infringed on their patent and seeked necessary damages. Natco however claimed that its product was different and was therefore not covered by the patent. In addition, it had also filed a counter claim against BMS in 2009, challenging the validity of the said patent. The judgement for both the cases are yet to be announced by the court. Natco launched the product in May 2012, following which BMS filed for…
