India’s Patent Regime

Context:

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in a report released last month that India was one of the most challenging major economies as far as IP protection and enforcement is concerned.
It has decided to retain India on its Priority Watch List along with six other countries Argentina, Chile, China, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.

India which became a member of the WTO in the year 1995 also became a signatory to the TRIPS agreement.
The patents in India are governed by the Indian Patent Act of 1970, so India has an overarching legislation to deal with the patents in India.
Post the 1990’s India has adopted its economic model based on the western principles which are liberal in nature.
Hence India has gradually aligned itself with international regimes pertaining to intellectual property rights.
Apart from being a party to the TRIPS agreement India has also been a signatory to various other conventions pertaining to patents.
These conventions include – Berne Convention, which governs copyright, the Budapest Treaty, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
After being a member to the TRIPS, India has made a few changes to its domestic laws pertaining to patents.
One such example is that, originally the Pharmaceuticals were not granted patent under Indian Patent Act.
But after India became a party to TRIPS Agreement, it has amended the act to give patent rights to the pharma sector.
The patent rights were not given to the pharma sector with a reason that medicines were available at a low price.

In its report released by the USTR. It has addressed wide range of issues including copyright, piracy, trademark counterfeiting, etc.
It also stated that India “remained one of the world’s most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of IP.”

It is the Article 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act, which is the main point of contention.
This article prevents the mere discovery of any new property or new use for a known substance from being patented as an invention unless it enhances the efficacy.
This prevents, what is known as “evergreening” of patents.

The Doha Declaration on TRIPS agreement that was adopted on November, 2021 emphasises on public health.
It recognises that intellectual property protection is essential for the development of new medicines but also expressed its concerns on its effect on the prices of the medicines.
It says that TRIPS agreement should not prevent the states from protecting the public health.
It declares that States can issue compulsory licenses allowing companies other than patent owners to produce the medicines.

Source The Hindu

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