[A2k] Indian "Bayh-Dole" Bill before Parliament

[Pranesh Prakash]

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Dear All,
The Protection and Utilisation of Public Funded Intellectual Property
Bill 2008 <http://bit.ly/pupfip-bill>, apparently drafted by the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with
the help of a law firm, has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha (the
upper house of the Indian Parliament) by the Minister of Science and
Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal.  There has much criticism of this Bill
even before it was introduced in Parliament, since it received the
assent of the Union Cabinet without so much as a draft having been
released to the public and without benefit of a public debate.  This
was so despite calls for greater transparency by many leading
academics and international groups.

Not just academics, but even the mainstream media have noted the
failure of the Bayh-Dole.  Apart from the fact that the very premise
of the Bayh-Dole Act might be flawed, there is the law of unintended
consequences to ensure that the statute fails miserably.  Indeed, by
many accounts, the act has resulted in a decrease in innovation, while
making taxpayers pay twice for the same research.

Fortune, 2005:
<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/09/19/8272884/index.htm>
Economist, 2005:
<http://www.economist.com/science/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=5327661>
NYT, 2008:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/technology/07unbox.html?pagewanted=print>
Marcia Angell in NYRB (2004), an excerpt from "The Truth About the
Drug Companies":
<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244>

An Indian IP blog, Spicy IP, has been keeping track of the story:
<http://spicyipindia.blogspot.com/search/label/Bayh%20Dole>

Regards,
Pranesh

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Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society

T: +91 80 40926283
W: http://cis-india.org
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