[Ip-health] The Economic Times on the various parleys over the proposed Indian Patents Bill

[Ram]

> The Economic Times

Patents: UPA yields an inch, Left wants a mile

The UPA-Left negotiations on the new patents regime seem to have made
some headway with the government agreeing to some of the amendments
suggested by the Left. But the Left is still not satisfied, saying
that its major suggestions have not been accepted.

The Left Parties will make up their mind on the proposed Patents
(amendment) Bill by March 14. At a two-hour meeting of the UPA-Left
floor Coordination Commitee, the government conveyed to the Left the
extent to which it would accommodate amendments suggested by the ally.

However, sources in the Left said, the government has not come out
clearly on major concerns of the Left like availability of drugs at
affordable prices, exploring the flexibility in the Trips agreement,
patentability criteria for pharma products and a royalty-based
in-licensing system.

The sources said the government's argument that patentability criteria
for pharma products and computer software was sufficiently defined,
was "not convincing". The government has broadly agreed to four of the
10 suggestions including provision for pre-grant opposition and
compulsory licensing.

The Left sees this as a departure from the provisions in the NDA draft
but not entirely "satisfactory".

Commerce minister Kamal Nath told reporters after the meeting that the
Left had sought certain clarifications and would come out with their
views by March 14. Defence minister and chairman of the Group of
Ministers on Patents Pranab Mukherjee was also present at the meeting.

The Left had asked the government to make full use of "flexibilities"
available in Trips agreement to safeguard domestic interests and said
the proposed Patents (third amendment) bill would go against interests
of domestic industry.

It had sent a list of desired amendments to the Group of Ministers
headed by Pranab Mukherjee, which included reserving the term
invention for a "new" product or process involving an inventive step
and capable of industrial application to limit the number of
applications and discourage frivolous claims.

It said the proposed bill did not provide scope for issuing of
compulsory licensing in cases where, notwithstanding the offer of
reasonable commercial terms and conditions to the patent holder by an
enterprise, the patentee does not respond within a stipulated time.

The Left also pointed out that despite the Trips agreement allowing
exports by manufacturers who produce through a compulsory license, the
Indian Act did not explicitly provide for it.

The CPM had earlier demanded that the bill be referred to a
parliamentary panel for wider debate despite the government's argument
that India had to pass legislation to be Trips compliant by January 1,
2005.