[Ip-health] FE Opinion: Loss of face for India if Patents Ordinance lapses

[Ram]

>From Financial Express


Loss of face for India if Patents Ordinance lapses

Left doesn't mind letting the Ordinance lapse if sticky issues are not
resolved; BJP joins Left in opposing the proposed law

AMITI SEN & SHEBONTI RAY DADWAL

 The Patents Ordinance may lapse when Parliament goes into recess on
March 24 if the Left parties and the UPA government do not arrive at a
consensus by then. This would result in a violation of the country's
obligations under the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
(Trips) Agreement which requires India to introduce a product patent
regime by January 1, 2005.

This could lead to disputes being filed against India by other
countries at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and put a question
mark on its credibility.

As per rules, once Parliament goes into session, an Ordinance lapses
within six weeks. The current session of Parliament started on
February 25. It will go into a recess from March 24 to April 18.
Therefore, the six-week deadline would expire in mid-April itself. The
Patents Bill would thus be required to be tabled by commerce and
industry minister Kamal Nath by March 24 itself. If the government
misses the bus, then the whole process would have to begin afresh. A
fresh Ordinance cannot be promulgated when Parliament is in session.

"We are positive in our outlook and want a solution. However, if our
concerns are not addressed we will let the Ordinance lapse," a Left
leader said. The standing committee on patents is holding daily
meetings in a bid to avoid a lapse which could put India in bad light
internationally.

Interestingly, the Narsimha Rao government faced the same problem way
back in 1994 when it was attempting to bring about the first amendment
to the Patents Act. It passed the Act through an Ordinance which
lapsed due to opposition from the Left parties and the BJP.

The United States, after waiting for a year and a half, filed a
dispute against India at the WTO for failing to put in place a
Trips-compliant patent regime by the agreed date of January 1 1995.
The EU, too, followed suit.

The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO ruled in 1998 that India
should introduce the amendment with retrospective effect. Following
this, India introduced the amended Patents Act in 1999.

Legal experts said while a failure to abide by WTO rules could lead to
sanctions by other countries, it would not happen immediately. First a
country needs to file a dispute, following which the Appellate Body
(AB) comes out with its decision. Based on the AB's decision, the DSB
would give its judgement.

Only if India fails to implement the DSB's decision within 15 months,
other countries can impose sanctions against it. However, experts
added that if India fails to stick to its WTO obligations, it could
lose face in the on-going negotiations which would give the developed
countries an advantage over it.



URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=85431