[Ip-health] Swiss govt not to take Novartis case to WTO

[Gopa Kumar]

Swiss govt not to take Novartis case to WTO

BS Reporter / New Delhi August 8, 2007



The government of Switzerland will not be taking up the allegation by
Novartis that Indian patent law is incompatible with the Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement at the
dispute settlement board of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"We accept any case settled in India. It is normal litigation, in
which one party happens to be a company and another is a country,"
said Doris Leuthard, federal councillor, department of economic
affairs of the Swiss Confederation, here today.

Leuthard was in Delhi to sign a memorandum on cooperation in
international property rights with India.

Leuthard was responding to the Madras High Court verdict on Monday
rejecting a Novartis petition that questioned the constitutional
validity of Section 3(D) of the Indian Patents Act, which restricts
patenting of minor improvements of known molecules.

In its judgement, the court had advised Novartis to approach the
dispute settlement forum of the WTO on TRIPS compliance, for which the
Swiss company would have had to approach its government (only
countries, and not companies, can approach the WTO on matters of trade
policy).

"We must have a reliable TRIPS system and the one in India is good
enough," said Leuthard, adding, "The Swiss government never gets
involved in any judicial pronouncements of other countries."

However, Leuthard also said the impact of the verdict on prospective
Swiss investors in India remained to be seen.

"I do not know how Swiss companies will react to it. Maybe they will
have a closer look at the verdict. Some of them may find that
investing in India may not be attractive," she said.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the Indian Patents Law was
compatible with TRIPS.

"It has been two years since the Indian Patents Act has been passed
and no country has filed any complaint in the WTO yet. This Act is
compliant with TRIPS," said Nath, who was present on the occasion.