[DMCA-Activists] ‘Indian presence at Casablanca patent law meet was unjust’

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Commons-Law] ‘Indian presence at Casablanca patent law
meet was unjust’
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 10:33:25 +0200
From: Ram <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden


>Financial Express

'Indian presence at Casablanca patent law meet was unjust'

KG NARENDRANATH

New Delhi, April 24  Was there any harmful thoughtlessness or
even culpability in India's perceived reversal of role in the
February Casablanca meeting that "informally" deliberated on the
Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT)? At least, Debabrata Saha,
India's deputy permanent representative to the UN, thinks so,
going by a critical letter he recently wrote to BS Baswan,
secretary in the HRD ministry.

Mr Saha believes that behind the ongoing SPLT talks and the
proposed reform of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), there is
a deliberate Washington-Brussels agenda to shape and influence
national patent laws, to the detriment of developing countries
like India, Brazil, Israel and China with substantial interests
at odds with former on patent issues.

He is worried that India took active participation in Casablanca
meeting, held "without any mandate" from the World Intellectual
Property Organisation's (WIPO) general assembly.

 Dr RA Mashelkar, ditrector-general of the CSIR, chaired the
meeting. "There is concern that Dr Mashelkar's chairing of the
Casablanca meeting and playing a key role in shaping its outcome
could be a signal that India was not just distancing itself from
other developing countries on an important North-South issue, but
more ominously that India might be considering joining the other
side," he said in the letter. It may be noted that Dr Mashelkar,
a Padma awardee, chairs the panel set up by the government
recently to thrash out a formula for two issues of India's patent
law, unsettled even after the recent amendment approved by
Parliament.

It may also be noted that India did not sign the statement of
Groups of Friends of Development (a forum of developing
countries) calling for a "balanced treaty" on substantive
harmonization of patent law.

The ambassador sees an attempt to establish "global patent" in
West's efforts to thrust substantive issues of patent examination
and grant into the PCT Reforms agenda in the guise of "upward
harmonization" of national patent systems. PCT reform was
originally meant to be merely procedural. According to him, the
working group on PCT (procedural) reforms has no mandate to
venture into the arena of patent examination even if it is done
in the garb of an "optional protocol." "The Paris convention was
was optional too. But did it remain effectively optional after
TRIPS? Wasn't it for all practical purposes, subsumed in TRIPS ?
Doesn't this prove that what is an optional treaty today could
very well become obligatory tomorrow?" he asked pointedly, in
writing, elsewhere. According to him, the aim of the developed
countries clearly is to transform the PCT from an international
patent filing system to an international patent granting
surrogate

Dwelling on related issues, Mr Saha in the letter to Mr Baswan
stressed the importance of easy use of compulsory licence (CL)
provision- a TRIPS compliant tool to sidestep patents. "Any
regime that places legal and procedural obstacles to the use of
CL effectively reduces the legislative provision for such
licences to a nullity." Stating  that global generic drug
industry depends critically on its ability to continue to source
active basic ingredients from Indian industry, he said that few
investors would take the risk of investing in facilities in
generic-related research if the entry of generic to the market-
through CL- was uncertain. TRIPS provides for no injunctive
relief to a patent holder when a CL is issued. To fulfill India's
leading role of supplier of affordable medicines, New Delhi must
put a legislation in place to facilitate generic production for
exports, said Mr Saha.

URL:
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=88919

--
Prabhu Ram,
Max-Planck-Institut for Intellectual Property, Competition and
Tax Law,
MarstallPlatz 1,
80539 Munich
GERMANY

Tel: + 49 89 24246226
Mob: + 49 17629830521
Web: http://infoserve.blogspot.com
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