Prashant Reddy T. and Sumathi Chandrashekaran
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199470662
- eISBN:
- 9780199088850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199470662.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
The signing of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement at Marrakesh in 1994 marked the beginning of a new international IP regime. As per Article 27 of the Agreement on Trade-Related ...
More
The signing of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement at Marrakesh in 1994 marked the beginning of a new international IP regime. As per Article 27 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), no member could discriminate among different technologies under their domestic patent law. India was, therefore, under an obligation to amend its domestic patent law to once again recognize pharmaceutical patents. After an initial failure to amend its domestic law, India was sued by the US and EU before the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO. Under the threat of WTO-authorised trade sanctions, India began the process of amending its patent law over three phases. This chapter explains the stormy decade between the signing of the Marrakesh Agreement and the enactment of the Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005 which finally recognized pharmaceutical patents with the caveat of Section 3(d).Less
The signing of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement at Marrakesh in 1994 marked the beginning of a new international IP regime. As per Article 27 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), no member could discriminate among different technologies under their domestic patent law. India was, therefore, under an obligation to amend its domestic patent law to once again recognize pharmaceutical patents. After an initial failure to amend its domestic law, India was sued by the US and EU before the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO. Under the threat of WTO-authorised trade sanctions, India began the process of amending its patent law over three phases. This chapter explains the stormy decade between the signing of the Marrakesh Agreement and the enactment of the Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005 which finally recognized pharmaceutical patents with the caveat of Section 3(d).
Prashant Reddy T. and Sumathi Chandrashekaran
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199470662
- eISBN:
- 9780199088850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199470662.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
The Patents Act, 1970 and its virtual abolition of a pharmaceutical patent regime did not go unchallenged by the innovator pharmaceutical industry of the developed world. Starting in the mid-1980s, ...
More
The Patents Act, 1970 and its virtual abolition of a pharmaceutical patent regime did not go unchallenged by the innovator pharmaceutical industry of the developed world. Starting in the mid-1980s, the United States (US) spearheaded an effort to link trade in goods with trade in intellectual property under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Although India initially resisted even discussing the issue, it capitulated in Geneva in April 1989 in what came to be known as the famous ‘Geneva Surrender’. Once negotiations began, the USt cajoled India to agree to Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and a pharmaceutical patent regime. Joining the WTO and becoming a signatory to TRIPS required India to reinstate a pharmaceutical patent regime in exchange for greater trading benefits in other sectors, like textiles. This chapter recounts the diplomatic negotiations and national politics that led to India agreeing to TRIPS.Less
The Patents Act, 1970 and its virtual abolition of a pharmaceutical patent regime did not go unchallenged by the innovator pharmaceutical industry of the developed world. Starting in the mid-1980s, the United States (US) spearheaded an effort to link trade in goods with trade in intellectual property under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Although India initially resisted even discussing the issue, it capitulated in Geneva in April 1989 in what came to be known as the famous ‘Geneva Surrender’. Once negotiations began, the USt cajoled India to agree to Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and a pharmaceutical patent regime. Joining the WTO and becoming a signatory to TRIPS required India to reinstate a pharmaceutical patent regime in exchange for greater trading benefits in other sectors, like textiles. This chapter recounts the diplomatic negotiations and national politics that led to India agreeing to TRIPS.
