India has upgraded
its legal system to handle patent related litigation and to allow
patent in all areas of technology. Accordingly, the provisions
relating to the setting up of the Intellectual Property Appellate
Board (Tribunal) contained in the Trade Marks Act, 1999, with
suitable modifications, have been made applicable to the Patent
Law by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002. This is intended to
ensure speedy disposal of appeals against the decisions of the
Controller of Patents, which at present lie to the High Court.
The Act provides for appointment of Technical Member having experience
in patents. The Patent Act, 1970, as amended by the Patents (Amendment)
Act, 2002 has, thus, fulfilled India’s international obligations
contained in the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
Agreements of World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement.
The process of setting
up IP Appellate Board, with its headquarters at Chennai, has already
been set in motion. Doha Ministerial Declaration has provided
a mandate to address the issue of relationship between the TRIPS
Agreement and the bio-diversity and protection of traditional
knowledge and folklore as outstanding implementation issues. Besides,
Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health provides
for exemption to Less Developed Countries (LDCs) till January
1, 2016 for implementing or applying the provisions of Section
5 (Patents) and Section 7 (Protection of Undisclosed Information).
Doha Declaration
on the TRIPS Agreement on Public Health affirms that the TRIPS
Agreement can and should be interpreted to protect public health
and promote access to medicines for all. The Declaration recognizes
the affordability and availability of medicines as a universal
right.
The Ministers at
Doha agreed that the TRIPS Agreement does and should not prevent
members from taking measures to protect public health. The Declaration
reaffirms the Members’ right to use, to the full, the flexibility
of compulsory license and parallel import for public health. It
clarifies that the Governments have freedom to determine the grounds
to grant compulsory licenses. The Declaration also clarifies that
each Member nation has the right to determine what constitutes
a national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency
for issuing compulsory licenses on expeditious basis. The Declaration
also clarifies that each Member nation is free to establish its
own regime for exhaustion of IPRs (parallel import).
