The Hindu : National : Public interest groups for limiting scope of patents

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Monday, Aug 29, 2005

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Public interest groups for limiting scope of patents

Siddharth Narrain

Seek appropriate tests before granting of patents over micro-organisms The Affordable Medicines Treatment Campaign told the Committee that limiting patents to "new chemical entities" was compatible with TRIPS and necessary to address the country's public health concerns .

NEW DELHI: Public interest groups, in their submissions to the Technical Expert Committee on Patent Issues have recommended limiting the scope of patents for pharmaceutical substances and the introduction of appropriate tests over micro-organisms.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry constituted the Committee in April 2005 after the Government amended the Patents Act in March 2005. Director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Dr. R.A. Mashelkar heads the Committee. Its mandate is to examine if limiting the grant of patents to a new chemical entity and excluding micro-organisms from the patent regime are compatible with India's obligations under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement.

New chemical entities

The Affordable Medicines Treatment Campaign (AMTC) told the Committee that limiting patents to "new chemical entities" was compatible with TRIPS and necessary to address the country's public health concerns and for the survival of the domestic pharmaceutical industry.

AMTC submitted that TRIPS allowed for a high threshold level for patentable criteria along with the exclusion of discoveries. It said provisions related to the criteria of patentability and its exclusions in the Patents Act, 2005 provided enough space for pharmaceutical companies to obtain trivial or incremental patents for drugs invented before 1995.

Pointing out that the TRIPS framework gave member countries enough legislative flexibility to determine the scope of patents, AMTC suggested that the definition of "patentable criteria" in the Act be amended, and the definition of "pharmaceutical substance" be changed to prevent the trivial patenting of drugs and to ensure access to cheaper generic drugs.

The Alternative Law Forum (ALF), Bangalore, in its submission on micro-organisms, recommended that the Committee introduce appropriate tests before granting patents over micro-organisms.

Warning that the prospect of multiple licenses on patents over micro-organisms and other life forms could discourage innovations, ALF said TRIPS provided enough flexibility to interpret or construct tests for "novelty" and "non-obviousness" to avoid a deluge of patents over micro-organisms and other life forms, which could choke any development in the field.

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