The Hindu : National : Many Left amendments accepted

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Saturday, Mar 19, 2005

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National

Many Left amendments accepted

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH. 18. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) today announced that the Government had so far agreed to incorporate seven of the 12 amendments suggested by the Left parties in the Patents (Amendment) Bill, introduced today to replace the Ordinance.

"The discussions are on and as of now seven of the 12 amendments we had suggested have been agreed to by the Government. Of the rest, three more are likely to be accepted," the CPI (M) leaders, Rupchand Pal and Nilotpal Basu, said at a press conference. They said the opposition shown by some Left party MPs when the Bill was being introduced was due to a "communication gap." They would continue the discussions over the weekend.

Mr. Pal said the introduction of the Bill to replace the ordinance was a legislative procedure. He, however, criticised the BJP's stand on the Bill. The party "had no moral right to oppose since it is their Bill."

On the suggestions agreed to, Mr. Pal said they included restricting the scope of patentability to modify definitions to describe "inventive step," "new invention" and "pharmaceutical substances;" hearing and extension of time for filing of pre-grant opposition, facilitation of pharmaceutical exports to the least developed countries; and compulsory licensing. For instance, under compulsory licensing, a country can have access to patented products in case of a natural calamity or, in case of an urgent need, can approach the patent-holder by payment of royalty, he said. There is, however, no agreement on royalty with the Left parties stating that it should be "nominal" and the Government saying that it should be "reasonable." Another argument that in case of the least developed countries, which do not have production capacities, India, which has a strong pharmaceutical industry, could export to these nations under certain conditions.

Similarly, in order to take advantage of the flexibility available under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), the Left parties suggest that if patent is granted for which an application was filed during the transitional period of 1995 and 2005, the patent regime should be applicable from the prospective date and should not have retrospective effect.

The CPI leader, S. Sudhakar Reddy, told The Hindu that just as Britain and France had taken steps to protect their national interest, India too should take steps. He said that since payment of royalties would become inevitable, the effort was to minimise its impact.

The All-India Forward Bloc general secretary, Debabrata Biswas, welcomed the amendments being brought in the Bill and urged the Centre to keep all options open to protect the country's biodiversity and public health. The party said that it would insist that in order to make the law compliant with TRIPs, Section 5 of the principal Act would have to be deleted.

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