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Parliament unlikely to pass new patents bill soon

Despite pressure on New Delhi to change its Patent Act, 1970, to bring it in tune with India's obligations to the World Trade Organisation, it is unlikely that Parliament will pass a new patents bill soon.

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral told US President Bill Clinton during their meeting in New York last week that India will speed up the reforms of intellectual property laws as soon as possible. Towards that end, Gujral set up an expert group to fine-tune a new legislation on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights.

However, the Parliamentary Forum on Intellectual Property, which is against changes in the patents law, has expressed its doubts at the expert group's utility.

Last weekend, PFIP members wrote to the prime minister that "the expert group will not be able to evolve a national consensus on the appropriate intellectual property rights regime for the country." Added the letter: "The question of evolving a national consensus on TRIPS should be referred to a group that can safeguard the national interest despite the various changes that have taken place since the coming into force of the Indian Patents Act 1970."

PFIP members include Home Minister Indrajit Gupta (of the Communist Party of India), senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, Samata Party president George Fernandes, Communist Party of India-Marxist member Ashok Mitra and former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer.

While the PFIP's main grouse is that Gujral failed to consider the views of state governments while forming the expert group, they also fear the committee will blindly agree to the WTO provisions on the patents legislation.

The expert group comprises Cabinet Scientific Advisory Committee Chairman C N R Rao, former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey, former commerce secretary A V Ganesan, Disinvestment Commission Chairman G V Ramakrishna, Planning Commission member S P Shukla, National Council of Applied Economic Research Director-General Rakesh Mohan and Department of Industrial Development Secretary P G Mankad.

Though the United Front government has held a number of meetings to draft a new patents legislation, political consensus has remained elusive.

"The basic issue is not so much legal, but political," a senior official told Rediff On The NeT, adding that Industry Minister Murasoli Maran is "also taking a soft line" on the matter.

The official pointed out that all the major political parties agree that India should not go back on the commitment made by the previous Congress government to the WTO. "But they want some issues concerning the country's sovereignty to be addressed first before the legislation is passed," he added. This process of consultations between the political parties is time consuming, he said.

Now, with the PFIP opposing the expert group, it is unlikely that the new patents legislation will be passed during Parliament's winter session.

At a recent meeting to review the progress on the TRIPS legislation, Maran reportedly stated that though the UF government is bound by the commitments made to the WTO, it is not bound by any time-frame for the same.

Yet, experts say Gujral will be forced to speed up patent reforms, especially since the United States and European Union have mounted considerable pressure on India to alter its patent laws.

India should have amended the Patent Act 1970 with effect from January 1, 1995, but failed to do so. The new patent act is expected to provide for a 'mailbox' facility to lodge product patent applications and exclusive marketing rights for applicants subject to certain conditions.

The US sought consultations with India in May 1996 under the WTO dispute settlement procedures, alleging that the Indian government had failed to honour its TRIPS obligations.

The US move against India was triggered by its legal provision of Special 301, under which Washington placed India on "the priority watch list" on the ground that New Delhi did not provide adequate patent protection. Last year, the EU also joined the WTO consultations on the implementation of the TRIPS agreement by India.

The US accounts for 14 per cent of India's global trade while the EU nations have a share of 30 per cent.

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