Country Reports October 2009

Country: INDIAPeriod of Report: October 2009
  1. India during the preparation talks being held in December 2009 at Bonn for the Copenhagen meet on climate change says that it will not allow International Community to check on its measures to combat climate change unless the developed nations provide adequate financial aid and also facilitate transfer of green technology. In this connection, India has put forth the proposal to set up a global fund which can buy out green technology IPR and then freely distribute them, in the same way as is being done for drugs for HIV/ AIDS.
  2. Indian Patent Office in September 2009 rejected patent applications on two life saving drugs for AIDS, manufactured by U.S. biotechnology group Gilead (GILD.O) and Darunavir, which is made by Ireland’s Tibotec Pharmaceuticals.
  3. Pharma industry has called for further amendment to the Patents Act, 1970 to strengthen the criteria of patent protection and constitution of a fresh Technical expert committee to look into the scope of patentability of pharma products and to evaluate patents granted on known substances in place of Dr.R.A Mashelkar Panel.
  4. Recently Indian Patent Office launched an initiative to create a panel of Independent Patent experts to act as Technical advisers to Indian Court of Law.
  5. The Indian Patent Office has upgraded its search service on the “IP India” website to check the status of the applications for Indian Trademarks and Geographical Indications by Application number.
  6. The Indian Music Industry (IMI) won a compensation amount of what was said to be the biggest Plea bargaining in an Indian Copyright case. ‘Plea bargaining’, was introduced in the Criminal Procedure Code through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2005.
Country: PAKISTANPeriod of Report: October 2009
  1. Pakistan’s Federal Cabinet ratified proposed amendment in Article 31 of the WTO-TRIPS Agreement to create mechanisms to grant compulsory license for production and export of patented pharmaceuticals to countries with insufficient manufacturing capacity.
Country: SRI LANKAPeriod of Report: October 2009
  1. After the first round of talks of US-Srilanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement [TIFA] 2009, Srilanka has decided to lift restrictions on Genetically Modified food imports with some restrictions and to consult US experts on cultivation of GM crops