As I noted yesterday, the patent laws in India were recently amended (subject to ratification in February) so that any foreign patent filed after January 1, 2005 would be recognized. Apparently so many foreign companies are rushing to get their patents on file in India (to avoid generics and knockoffs), that the postal system has been overwhelmed with as many as 12,000 applications. The ministry of commerce in India is doing what it can just to process the application (much less review and respond to them).
Of course, the generic drug companies in India are already looking for the loopholes in the new law...
Under the old law, no foreign patents for products were recognized. So several drug companies sprang up that produce generic versions of drugs developed by foreign companies. The new law states that Indian companies can continue to create the generics that would otherwise infringe a pre-1995 patent filing, and further states that India will recognize all product patents issued after 1995.
The generic companies are arguing that unless the Indian government had issued a patent on the drug, it should be free to make the generic version of that drug. The Indian government will likely find a way to clear up any ambiguity that might exist in the current draft of the law's language, but that would likely mean a delay in the ratification in February, and possibly open the door to further debate on any other points that the drug companies or other folks had trouble with in the raft of new IP laws.
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