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Bakht moots patent office in Delhi, SAARC cooperation on IPR

The government is going ahead with its decision to set up a full-fledged patent office in the capital.

This was stated by Industry Minister Sikander Bakht while inaugurating the interactive sessions with apex chambers and other organsiations in New Delhi.

Bakht underscored the need for regional cooperation in the documentation of traditional databases, protection of regional / global bio-diversity from biopiracy and protection of the rights of traditional communities through the proposed SAARC Intellectual Property Forum and the SAARC Intellectual Property Information Network. The interactive session was aimed at seeking the view of interested sectors of the public.

While today's was the first meeting, many more such sessions are planned in the near future. The sessions in different parts of the country are aimed at broad-basing consultations on the sensitive issue of patent law.

The minister emphasised that industrial property related laws could remain static in a world where economic development was becoming increasingly technology-based. Stressing that a modern and well enforced industrial property system was integral to a liberalising economy, the minister called this as the compulsion of the future and the requirements of posterity.

Admitting that the issue of patents was a sensitive one, Bakht expressed the hope that the outcome of the discussions would be guided by a vision of India as a proactive factor in the march to the next millennium.

Recalling that Japan has amended its legislation over 45 times between 1945 to 1995, and the recent efforts of developing countries like China and Brazil in this direction, he called upon the gathering to make constructive suggestions that would provide constructive inputs for policy formulation and legislative changes.

Bakht also recalled the efforts of the present government to enact amendments to the Patents Act, 1970 and referred to the recently concluded disputes with the USA and the European Commission on this legislation which, he said, had been resolved in India's favour.

Significantly, these amendments were also in consonance with Indian concerns of public interest and national security and in line with the TRIPS agreement.

The interactive sessions are being organised in association with apex organisations like the FICCI, the CII, the Assocham, and others and are designed to result in an aggregation of views on all aspects criticial to the changes which may be necessary in the Indian patent law. There are 15-20 such interactive sessions planned in different cities.

More than 100 experts including scientists, academics, NGOs, journalists and representatives of the private and the public sector are participating in the discussions which include key issues like patentability, compulsory licensing and enforcement laws.

UNI

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