Expectations of a bill to effect changes in the country's patent laws were belied when the Union government bypassed Parliament by issuing an executive ordinance on the matter.
Changes in the patent laws were necessary to meet the stipulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which came into being on January 1, 1995. A trying time was anticipated for the Union government in the winter session of Parliament over the patents issue. An Union Cabinet minister says on condition of anonymity, "We were apprehensive of facing the opposition's flak right on the heels of the ruling party's electoral reverses in the recent assembly elections."
The ordinance amends the patent act of 1970 to replace process patents with product patents in food, pharmaceuticals, and chemical sectors, to bring it in line with the intellectual property rights regime of the WTO.
The amended act removes all hurdles to patenting of new products by the multinational companies in agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors in India. Patent holders will now have full protection against other manufacturers trying to copy the products. India will also accord pipeline protection for 5 years to products patented in other countries after the WTO comes into force.
Opposition parties, across the board, have announced that they would not let the government go scot free. They promise that this year's budget session of Parliament will see a lot of thunder over the ordinance.
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