FEBRUARY 2008
Protecting healthcare IP in India
Shwetasree Majumder and Lucy Harrold look at how pharmaceutical trade marks, data and medical devices are protected in India
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India's pharmaceutical sector is growing rapidly. But while the controversial patent law of 2005 has attracted most of the attention, there have also been important disputes over similar trade marked names given to drugs. As well as analyzing these developments, this article looks at the impact of last year's Satwant Reddy report on data protection and the system in place to prevent the importation of substandard medical devices. Where possible, the situation in India is compared with policies and practices in the UK and EU. |
Much has been written about IP and pharmaceuticals in India. But in the past few months debate has focused on the country's patent law and the dispute over Novartis' thwarted attempt to obtain a patent for its anti-cancer drug Glivec. A number of other laws that govern healthcare issues in India have been overlooked. Looking at the evolution of pharmaceutical trade mark jurisprudence over the past five years it is possible to contrast the Indian approach with the judicial rationale of rewarding intellectual labour that has governed decisions in jurisdictions such as the UK.
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