Multinational companies back India's patent regime

Multinational organizations including PepsiCo and industry associations like IPA, have come in favour of India's intellectual property regime, which is being reviewed by the US administration.

In its submission to the US Trade Representative, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) said complaints against the Indian patent regime ought to be viewed in the light of the overall record.

Between January 2005 and 10 October 2014, India has granted 1,039 patents to domestic companies, while 3,575 patents have been granted to foreign firms, it said.

"We urge the USTR to take note of the global recognition of the attractiveness of India as destination of FDI, the willingness to engage in dialogue to remove impediments to FDI, the making of IP policy and its implementation and evolving jurisprudence; to recognize the concerted efforts being made to improve the functioning of the Indian Patent Office," it added.

PepsiCo said that it has been successful in working with Indian government to secure and enforce its IPR.

"We applaud the substantial steps India has taken over the 25 years that PepsiCo has had a significant presence in India to improve the ability to seek and enforce IPR," the company said.

However, it added that the annual requirement of the filing of evidence to meet this requirement is an extra administrative burden and expense that PepsiCo does not experience in other jurisdictions.

Industry chamber CII and Ficci have said that India should be removed from the USTR's watch list. "India is an active advocate of the policies and strategies of the WTO and WIPO. The allegation leveled tagging India as a "bad actor" in WTO and WIPO is incorrect.

On the contrary, India always tries to engage constructively in these organizations, exploring solutions to intricate problems and trying to build a consensus," Ficci said. The Indian policy framework has always worked within the paradigm of international mandates, it added.

However, drug major Bayer has said that it is concerned about decisions taken by the Indian government and courts that have created a pattern and undermining IP protections.

Bayer strongly urged the US government to seek commitments from the new Indian government that India would not issue a compulsory license under Section 84 of Indian Patent Act without prior dialogue with the patent holder.

"...India's policies are not designed to broaden access to medicines so as to achieve better outcomes for its population," it said. 

The USTR's 'Out-of-Cycle' Review follows the 2014 Special 301 Report that came out in April, in which the USTR had placed India on the 'Priority Watch List'.