Mint Reported Irresponsibly
PatentCircle:
Indian newspaper Mint has recently covered a lose story related to section 107A (b) of the Patents Act, 1970 and to utter surprise was a major irresponsible reporting seen in recent times. Mint reported that section 107A (b) allows local Indian companies to import patented drugs in India by manufacturing in least developing countries such as Bangladesh without any authorization of patent holder. Shocking interpretation! Mint also pointed out that Indian drug makers have rushed to take advantage of this, and several of them have even started working on building manufacturing plants in these countries and further adding that this provision may not be in complete compliance with the international trade rules of WTO and even may violate Indian patent law. But surprisingly what Mint completely missed pointing out is what this section (provision) is all about. It is always important that while reporting on critical issue such as section 107A (b) complete background research should be made. So let’s scrutinize what section 107A (b) really stands for and how wild is the interpretation made by Mint.
Rights & Exemptions
Section 48 of the Patents Act, 1970 gives patentee an exclusive right to prevent third parties, who do not have his consent, from the act of making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing patented product in India. If third party indulges in any of these act, that will amount to infringement of patent right under the Indian patent law. But there are certain instances which though infringing are not considered infringement under the Act. Such instances are often termed as exemptions, which are derived from judiciary-created doctrines (usually US and European judiciary) and section 107A covers two of such exemptions. Both these exemptions are result of flexibilities provided under TRIPS agreement (Article 6 and Article 30). Clause (a) of…