Left asked for views on patents Bill

Left party leaders will meet within the next few days to draft their recommendations on the Third Patents (Amendments) Bill.

The leaders, who met Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and the group of ministers (GoM) on the Patents Bill today, said they had been asked to submit their views to the government before the Cabinet took up the draft Bill.

The Left is sceptical of the government's efforts to accommodate their point of view. "They haven't said they will agree to our proposals. They said they would consider them," CPM Politburo Member S Ramachandran Pillai said.

Other Left leaders indicated that the government was keen to meet the January 1, 2005, deadline for bringing in a patents law that would comply with the provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) Agreement and was unlikely to agree to their demand for "wider discussions" on the Bill.

"They had some apprehensions regarding the price rise of pharmaceutical products in the product patent regime and we assured them that there were adequate safeguards to prevent such a situation. They will give a detailed note on their suggestions to us in next two days," Nath said after the meeting.