Pharma Inc may see more legal spats

Government may set up special court for Intellectual Property Rights cases

The number of litigations will increase substantially when the products patents regime comes into force from January 1, 2005, as there will be several companies that will enter into conflict over patents of drugs, said experts at a seminar on 'Trade Marks and Patents of Pharmaceutical Products', held in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Most of the litigations in India will be of those Indian companies that introduce forms of drugs which have already been patented.

"The litigations will definitely increase substantially with the product patent regime coming into force. The government will soon set up a court dealing exclusively in cases concerning intellectual property. As such, an Intellectual Property Appellate Board has already been set up in Chennai," said Manoj Pillar, partner of Lex Orbis, a Delhi-based legal firm involved in intellectual property practice.

Anil Gupta, professor of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad said there are huge data available and applicants should patent not just one product, but all possible variations, likely groups, sub-groups, permutations and combinations.

Referring to Isabgul, Gupta said an MNC has sought to optimise the size of particles that assimilates best in the intestines. So has been the fate of castor and castor oil.

Patrick Lloyd, a chartered patent attorney in the UK and partner of Reddie & Grose, said the British patent laws are simpler, cheaper and open to revocation. There are patent county courts in the UK and specialist judges too. The US patent laws are friendly, but appeals are costly and willful infringement could invite triple damages, he said.

Gopakumar Nair, a patents and trade mark attorney and former president of Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) underlined the need to increase knowledge and finer distinctions between what is worth patenting and what is not, difference between 'disclosures' and 'exclusivity', how to deal with opposition, prosecutions and other issues.

India is a signatory to the TRIPS Agreement, one of the multi lateral agreements under WTO. Signed on January 1, 1995, TRIPS will come into force on January 1, 2005.

"Until now, we were working around the known molecules as the process patents is in force. But this will change completely and the key will then be the research and development capabilities of companies," said Nair.