India defends IPR laws, won't take part in unilateral US probe

Stressing that its IPR regime complies with international laws, India today bluntly said it will not take part in any unilateral investigation by the US on its intellectual property rights.
A day after the US Trade Representative (USTR) released its Special 301 report, which kept India out of the Priority Foreign Country list, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said all issues between the two countries, including those related to IPR, should be discussed at the Trade Policy Forum.
The US-India Trade Policy Forum is the principal platform for dialogue between the countries, with focus groups on agriculture, investment, IPR, services and tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Kher said he would meet Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler in late June or early July to discuss trade-related issues.
The USTR yesterday kept India out of the Priority Foreign Country list, the worst classification for countries considered to have inadequate IP laws, and said it would hold discussions with the next government on IPRs.
"It appears to be a wise decision on the part of the US to not hasten to get into a decision which would have adversely affected bilateral trade relationship and a larger economic engagement between the two countries particularly at a time when we are in the process of a political transition," Kher told reporters here.

"They have deferred the process but that does not mean that India agreed to be party to the investigations. Let that be very clear...India has clearly conveyed to the US that the government of India will not subject itself to the investigations," he added.

On the USTR announcement that it will conduct out-of-cycle reviews to promote engagement on IPR challenges with India, Kher said this is a unilateral probe by the US, which India has not committed to in the WTO or other accord.
"It is a unilateral process under their law," he said.
The secretary said India has addressed all concerns of US pharma companies with regard to compulsory licenses (CL), ever-greening of patents, data exclusivity and patent linkage.

"India clearly believes that it is compliant with its commitments under Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and India has used the flexibilities which are available to the WTO members and that is entirely within the remit and commitments made by India under WTO agreements," he said.
"As far as CL is concerned, it is entirely within the flexibilities that India exercised that authority. CL is not an anathema," he said.
The Obama administration had been strongly critical of India's investment climate and IPR laws, especially in the pharmaceutical and solar sectors.
The US industry had raised the matter of India's rejection of patents for Bristol-Myers Squibb's Sprycel and Novartis AG's Glivec.