The Department of Commerce has called for coordination among various ministries for a consensus on adoption of intellectual property (IP) protection measures.
The move would ensure that the measures go beyond what is obligatory under the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) agreement.
The suggestion is significant as TRIPS plus provisions like data exclusivity in medicines are some of the key demands that are delaying the progress of free trade and economic cooperation agreements between India and its developed country partners.
For instance, patent related issues are one of the major road blocks before an early agreement on European Union – India FTA.
The department that works under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry wanted the creation of an inter-ministerial mechanism to co-ordinate all such TRIPS plus issues, discuss them domestically to put out a common face in international negotiations.
A departmental committee, headed by one of its top officials, has already begun stakeholder consultations over the feasibility of such a mechanism. It is known that the committee wants to have a comprehensive view on all issues relating to patent protection, patent linkage and other IP matters such as geographical indications and trade mark protection among others.
The suggestion, however, has not gone down well with the other department – the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) – that looks after IP issues under the commerce ministry.
DIPP, the administrative body of IP-related matters, has warned its commerce counterpart that any attempt to examine the possibility of enlarging the scope of India’s IP protection level without any pressing international obligations will prove counter-productive.
