Patents Bill in Winter Session

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today said the government was likely to table the Bill to amend the Patents Act in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organised by the MMTC Ltd, Nath said he would be meeting leaders of political parties to develop a credible patent policy regime.

Nath today met Left leaders, who asked the government to refer the Patents (Amendment) Bill to a parliamentary standing committee, and not bring an ordinance for the legislation.

"We want that the Bill be referred to a parliamentary standing committee. We do not want the government to bring an ordinance. Some concerns have been expressed by domestic drug companies which need to be addressed," Basudeb Acharya of the CPM told reporters here after meeting Nath.

Nath will meet representatives of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday. He is also scheduled to hold talks with drugs manufacturers.

The minister also said the group of ministers (GoM) on patents would meet next week to finalise its recommendations. The Cabinet, in its meeting on August 26 this year, referred the Bill to the GoM for studying the implications of some of the contentious issues in the Bill.

The GoM on patents is headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and includes Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Chemical and Fertilisers Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, Health and Family Welfare Minister A Ramadoss, Minister of State for Food Processing Subodh Kant Sahay and special invitee Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, besides Nath.

"We had signed the World Trade Organisatiion agreement in this respect in 1995, under which we are obliged to introduce product patents in two or three items like food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals and we have to take credible steps to fulfill the country's obligations," he said.