Swiss govt not to take Novartis case to WTO

The government of Switzerland will not be taking up the allegation by Novartis that Indian patent law is incompatible with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement at the dispute settlement board of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"We accept any case settled in India. It is normal litigation, in which one party happens to be a company and another is a country," said Doris Leuthard, federal councillor, department of economic affairs of the Swiss Confederation, here today.

Leuthard was in Delhi to sign a memorandum on cooperation in international property rights with India.

Leuthard was responding to the Madras High Court verdict on Monday rejecting a Novartis petition that questioned the constitutional validity of Section 3(D) of the Indian Patents Act, which restricts patenting of minor improvements of known molecules.

In its judgement, the court had advised Novartis to approach the dispute settlement forum of the WTO on TRIPS compliance, for which the Swiss company would have had to approach its government (only countries, and not companies, can approach the WTO on matters of trade policy).

"We must have a reliable TRIPS system and the one in India is good enough," said Leuthard, adding, "The Swiss government never gets involved in any judicial pronouncements of other countries."

However, Leuthard also said the impact of the verdict on prospective Swiss investors in India remained to be seen.

"I do not know how Swiss companies will react to it. Maybe they will have a closer look at the verdict. Some of them may find that investing in India may not be attractive," she said.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the Indian Patents Law was compatible with TRIPS.

"It has been two years since the Indian Patents Act has been passed and no country has filed any complaint in the WTO yet. This Act is compliant with TRIPS," said Nath, who was present on the occasion.