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More seizure of patents ahead?

There has been  a flurry of stories in the Indian press over the last few days on compulsory licensing, the controversial idea that government can seize intellectual property from an originator company and allow a competitor to make copies under certain circumstances. There is no obvious news hook linking these stories but all have well-informed government sources and the most provocative appeared in the week after the OPPI (the trade body representing international, research-based companies) held a meeting on access in Delhi. It probably meas that the Commerce Ministry and others within government n India are planning further use of compulsory licences.

Recently, came this piece in the Times of India which accused the US of doublespeak (based on”discoveries” which had been part of the NATCO press briefing months ago). It was written by a journalist with good ties to Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.  A month ago, there had been this piece in the Economic Times which said that many countries were following India’s example. At about the same time, Mint (from the Hindustan Times stable) said that the pattern of other countries meant that pharma might have to live with CL  for the longterm. Finally, there is this review from the always-thoughtful Spicy IP blog.

At the very least, CL continues to be debated within the GOI.

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