Patents (Amendment) Bill 2005: A Critique

Only one more amendment was required, technically speaking, to make Indian law finally compliant with the TRIPS Agreement, i e, the introduction of product patents for pharmaceutical inventions. However, the Patents Bill made 74 amendments to the Patents Act of 1970, thus taking it much beyond the requirements of TRIPS. While Parliament has modified some of these amendments, it has chosen not to incorporate all the flexibilities that are available within TRIPS to safeguard public interest. As the bill now stands, unless the president were to return it to Parliament for consideraton, it fails to protect the public from the aggressive monopolies that patents confer on the right holders.