Technical panel under Dr Mashelkar to re-look patentability criteria

EPP News Bureau - New Delhi

The Union government has constituted a technical panel under the chairmanship of Dr R A Mashelkar, DG, CSIR, to study the controversial issues in the Patent Amendment. The expert group will deliberate on whether it would be Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) compatible to limit the grant of patents for pharmaceutical substance to new chemical entity or to new medical entity involving one or more inventive steps and submit its recommendations to the government. It is also mandated to evaluate whether it would be TRIPs compatible to exclude micro-organisms from patenting.

The five-member committee includes Prof Goverdhan Mehta , Director Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Prof Asis Datta, director, National Centre for Plant Genome Research, New Delhi; Prof Madhav Menon, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal; and Prof Moolchand Sharma, Director, National Law Institute University, Bhopal.

The setting up of the committee is a direct follow-up of the assurance given by the Union Commerce minister Kamal Nath while moving the official amendments to the Patents (Amendment) Bill 2005 in the Lok Sabha on March 22. He had assured that the issue of patent availability of new chemical entities and micro-organisms would be referred to an Expert Committee and if as a result any amendments were suggested to safeguard the interests of these products, they would be incorporated in the new legislation later.

According to the Order dated 5th April, 2005 constituting the Technical Expert Group issued by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the Group will submit its report to the DIPP and would be serviced by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.