The government yesterday introduced the Patents (Amendment) Bill, 2003, as a prelude to introduction of product patent regime from January 1 2005.The bill will have implications in all fields of technology as per the provisions of the trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPs) Agreement of the WTO.

Although the Bill was not scheduled for the day, the Union Minister of Law and Justice and Commerce and Industry, Arun Jaitley, introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday being the penultimate day of the winter session of Parliament.

Some of the salient features of the Bill include introduction of product patent protection in all fields of technology as per Article 27 of the TRIPs agreement, deletion of the provisions pertaining to exclusive marketing rights and introduction of a transitional provision for safeguarding exclusive marketing rights (EMRs) already granted, besides amending and strengthening the provisions pertaining to national security.

Besides the Patent (Amendment) Bill 2003 seeks to amend the provisions relating to Appellate Board with a view to extending its jurisdiction to revocation of patents, to amend the provisions relating to opposition procedures, to amend certain provisions with a view to harmonising them with the Patent Co-operation Treaty to which India is a signatory.

The Bill seeks to introduce a provision for enabling grant of compulsory licence for export of medicines to countries, which have insufficient, or no manufacturing capacity to meet emergency public health needs. This provision is in accordance with the agreement reached on August 30, for implementation of Para 6 of the Doha Declaration on TRIPs and Public Health.

The Bill also provides for amending certain provisions pertaining to time lines for different activities with a view to introducing flexibility and reducing the processing time for patent application, besides amending the provisions of the Act with a view to simplifying and rationalising the procedure aimed at benefiting the users.

Jaitley said in the statement of objects and reasons for the Bill that given the importance of the issues, the government undertook broad based and extensive consultations involving different interest groups on aspects critical to the changes, which might be necessary in the Patent Act, 1970.

He said that while considering amendments to the Act, efforts have been made to make the law not only TRIPs-compliant but also to simplify and rationalise the procedures governing grant of patents so as to make the system more user-friendly.

India’s current law pertaining to patents, The Patents Act 1970 came into force on April 20, 1972. This Act was subsequently amended in March 1999 and June 2002 to meet India's obligations under the Agreement on TRIPs, which forms part of the agreement establishing the WTO. The amendments primarily focussed on the obligations, which came into force from January 1, 1995 (in respect of amendments made in March 1999) and obligations, which came into from January 1, 2000 (in respect of amendments notified in June 2002). While making the latter amendments, opportunity was also utilised to provide necessary and adequate safeguards for protection of public interest, national security, biodiversity, traditional knowledge etc., and also to simplify certain procedural aspects.