The US, European Union and Japan are pushing a new international patent agenda through World Intellectual Property Organization on behalf of the powerful big pharma of the developed countries. WIPO, controlled by these trilaterals, is trying hard to impose a 'Global Patenting System' at the forthcoming General Assembly session of WIPO in September.

The new world patent order is being sought to be introduced through a comprehensive proposal drafted by the US by floating a new Patent Cooperation Treaty, PCT II, in the General Assembly of WIPO at Geneva. The trilaterals with the support of WIPO and World Health Organization are trying their best to get the proposal approved by the General Assembly by inducing some of developing nations.

A session of the PCT Working Group of WIPO held last May to push this agenda got withdrawn as the developing countries led by India, Brazil South, Africa and Argentina had strongly opposed the move. India' diplomatic mission in Geneva played a crucial role in defeating the proposal for Global Patenting piloted by Director General of WIPO at the Working Group meeting, it is learnt

Informed sources said that the WIPO plan is to institute a system similar to the one that exists for international registration of Trade Marks under the Madrid System, a treaty already administered by WIPO. With the approval of Global Patenting at the General Assembly, developed nations are seeking to dilute the sovereignty of developing nations in determining patentability of applications for inventions and do way with flexibilities granted under TRIPS Agreement.

Under the TRIPS Agreement, developing nations are free to consider all the flexibilities before granting a patent to any new invention. While many developing nations do not have the expertise to scrutinize and determine patentability of a patent claim, India has adequate capabilities with full fledged patent control offices in the country.

The strategy of developed nations backed WIPO is to introduce 'automatic grant of patents in all member states' once PCT II is adopted at the General Assembly. This is what is 'combining of international and national processing of patent applications' as suggested by the USPTO to WIPO.

A serious implication of the proposed new global patent system is that patent laws adopted by the developing countries become irrelevant and ineffective. Besides this, challenging of patent claims will become almost impossible making monopoly marketing of pharmaceutical products quite easy for MNCs in India.

Now, India being a major manufacturer and exporter of generic drugs threatening sales of branded business of the big pharma, the target of this new agenda of developed nations seems to be mainly Indian pharma industry. Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), representing large generic companies of the country, has already alerted the cabinet secretary, commerce secretary and ministry of external affairs in this regard.