Overhauling Indian Intellectual Property Rights Regime With Special Reference To Compulsory Licensing
Manimaran R, 4th Year student pursuing BA. LL.B.(Hons.) from Tamil Nadu National Law University. *
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.17613/5pgn-fc83
Abstract
Intellectual Property Laws should be used as a tool to strike a balance between the interests of the creator or inventor and the interests of the public. However, after becoming a signatory to The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which demanded a drastic change in the Indian Patent Regime, and subsequently amending the Indian Patents Act, 1970 in accordance with the Agreement, India has rarely used patents as an interventionist tool for ensuring the welfare of its citizens as well as the citizens of its fellow Third-World Countries. This assertion holds much water regarding the issuance of compulsory licenses. Compulsory licenses are licenses given by a government authority to a third party to use intellectual properties including patents, inter alia, to ensure public welfare. They can be used as a crucial interventionist tool. Though there is a necessity for rendering a large number of compulsory licenses, in the Post-TRIPS era, India has issued only one compulsory license, so far. Hence, it becomes essential to diagnose the problem with the Indian Patent Law Regime pertaining to the issuance of compulsory licenses. Amid the pandemic, this diagnosis becomes more crucial.
Keywords: TRIPS Agreement, Compulsory Licensing, Doha Declaration, Intellectual Properties, Patents.
