Abstract

Recent Judgment of the High Court of Madras in India (known as the Novartis case) many questions have been raised about international law and the compatibility of Indian patents Law (Amendment) Act 2005 to the Agreement on Intellectual Aspects of Trade World Trade Organization (WTO) property rights (TRIPS agreement).The Indian Parliament passed the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005 to comply with it TRIPS promises for the introduction of the product patent system in India for the first time. Protection in India of patent protection for pharmaceuticals and the WTO had agrochemicals (known as patented processes) at one of the main reasons for this. The debate on the accessibility to medicines, in the WTO Doha Ministerial conference led to the adoption of the Doha Declaration on TRIPs and Public Health, in order to help the least developed and developing countries that do not have sufficient manufacturing facilities of essential medicines. The Doha declaration states: “We agree the TRIPs Agreement does not and should not prevent a Member from taking measures to protect public health” However, the problems of developing countries are not addressed by multinational pharmaceutical companies. The Novartis case in India is only a starting point in its innings. The case raised substantial questions of TRIPs Agreement compliance and interpretation of international law by national courts.

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