-Frontline Medecins Sans Frontieres warns that the free or regional trade agreements that are being negotiated, which seek to strengthen current patent regimes, are a potential threat to the developing world’s access to life-saving drugs, which it sources mostly from India. WHEN NELSON MANDELA’S GOVERNMENT passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act in 1997 to make medicines more accessible to the poor, 39 big pharmaceutical companies filed law suits in...

-The Hindu Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal could hit supply of cheap Indian drugs New Delhi: As the next round of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade talks begin in Vietnam on Monday, humanitarian aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called for the removal of intellectual property provisions — known as the TRIPS-plus provisions — from the agreement. The talks are scheduled for August 15-19. According to the MSF, the TRIPS-plus...

-The Hindu The RCEP is a regional trade agreement being negotiated between the 10 ASEAN countries currently in Auckland. Humanitarian aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned India that the country will not remain ‘pharmacy of the developing world’ if the proposals in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement (RCEP) are adopted. The RCEP is a regional trade agreement being negotiated between the 10 ASEAN countries currently in Auckland. MSF Access Campaign...

-The Hindu Business Line The IP policy is all for turning knowledge into IP assets, not realising that public access and equity are central to creativity It was an event ominously scheduled for Friday, May 13. Titled as the National IPR policy (IP Policy), Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India released the 28 page document that will promote “creative and innovative” India. At first glance, the policy certainly reflects...

-TheWire.in To improve the lives of farmers and ensure development, stakeholder consultation must be a priority, not simply more intellectual property rights. India had already made a significant policy shift towards a pro-intellectual property (IP) position in the seed sector two decades ago, when it became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995. Many existing laws were amended, including three amendments to the patent Act of 1970, which allow...