-TheWire.in The government appears bent on decisively abandoning the earlier consensus of adherence to public health goals. In what is widely being hailed as an extraordinary victory for the multinational pharmaceutical industry over the Indian government, the US-India Business Council (USIBC), in its submission to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), reports that the Indian government has “privately assured” the industry that it would not use Compulsory licences (CLs) for commercial purposes....

-The Hindu Business Line India is being too accommodating of MNCs The Centre is needlessly apologetic about our IPR laws. It set up an IPR ‘think tank’ in October 2014, perhaps responding to a view that our IPRs are not strong enough to invite foreign investment. Last January, Prime Minister Modi and President Obama issued a joint statement which “committed to establish an annual high-level Intellectual Property Working Group”. In November, Modi...

-Livemint.com What’s essential for the unique identification number to continue is a strong law. But what should it look like? A key thrust of the 2012 writ petition filed in the Aadhaar case (Puttaswamy versus Union of India) was that the executive action in implementing Aadhaar was unconstitutional in the absence of a law. Later developments in the case, including the government’s argument that there is no fundamental right to privacy, and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Cancer medicines and stents may soon be available at a substantially lower price. The health ministry is working on a model to procure such drugs in bulk at a negotiated price and supply them to hospitals and consumers through its own retail system like 'Jan Aushadhi' stores. . The idea is to bring down prices of expensive cancer drugs and stents while not putting pressure on...

-Down to Earth Apex trade regulator finds nothing amiss in India's intellectual property laws after exhaustive review India's intellectual property rights (IPR) regime, under constant attack from the US and multinational companies (MNCs) over the past few years, has been given a clean bill of health by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). At a two-day trade policy review conducted by the apex organisation in early June, there was no criticism of a...