India’s TRIPS-Compliant Patent Decade – The Tumultuous Journey in Search of a Pragmatic Equilibrium

Abstract

During the first decade of India’s TRIPS compliance (2005–2015), the country witnessed numerous patent-related disputes, mostly from the pharmaceutical sector on various issues pertaining to patent protection, enforcement of patent rights and compulsory licensing of granted patents. Even the non-pharmaceutical sector saw an increase in the number of various patent disputes. India, while enacting its three amendments, had tried to leverage the flexibility provided by the TRIPS Agreement to its member states, and to a great extent these amendments have resulted in an increase in patent-related disputes. This paper focuses on the patent disputes which have come up in the last ten years in order to analyse the approach of the Indian Patent Office and other quasi-judicial bodies such as the Intellectual Property Appellate Board and the higher judiciary.

Keywords: Indian Patent Law, Patent Infringement, Trips Compliance, Evergreening, The Novartis Case

JEL Classification: O34, K10