India Amends Laws As WTO Replaces GATT

On New Year's Eve, India amended its Patent Act of 1970 and its anti-dumping law in order to meet its obligations, especially relating to pharmaceuticals, under the World Trade Organization agreement, which came into force on January 1 and replaces the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The WTO will be the multilateral supervisory body overseeing the operation of a new, liberalized world trade regime involving over 120 countries.

Under the amendments to the Indian Patent Act, in order to obtain exclusive marketing rights after January 1, applicants must: file an application in India for grant of a patent; file an application and obtain a patent for an identical invention in any other WTO member country, and; obtain marketing approvals from the same member country and secure marketing approval from the Indian authority.

In a major amendment, Section 39 of the Patent Act, which placed restrictions on applications for patents outside India, has been deleted. For inventions made in India, the applicant does not have to obtain a product patent and marketing approval in another country, but now has the option of obtaining a process patent for an identical invention in India.