Switzerland And India To Boost IP Cooperation
It emerged on Tuesday that India and Switzerland have signed an agreement to
increase cooperation with regard to the protection of intellectual property,
despite a high profile dispute on IP matters between Swiss pharmaceutical firm,
Novartis and the Indian government. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in New Delhi by Switzerland's Economic
Affairs Minister, Doris Leuthard and Indian Commerce and Industry Minister,
Kamal Nath. The MoU provides for the establishment of a bilateral working group to exchange
information and views on IP-related matters, to facilitate joint training initiatives,
and to discuss and implement anti-piracy strategies. However, legislative and policy matters will not be discussed by the joint
committee, according to Indian media reports. The signing of the agreement came in the same week that an Indian court rejected
a challenge brought by Switzerland's Novartis against India's patent laws. In 2006, the firm was denied a patent for the cancer treatment, Glivec, on
the grounds that the drug was not sufficiently innovative. The matter was referred
to the High Court in Chennai, which on Monday dismissed the writ petition challenging
the constitutionality of the government's decision to reject the patent application,
and deferred to the World Trade Organization to resolve the question of whether
the Indian authorities are in compliance with the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement. .
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