Indian Patent Law Declares Independence
Indian Patent Law Declares Independence
After Independence in 1947 from the British, the new Indian government began to seriously examine the possibility and suitability of completely doing away with patents for pharmaceutical inventions. The process took over 22 years. It began in 1948, with the constitution of the Tek Chand Committee, followed by the Ayyangar Committee in 1957. Based on these expert committees, the government made three legislative efforts in 1953, 1965, and 1967, the last of which was finally enacted into the Patents Act, 1970. This new law revoked the British-era Patents and Designs Act, 1911 and prohibited patents for all new pharmaceutical products and severely restricted the scope of patents granted for pharmaceutical processes. This chapter traces the history of the Indian debate from 1948 to 1970 and explains the key arguments through archival news material, parliamentary debates, reports, and depositions.
Keywords: patent law, pharmaceutical patent, Patents Act, 1970, compulsory license, Haffkine Institute, Kefauver, parliament, Swatantra Party, Ayyangar committee, Tek Chand Committee
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