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Article

29 Apr 2013

Author:
Arvind Subramanian, Asian Scientist (Singapore)

5 Take-Home Points From India’s Historic Novartis Patent Case

...[T]he Indian Supreme Court dismissed the attempt by Novartis...to obtain patent protection for...Glivec...The verdict follows the Indian Patent Office’s decision last month to grant an Indian drug manufacturer a compulsory licence to sell a generic version of a kidney cancer drug…patented by Bayer. These rulings raise five important points. The first point relates to the perceived effectiveness of the rule of law in India…Second, taken individually, the patent cases do not indicate any categorical hostility to intellectual property (IP) protection or foreigners…A third point relates to criticisms…that India is…the only country where Novartis’ claim has been rejected…[E]ven in the United States, Novartis’ application…only succeeded on appeal…Fourth, the Novartis case was sui generis...Finally, other developing countries, such as Brazil, Thailand, and even China, could be emboldened by the Indian example and decide to dilute their own patent protection regimes…

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