Recently WIPO’s Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) sent out a questionnaire to member states regarding member state’s exceptions and limitations to patent rights. The responses have come in and inadvertently a terrific resource for comparing and contrasting different nuances of patent laws in various countries has been formed. For instance, the public policy objectives of each exception and limitation that a state has are now conveniently listed and displayed; as well as whether the state has concluded that such exception or limitation has served it’s purpose (though these seem to be mostly ‘still under observation’ reports).
As I was scrolling through the different country reports I was disappointed to see that India did not bother to send in a response to the questionnaire. Now I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of this questionnaire was intended to be. But the last session of the SCP in May, 2012 was ended with most countries upset by the lack of being able to find common ground to proceed talks on. Many developing countries had taken issue with the lack of examples of patents hindering access while other countries said that there was a lack of flexibility by countries. The executive summary of the last meet is available here. The next session is to be in November this year. With the current discussion including patents and public health, exceptions and limitations to patent law, and reports on the international patent system; India’s silence seems to be a notable one. If any of our readers have more information regarding this, it would be welcome.
The responses to the Questionnaire are available here.
