The Access Regime : Patent Law Reforms for Affordable Medicines (Hardbound-2015)

India has often been called the ‘pharmacy of the developing world’ for providing high-quality and affordable generic and life-saving medicines. Having developed its own alternative model of conforming to the TRIPS Agreement, which is perceived as being in direct opposition to the US model of patent law, India has faced stiff opposition to its patent law reforms in the form of counter-provisions in the Free Trade Agreements entered into by the US and other countries. This book examines India’s resistance as a stronger intervention of public interest into the sphere of private rights offered by patent law. By analysing the local impact of patent law at the level of the Patent Office, Appellate Board and the higher courts, the author offers an insight into the development of the patent law and describes the reasons for its special evolution. Explaining how countries can reorganize their patent laws to promote better access to affordable medicines, the book is a response to three questions: Is the Indian patent regime unique? What explains its uniqueness? What are the consequences for countries emulating India’s example?

Feroz Ali is Ministry of Human Resource Development Intellectual Property Rights Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.