The recent judgement on Novartis’s patent case, passed by the Supreme Court of India, has brought the debate on intellectual property rights into the public space again. For developing countries like India, the patent vs. patient debate is only a small part of a larger re-examination required of the current intellectual property regime. Affordable healthcare and life-saving drugs, intellectual property rights of the proliferating communications technology, entertainment, new manufacturing systems, and agricultural growth methods must now be tailored to service countries with large and poor populations.
On May 2, Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations hosted Narendra Sabharwal, Chair, FICCI-IPR Committee, FICCI, Dr. A.K.S. Bhujanga Rao, Director, Natco Pharma Limited, and N.S. Nappinai , Advocate & Founder Member, Technology Law Forum, in conversation with Rajni Bakshi, Gandhi Peace Fellow, Gateway House, to discuss ‘Intellectual Property: Innovation, Accessibility and Public Interest.’
Narendra Sabharwal is Chair, IPR Committee, FICCI. He is also a member of Sectoral Innovation Council on IPRS under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India. Formerly, he was Deputy Director General, Cooperation for Development Sector, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in Geneva.
Dr A.K.S. Bhujanga Rao is President, Natco Research Centre, and Director, Natco Pharma Limited. Prior to this, he was a collaborative Research Fellow, University of Hull, UK, and the University of Texas, United States. He has worked with IDPL, IDL, Reckitt and Colmen, and Vera Laboratories Ltd., and wide expertise in technology transfer to commercial scale, quality control, regulatory affairs, and patents.
N. S. Nappinai is an Advocate, and a Founder Member of Technology Law Forum. She has 22 years of experience in, inter alia, Information & Technology Laws (including specialization in Cyber Crime Cases), Corporate, Commercial and Cross Border Transactions & Litigations (including Corporate Criminal Cases), Arbitration & Mediation, & Intellectual Property Rights.
Rajni Bakshi is a Mumbai-based author, and the Gandhi Peace Fellow at Gateway House. She published a Research paper in October 2012 titled ‘Civilizational Gandhi.’ Rajni serves on the Boards of Child Rights and You (CRY) and Citizens for Peace. Her literary works include the celebrated ‘Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom: for a market culture beyond greed and fear,’ which won two Vodafone-Crossword Awards, ‘Bapu Kuti: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi,’ and ‘Long Haul: the Bombay Textile Workers Strike 1982-83 (1986),’ among others.
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