DISCUSSION ON WTO

CALCUTTA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION AUDITORIUM, CALCUTTA ,APRIL 25, 2002, INDIA

THE EVENT
 PRESS RELEASE
AGENDA

THE EVENT

To initiate a series of discussions on WTO issues, Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), Calcutta organised a discussion titled “Intellectual Property Rights—an Imperative Engine for Growth” on 25^th April, 2002. Dr. Prabuddha Ganguli, leading IPR Consultant with the unique techno-legal blend of a scientist and a qualified patent attorney spoke on IPR issues in the context of WTO and its impact on developing countries like India. The lecture had been followed by a panel discussion.

Objectives

The programme aims to bring out the current scenario on IPR in the context of WTO and the impact on developing countries like India by evoking a balanced and fruitful debate on the issues of Traditional Knowledge, Geographical Indication, Seed Monopolisation etc.

Participants  

City-based experts on WTO, government officials, Chambers of Commerce, non-government organisations working on IPR issues, academia and media participated in the above discussion

PRESS RELEASE

Are Indian decision makers prepared to take advantage of IPR Protection?

April 25, Calcutta: India is not ready to take the advantage of the Intellectual Protection Rights (IPR) protection regime. Neither has India been able to take stock of resources nor could create an appropriate legal framework to address IPR issues. In the era dominated by WTO, India should look into its potential and try to protect its Intellectual Property by enacting proper legislative measures said Dr. Prabuddha Ganguli, a leading IPR consultant in India. He was speaking at a discussion titled “Intellectual Property Rights-An Imperative Engine for Growth” organised by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS).
 
In Doha, there was no major gain for India, as the transitional period for ratifying TRIPs agreement for developing countries remained unaltered at 2005, while it was only decided that LDCs could be given an additional time period of ten years for ratification.
 
According to Dr. Ganguli, the necessity of IPR becomes reality if one thinks in terms of zero tariffs. In the era of globalisation, while the whole world is coming under unified market concept, if all tariffs are brought down to zero then “knowledge” becomes only trade differentiator.  Intellectual property rights give protection to that very important concept of knowledge by offering tools like trademark, copyrights, patent, trade secret and design registration etc.
 
In the current fast moving world innovation is running faster than our national legal support system. The legal system fails to match product lifecycle with the IPR lifecycle.   In USA multinational corporations have been found adopting litigation as a business strategy. By challenging existing “suspect patent” they get them invalidated in the court and utilise the opportunity to capture a good share of the market.
 
Chairing the discussion, Ashish Ghosh of Centre for Environment & Development said that Indian government should take steps to utilise it’s human resources and strengthen the country’s system so that keeping obligation to TRIPS or any other agreements of WTO is less painful.
 
He also mentioned that although patenting of Neem, Haldi and Basmati are much talked about, there are around 65 items to which patents have been taken. Surprisingly, the patents have been taken on 30 bacterial items collected from Indian soil which are normally not given any attention here as property. But this has failed to wake up our decision makers.

PROGRAMME AGENDA

11.30 am: Key Note Address

               Dr. Prabuddha Ganguli, leading IPR Consultant

1.30 pm: Panel Discussion

              Panelists:

              Prof. Nabinananda Sen, Reader, Department of Business Management, Calcutta University

              Dr. Silanjan Bhattacharyya, Dept. of Zoology, Vivekananda College, Calcutta  University

  Chair:

  Dr. Ashish Ghosh, Centre for Environment and Development