the Economist bitches that the patent ordinance hasn't done enough

January 21st

this is the position i would have expected the nytimes to take as
well: that india has not BOGU'd enough for their pleasure. the
economist is living up to its classic NATO, atlanticist bias.

the following is premium content from the economist, so i am only
including excerpts so as to protect their copyright.


Patently unclear
Jan 20th 2005
From The Economist print edition


A crucial new intellectual-property regime disappoints

INDIA'S emergence as an economic powerhouse was supposed to take
another big step forward this year with the implementation of a new
regime for protecting patents. The weak old regime long deterred
foreign firms from setting up in India to use the country's ample
supply of educated workers to develop new products. Foreign drug
firms, in particular, looked forward eagerly to the new patent
protections that India was obliged to introduce this year to meet the
requirements of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Alas, when India's
government duly issued an ordinance (presidential decree) on patents
in late December 2004, foreign firms (and some enlightened Indian
ones) were almost as disappointed as the anti-WTO protesters around
the world who had long opposed stronger patent protection.

....

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the world's biggest drug firms, has long
aspired to do much more of its drug development in India. In 2003 it
even formed a partnership with Ranbaxy Laboratories, one of India's
leading drug firms, to identify new drugs and conduct early-stage
clinical trials. But the weak legal regime severely limited what the
partnership could do.

Yet GSK says it is disappointed with India's new patent regime. It
wants legislation to back up unambiguously the ordinance. But the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)—one of the backers of the otherwise
mostly market-oriented government—has decided to oppose the new
legislation when it comes up for debate in Parliament in February.

...

And even a good law would still have to contend with India's
inefficient bureaucracy and legal system. With over 12,000
applications already filed with the patent office and the new team of
evaluators, it may take at least 18 months for the first product
patent to be issued.