No study done on impact of Product Patent Act

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) More than two years after the product patent regime for food, pharmaceutical and chemical inventions was introduced in India in 2005, the Government has not undertaken or commissioned any study to assess the impact of the new patent regime on the small scale industries (SSIs).

Introduced in place of the Process Patent Act in the wake of economic liberalisation and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Ashwani Kumar today informed the Lok Sabha that ''it is too early to assess the impact of product patents on the small scale industries''.

At the same time, the Minister said the Government is implementing a number of schemes providing incentives, including financial assistance, to SSIs for upgrading technology, acquiring improved plant and machinary and improvement in the quality of mangement and systems.

On the role of Government in respect of royality on a prouduct, the Minister said in a written reply that the issue of royality is a matter of negotiation between the licensor and the licensee and the new Act provides for payment of reasonable royality in the case of use of a patent.

Mr Kumar replied in the negative when asked if Indian companies are facing difficulties in getting patented their food items due to complexities in the existing patent rules.

However, only two Indian companies have been granted product patents by the Patent Office since the Product Patent Act came into being on January 1, 2005.

UNI