H.E. Ambassador Dr. Walter Werner

India

13   INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST: PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH THROUGH COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY

547.   My delegation would like to support the statements made by South Africa and Brazil. 548.   In India, both specific IP legislations and the Competition Act deal with anticompetitive activities, abuse of dominance and other market unfriendly activities when it comes to abuse of intellectual property rights. Therefore, complaining parties often move to either the Competition Commission of India (CCI) the adjudicating authority under the Competition Act, or High Courts (under different IP legislations) for redressal. In 2015, questions were raised regarding the selfsufficiency of IP legislation where complaining parties alleged that the IP legislation is sufficient to deal with anticompetitive concerns and does not need any interventions from the Competition Act. This dispute is settled for now as the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has meticulously analysed both IP provisions and the Competition Act and has come to the conclusion that the objectives, procedure and nature of remedies of both the legislations differ to good extent. Therefore, both the laws can determine the manner in which the anticompetitive issues are to be resolved. 549.   In recent years there have been several instances, where courts have engaged on the issue of anticompetitive practices in the context of Standard Essential Patents and in some other industries. We have, however, not had any authoritative decisions on an issue that interacts directly with competition law and public health. We expect that the jurisprudence on competition law issues in the public health will also evolve overtime to address the concern more comprehensively.

The representatives of South Africa, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, the United States of America, Japan, the European Union and the WHO took the floor.

53.   The Chair said that the item "Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: Promoting Public Health Through Competition Law and Policy" had been added to the agenda at the request of the Delegation of South Africa. It had been co-sponsored by Brazil and India since the circulation of the revised draft agenda. The co-sponsors had also submitted a communication on this topic (circulated in document IP/C/W/649 and addenda), which included questions to guide the discussion.
54.   The representatives of South Africa, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, the United States of America, Japan, the European Union and the WHO took the floor.

IP/C/M/90, IP/C/M/90/Add.1