Five reasons I’m watching the developments in India

Why am I following the recent changes in Indian patent law so closely (more than one reader has asked)?  Here’s a few reasons that came to me last night:

1.  It helps me be a better patent attorney to my clients.  US companies are becoming increasingly interested in India.  This is true in several industries for a variety of reasons and the trend is likely to continue.  I consider it part of my role as intellectual property counsel to be able to inform my clients about the ‘global climate.’  This allows me to help companies decide whether they should seek protection in India (and other countries), as opposed to simply taking the more traditional (and passive) role of arranging foreign counsel after such a decision has been made.  You know, the whole embedded patent attorney thing.

2.  The issues addressed by India will be addressed time and again around the globe.  India really struggled with some tough issues during this process, e.g., patentability of pharmaceuticals, the effects of patents on the cost of medicine, patentability of software, etc.  I think the Indian political debate on these issues is just a beginning.  We’re likely to see these same issues debated time and again around the globe, perhaps even at home.

3.  Encouragement.  Its encouraging to see a developing nation tackle these tough issues and to make the hard decision to strengthen its intellectual property system.  Who’s next?

4.  Its only a beginning.  Indian reforms will likely continue, with enforcement and administrative procedures in desperate need of change.  Indian patent law, and its intellectual property system in general, will likely garner significant international attention over the next several years as the country attempts to update these aspects of  the system.  Is an Indian patent valuable today?  Will it be valuable tomorrow?  Its great to be able to help clients make those determinations.

5.  Its different than ours.  As a law geek, I’m interested in comparing and contrasting different patent and intellectual property systems.  It appears that the ‘new and improved’ Indian patent law has substantial differences from ours.  Are the differences important?  What effect will they have ?  Can we learn something from the differences?  Time will tell.