FR publications: The Implications of India's Amended Patent Regime: sTRIPping away food security and farmers' rights?

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The Implications of India's Amended Patent Regime: sTRIPping away food security and farmers' rights?

Plahe, Jagjit Kaur (2009):
The Implications of India's Amended Patent Regime: sTRIPping away food security and farmers' rights?
Third World Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 6, 2009, p. 1197-1213

Summary

In this article the Indian government's policy response to the TRIPS agreement is analyzed and the implications of this response for food security and farmers examined. The author argues that TRIPS has become one of the most controversial WTO agreements and that this is due to its wide and far-reaching mandate and complex socioeconomic implications. It is also argued in the article that the changes made in the Indian Patents Act in response to TRIPS will compromise the food sector and the rights of small-scale farmers, by conferring strong rights on upstream agents who use biotechnology to produce propriatary agricultural inputs. The author writes that these agents now can exert monopoly price control over agricultural products for 20 years and have the right to determine under which conditions farmers and researchers can use patented processes and products. The article also outlines some policy options the Indian government can make use of to tighten the scope of patentability in the food sector.

The article is available here.

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