The Hindu : Vice-chairman appointed to IPR board

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 27, 2003

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Vice-chairman appointed to IPR board

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI April 26. Dr. Raghubir Singh, a retired official of the Union Law Ministry, has been appointed vice-chairman of the Intellectual Property Rights Appellate Board, headquartered at Chennai.

Last month, Justice S. Jagadeesan, a retired Judge of the Madras High Court, was appointed chairman of the board and he has already assumed charge.

The board, which is empowered to adjudicate all disputes under the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), is expected to start functioning soon after the vice-chairman takes charge.

With the formation of the board, the country has upgraded its legal system to handle patent-related litigation and allow patent in all areas of technology.

It will go into all issues arising out of problems relating to application and administration of TRIPS in the country.

According to Government sources, the board will have benches later at Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi.

Depending on the volume of cases that would come up for adjudication, they will be set up in other cities as well.

The Doha ministerial declaration clarifies that each member-nation is free to establish its own regime to tackle issues relating to patent laws and the setting up of a board is in this regard.

The board will take up issues arising out of the Trade Marks Act, the Copyright (Amendment) Act, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, the Designs Act (for protection of designs envisaged in the TRIPS agreement for industrial designs), and the Patents (Amendment) Act, which is aimed at ensuring compliance with the TRIPS obligations and providing for adequate safeguards in respect of bio-diversity, indigenous system of medicine and compulsory licences.

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