Protest Rally Against the Patent Ordinance. Delhi, 26th Feb

[Guest guest]

Re: Join the Protest Rally Against the Patent Ordinance promulgated by the

Govt., Jantar Mantar, Delhi, 26th Feb' 05, 11.30 a.m.

Dear Friends,

On Sunday, 26 December 2004, the Christmas weekend, while much of the media

attention was focused on the Tsunami disaster, the UPA government

promulgated an Ordinance amending the Patent Act 1970.

The Ordinance has raised serious concerns on the process as well as content

of the third amendment of the Patents Act, which will compromise people’s

ability to access medicines. As per the Common Minimum Programme, the UPA

government promised, “to take all steps to ensure availability of life

savings drugs at reasonable prices”. The government has however passed a

‘TRIPS PLUS’ Patent Amendment Ordinance that contradicts the National Common

Minimum Program and violates the constitutional right to health and life.

The government seeks to set aside all criticisms of the Ordinance on the

ground that these are minimum amendments to comply with TRIPS. However, the

fine print of the Ordinance clearly shows that significant amendments not

required by the TRIPS agreement have been made that seriously promote the

interests of Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies and directly compromise

accessibility and affordability of drugs. This same Ordinance will now be

placed before the Parliament during the Budget Session.

Globally people are opposing the Amendment in its present form and are

coming together to fight for their Right to Health and in that connection a

Global Day of Action to protest against the Patent Ordinance has been

announced for February 26, 2005, the second day of the Parliament’s budget

session. On this day health and patient groups, trade unions, healthcare

workers are coming together to demand that the there should be:

1. A clear Definition of “Patentable Criteria”

2. No Patents for new usage and dosage of known drugs

3. Pre-grant opposition as before to stop frivolous Patents

4. Simple procedures with a time limit for grant of Compulsory Licensing

5. Introduction of Ceiling on Royalty to MNCs

As part of the Global Day of Action, Trade Unions and health groups are

organizing a protest rally in Delhi from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament on

Saturday, February 26, 2005 at 11.30 a.m. We urge you to join us at the

rally and support the Campaign.

In solidarity,

The Affordable Medicine and Treatment Campaign

For more information about the protest march contact:

AMTC, C/o Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

Phone: 24321101/2, Fax: 24322236, Email: aidslaw1@...

Leena Menghaney

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, Delhi

E-mail: <aidslaw1@...>