India's Tryst with Pharma Patent Settlements : Whether a Turbulent Decade of Litigations Would Give Way to Meaningful Compromises?

Abstract

Ever since India fully implemented the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement it witnessed a flurry of patent related disputes in the pharmaceutical sector. As many of the patent litigations are yet to reach any final conclusion one practice which is slowly evolving amongst the litigating parties is the settlement of disputes through negotiation or mediation. At the same time this practice has triggered concerns of anti-competitive conduct between such parties which in turn has forced India’s competition regulator the Competition Commission of India to contemplate a scrutiny of such settlements. The focus of this article will be to examine the evolving trend amongst litigating parties to settle the patent disputes and the impact this may have on public interest by highlighting the international practices followed in leading jurisdictions like US and EU along with leading case-laws.