India Generic Drug Infringements

September 8, 2011
Patent News and Interesting Facts

There have been several seizures of Indian generic drug shipments at European ports that were on route to Latin American.

European countries were detaining Indian generic drugs on charges of counterfeiting and patent infringement.

India blamed European countries for creating trade barriers against Indian drug companies to protect the interests of their firms.

According to European Commission laws, if the drug is not patented either in the country of origin or its final destination, it can be seized.

India stated that an agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) allowed these exports as Europe was not the destination for the generic drugs.

Ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and India raised the issue of varying tariff structures in the EU countries.

Both sides have reached a settlement.

The settlement will ensure that none of the 27 members of the economic and trading bloc will detain “Made in India” consignments of generic medicines, which are transiting through EU ports.