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This E-Newsletter has been published by India Juris, full service Indian law firm with special expertise in Business, Corporate & IP laws, on requests from clients and associates worldwide with an object to keep them abreast of latest legal & business developments in India.

 Contents 

• FDI in Agriculture 

• Government plans to lower foreign entry barrier for FDA-compliant companies

• Indian Ministry of Industry signs an MOU with France on IPR Issues

• Lupin loses Patent suit

FDI in Agriculture 

With regard to Agriculture and Plantation sector, FDI up to 100 percent is permitted under the automatic route in floriculture, horticulture, development of seeds; animal husbandry; pisciculture, aquaculture, cultivation of vegetables, mushrooms under controlled conditions and services related to agro and allied sectors.

FDI upto 100% with government approval is also permitted in Tea Plantation subject to divestment of 26% equity of the company in favour of an Indian partner / Indian public within a period of five years; and prior approval of the State Government concerned in case of any future land use change. 

Besides the above two, FDI is not allowed in any other agricultural sector / activity.

Government plans to lower foreign entry barrier for FDA-compliant companies

The government has initiated talks with a few countries including Japan, Korea, Gulf and South Asian nations for easing their drug registration and entry norms for companies with US FDA approved manufacturing plants. The move is to support the Drug makers, who have invested in setting up manufacturing plants as per US FDA standards, in securing easier entry to other big pharmaceutical markets.

The government feels that the import registration norms for pharmaceuticals in these countries that serve as non-tariff barrier, should also be relaxed at least in the case of companies which comply with the stringent norms of regulated markets such as the US and the UK.

The procedure of testing samples of the products to be imported is also very stringent and time consuming and a shorter registration procedure should be formulated for them. India has more than 70 US FDA approved plants, the largest anywhere outside the US.

The ministry already has two working groups with Russia and the EU which are in the process of reaching an agreement on easing import registration norms.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY  Laws 

Indian Ministry of Industry signs an MOU with France on IPR Issues

Indian and French Minister of Industry signed an MoU in Paris on 15th July, 2006 for cooperation in the field of intellectual property. This is a concrete manifestation of the government's desire to strengthen international bilateral cooperation in the field of intellectual property and to ensure protection of intellectual property rights of foreign investors and domestic industry.

Considering the imperatives of effective protection of intellectual property rights in a global economy and the commitment of the two countries in that area, this signing of MoU presents a major step forward in bilateral co-operation. The MoU seeks to achieve this cooperation through training of personnel, exchange of information and experts between intellectual property institutes, sensitization of the target audiences, computerization of facilities dealing with intellectual property and the development of intellectual property database, conducting joint studies in specific cases and a dialogue on international questions regarding intellectual property.

The implementation of actions of cooperation in the MoU would be entrusted to competent institutions i.e. the Institut National de la Proprit Industrielle (INPI), for the French side, and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), for the Indian side.

Lupin loses Patent suit

A district court in the US has ruled against the Mumbai based Pharmaceutical company Lupin in a patent infringement suit filed by Sanofi-Aventis and King Pharmaceuticals.

The court’s decision followed a suit filed by King Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi-Aventis against Lupin alleging infringement on the ‘5061722’ patent relating to Altace (Ramipril) drug, used for treatment of high blood pressure.

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