The United States will also continue to monitor closely developments concerning compulsory licensing of patents in India, particularly following the broad interpretation of Indian law in a recent decision by the Indian Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), while also bearing in mind the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, discussed in the Intellectual Property and Health Policy section of this Report. In particular, India's decision in this case to restrict patent rights of an innovator based, in part, on the innovator's decision to import its products, rather than manufacture them in India, establishes a troubling precedent. Unless overturned, the decision could potentially compel innovators outside India – including those in sectors well beyond pharmaceuticals, such as green technology and information and communications technology – to manufacture in India in order to avoid being forced to license an invention to third parties.
The United States also urges India to provide an effective system for protecting against unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products, and to ensure that a system applies to all pharmaceutical products and not just traditional Indian medicines.
Copyright
India boasts a vibrant domestic creative industry, but the challenge of piracy – particularly over the Internet – continues to grow. While the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012 provided limited improvements to India's copyright regime, the amendments raise a number of questions regarding the scope of exclusive rights under Indian law and the ability of rights holders to properly exercise those rights. Additional legislative changes are needed in order to ensure that content-based industries can effectively combat physical and online piracy and develop new models for the delivery of content. As part of this reform, India should enact anti-camcording legislation and provide further protections against online copyright piracy, signal theft, and circumvention of technological protection measures.
Enforcement
The United States notes limited improvements with respect to IPR enforcement, including reports that enforcement officials cooperate with music industry rights holders in conducting complaint-based raids, and increased use of judicial orders that have strengthened enforcement against pirated movies and music online. The United States encourages India to take additional steps to improve coordination with enforcement officials of certain state governments within India. The United States also continues to encourage India to address its judicial inefficiencies and to strengthen criminal enforcement efforts, including by imposing deterrent level sentences and giving IPR prosecutions greater priority. Finally, the United States recommends that India more fully address the challenges posed by online copyight piracy by clarifying the procedures for notice and takedown of infringing materials.
Localization Trends
The United States commends India's recognition of the importance of innovation as part of its efforts to promote manufacturing, but urges India to resist imposing discriminatory policies or other counterproductive measures in pursuit of that objective at the expense of adequate and
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