Mail Box Project Intro

MAILBOX PROJECT

Following India's membership to the World Trade Organization in 1995, India was required to set up a 'mailbox' for patent applications for pharmaceutical products. The mailbox was to remain 'closed' until the India came into compliance with its obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property ("TRIPS")[Click here to download attachments] , which required India to recognise product patent protection for pharmaceuticals. In March of 2005, India, despite much public outcry, passed the Patents (Amendment) Act to come within its obligations under TRIPS, retroactive to 1 January 2005.

The Patent Office, as of 21 January 2005, began publishing the abstracts of the applications deposited in the 'mailbox' as required under the Patents Act. However, the Patent Office's website provides only the bare minimum of information regarding these applications, often omitting key data, and are extremely difficult to search given the volume of applications. Moreover, to a layperson concerned about the impact of the new patent regime on access to essential medicines, much of the information provided means very little.

Given the importance of identifying the patent status of essential drugs in the 'mailbox,' the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, undertook a vast project to make this information fully searchable and more user-friendly. To that end, we have segregated all of the applications relating to pharmaceuticals, categorised each application according to disease, and made the database fully searchable. Additionally, where available, we have linked these patent applications to the corresponding patents available through the European and US patent office websites.

It is our hope that, with this information in hand, many more civil society groups and patients' rights advocates will take up the work of filing oppositions against frivolous patents. The Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign already has achieved some remarkable victories in this vein, and we hope that many others will join in the fight for access to affordable medicines. Enjoy your search.

All of the information, including the patent abstracts are intended solely for non-commercial use, including research and other fair dealing uses, and not intended in any way to infringe any person's copyright or any other intellectual property. The information provided is only intended to be general summary information to the public. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information provided. However, we make no warranties, expressed or implied, regarding errors or omissions resulting from the use of information contained within.

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