Tokyo: Taking umbrage at repeated US reference to poor patent protection Laws of certain developing countries, India on February 16 made it clear that it has one of the world's best compatible patent Law regimes in place.

Speaking at the World trade Organisation (WTO) mini-ministerial session on TRIPS and public health issues, Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley said, "If you look at the patent Law regime of India, it is the one of the most compatible Law regimes in the world."

After the forceful submission of New Delhi about the compatibility of the patent regime in India, the US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said, "Well, I was referring to your earlier Laws. I know that you have changed your Law."

US, after agreeing to Doha declaration on TRIPS, had begun retracing its steps under "severe pressure" from the lobbies of pharma majors at home, analysts said.

The Doha declaration clearly specified that countries not having drug manufacturing capability could issue compulsory licences in case of national health emergencies to other countries for preparation of drug formulations, even if they were patented.

US pharma companies feared that this concession given by US at Doha would make only a handful of countries, including India, to take advantage and capture the markets in African and least developed countries with their cheap medicines, they said.

PTI