India may drag US to WTO over unilateral IPR action - Times of India

The author has posted comments on this articleAgencies | Apr 22, 2014, 12.20AM IST

NEW DELHI: India will drag the US to the WTO if Washington decides to put New Delhi in the "Priority Foreign Country" list for intellectual property rights (IPR), which could lead to trade curbs on domestic firms, sources said.

This was decided at a high-level meeting called by cabinet secretary Ajit Seth to discuss problems related to IPR issues with the US, especially in the pharmaceutical sector. "Indian IPR laws are fully compliant with WTO and other international norms. Any unilateral action taken by the US will be violative of WTO and India will suitably respond by dragging the US to WTO's dispute resolution mechanism," sources said.

US industry, particularly the pharma sector, and trade lobbies have been putting pressure on their government to place India under the Priority Foreign Country list for IPR. Under the US Trade Act, a Priority Foreign Country is the worst clas sification given to those that deny adequate and effective protection of IPR or fair and equitable market access to US entities relying on IPR protection.

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