From: vivek@ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Of U.S. And Indian Patent Laws. India's Is More Progressive.
Date: 6 Jan 93 01:35:18 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu

This is in response to the discussion about the different Patent Laws
operating in India as well as the U.S..

The U.S. Law, that enforces both the Process,  as well as the Product
protection policy, is in fact a retrogade act.  In comparison the one
in India is far more progressive. 

I shall give an example,  quoting from what one nettor had previously
stated. Suppose 2 companies X and Y are in the process of developing,
two products, for the same purpose.  Now lets suppose that, company X
uses a process A, and company Y uses a process B. Of the 2 processes,
process B is markedly more efficent, in the sense,  that it helps the
product to have certain qualities which are better than the qualities
imparted to the product by the process A, which however is faster. In
such a case, if company X, comes out first with the product, and gets
a Patent for it in the name of both the Product, and its process A  &
company Y, is refused the right to manufacture the product, simply on
the grounds that it was slightly late,  then what do we have?  A kind 
of situation, where a better product is being denied to us and we the
consumers, being forced to buy an inefficient product, from a company
that has had the benefit, of just getting to the finish line first. I
would definitely feel that the Patent law is being unfair to me.

In practice, this situation, has indeed taken place.  This was with a 
recent case, that had taken place in India about the Jaipur Limb. The
Jaipur Limb, as most Indians know, is an artificial limb, made in the
state of Rajasthan, by an ex-Indian Army officer, who was disabled in
one of thew wars. This limb, works almost like a natural limb, and is
very comfortable to wear, and is very robust in its construction. The
cost of the limb in India is perhaps in the few hundreds at the most,
and a product similar to it, but far less eficient, and much far less
robust is manufactured by Du Pont. This product costs, about US $400.
When Du Pont saw the Jaipur limb,  being used in India,  so much more 
easily, and in such a large quantity,  it began to try and pressurize
action, much like what Burroughs Welcome tried to.  However, once the
Discovery Channel proved that the Jaipur Limb was made from a totally
indigenous Indian technology, Du Pont had to beat a retreat. Now tell
me, should the U.S. Patent law have been used against India or not??
Similarly, if the Indian Company,  has produced the AZT drug,  from a 
process completley different from that used by B-W, then,  the Patent
Law,  as it is applied in the U.S., is totally a weapon of injustice.

Another case, to point is that of the AWACS technology that India has
been successfull in developing. The Indian version of the AWACS, also
known as ASWAC and which stands for Airborne Surveillance and Warning 
Control System, has been totally developed indigenously at the Indian
Research installations, at Trivandrum, and Bangalore. If now the U.S.
uses the same hackneyed argument about its patent law, being violated
then it is again, doing something illegal. The U.S. patent law,  thus
subsidizes Monopoly, and breeds inefficency, and is used as a tool by
the Corporations,  to garner market share,  and not provide a service 
to consumers.

Comments from nettors are welcome.

Regards,
Vivek.

-- 
vivek@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu),
Research Assistant, Systems Engineering Lab., Dept. Of Computer Science, 
School Of Engineering, Computer Science And Technology,
California State University, Chico, California.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian