PAKISTAN - PATENT PROTECTION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
Document: Request for the Establishment of a Panel by the United States
Date: 4 July 1996
Document codes: WT/DS36/3
Complainant: U.S.
Respondent: Pakistan
Dispute stage: Mutually Agreed Solution
Agreements cited: Art. 27, 65, 70  Intellectual Property (TRIPS)

PAKISTAN - PATENT PROTECTION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL
AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
Request for the Establishment of a Panel by the United States
The following communication, dated 3 July 1996, from the Permanent Mission of the United
States to the Permanent Mission of Pakistan and the Dispute Settlement Body is circulated at the request
of the United States.
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS") requires
all Members of the ("WTO") to grant patents for the subject matter specified
in Article 27 of the Agreement. Article 70.8 of the TRIPS Agreement provides that where a Member
takes advantage of the transitional provisions under the Agreement and does not make product patent
protection available for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical inventions as of the date of entry
into force of the WTO Agreement (i.e., 1 January 1995), that Member must implement measures to
permit parties to file patent applications drawn to such inventions on or after that date. When product
patent protection is established, these applications must be examined according to the criteria for
patentability set forth in the Agreement, based on the earliest effective filing date claimed for the
application. Patents granted on these applications must enjoy the terms and rights mandated by the
TRIPS Agreement.
The TRIPS Agreement further requires Members subject to the obligations of Article 70.8
to provide exclusive marketing rights to those parties that have filed an application under the interim
filing procedures, provided that the product covered by the invention has been granted marketing approval
in the Member providing protectionand another Member, and a patent has been grantedon the invention
in another Member.
The legal regime in Pakistan currently does not make patent protection available for inventions
as specified in Article 27 of the TRIPS Agreement, or provide systems that conform to obligations
of the TRIPS Agreement regarding the acceptance of applications and the grant of exclusive marketing
rights. As a result, Pakistan's legal regime appears to be inconsistent with the obligations of the TRIPS
Agreement, including but not necessarily limited to Articles 27, 65 and 70.
In a communication dated 30 April 1996 (WT/DS36/1), the United States requested consultations
with Pakistan pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the
Settlement of Disputes ("DSU") and Article 64of the TRIPS Agreement to the extent that itincorporates
by reference Article XXII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. Consultations were
held on 30 May 1996 but did not result in a resolution of the dispute.

Accordingly, the United States respectfully request the establishment of a panel to examine
this matter in light of the TRIPS Agreement and to find that Pakistan's legal regime fails to conform
to the obligations of Articles 27, 65 and 70 of the TRIPS Agreement and nullifies or impairs benefits
accruing directly or indirectly to the Untied States under the TRIPS Agreement.
The United States asks that this request be placed on the agenda for the meeting of the Dispute
Settlement Body scheduled to be held on 15 July 1996 and that the panel be established with standard
terms of reference as set out in Article 7 of the DSU.