- Ginny Rajbir
International Non-Proprietary Names Published by Indian IPO
“All in good time”, with an aim of providing health and pharma industry with unique and globally available designated names in order to identify each pharmaceutical substance, the publication of the list of International Non-Proprietary Names by the CGPDTM has brought a ray of hope for the Courts in India. It is observed that the pharmaceutical trademarks are the largest category of trademarks in India, covering over 15% of all trademark registrations. Citing the same reason, its relevance in the India can be easily understood in terms of curtailing the problem of ongoing and prolonged litigation in the country.
Having the constitutional authority to venture and actively encourage promotion of international standards in respect of pharmaceutical products WHO declared the establishment of these INNs in India. The INNs also referred to as generic names thus help in recognizing the active pharmaceutical ingredients and provides a globally acknowledged unique name that shall be considered as nothing but a public right. Thus, names that are identical or similar to the INNs published will not be considered inherently distinctive. No registration rights shall be extended to such identical marks.
It is noteworthy that accumulative list of designated INN stands at some 7000 names so far and every year some 120-150 new INN are added to this list. This holds significance in international as well as Indian Scenario mainly because identifying such names shall help in establishing the practice of safe prescription and disbursal of coherent information in the health circle. (The entire list of INN can be accessed here : http://www.ipindia.nic.in/list_INN_08February2012.pdf)
