New patents bill passed

The parliament yesterday enacted Bangladesh Patents Bill 2022, aiming to make a century-old patents law more time-befitting and safeguard intellectual property rights.

The law, among others, extends the validity period of patents from 16 years to 20 years.

Analysts say this would attract foreign investment as it protects intellectual property and works as a safeguard in stopping generic versions of new products or innovations from coming up, according to experts.

Sheikh Faezul Amin, additional secretary (policy, law and international co-operation) to the industries ministry, said the new law included provisions enabling joint registrations if needed.

The pre-existing patent and design law was enacted in 1911. In 2016, the law was divided into two parts, a patent law and a design law.

According to him, the act was needed to enable updates and enabling staying attuned with the current growth of the economy and expansion of trade and commerce.

The bill states that any technological product would be patentable if it has something new in it.

However, inventions, scientific theories and mathematical methods, business methods, rules or methods of performing purely mental work or sports and any such computer programme would not be patent protected.

In addition to the need to prevent commercial use within the borders of Bangladesh in order to protect public order and ethics, a number of other issues have been left out of patent protection, including innovation.

A registrar office will be there to issue or cancel patents of any single inventor or joint inventors of a technical innovation under the proposed law.

Mohammad Golam Sarwar, assistant professor of the Department of Law, University of Dhaka, said updating the patent law in tune with current trends had become necessary.

Demands had been raised to protect intellectual property, said Sarwar, who was also involved in reviewing the draft law.

Referring to a Global Innovation Index 2018 report, he said Bangladesh has been ranked the least innovative country in Asia.

So the new patent law will facilitate compliance with agreements on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and other global standards relating to patent and innovation, he said.

The TRIPS agreement requires member countries to make patents available for any invention, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology without discrimination, subject to the normal tests of novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability.

He said it would ensure the right balance between pharmaceutical innovation and access to medicine following the introduction of any pharmaceutical products.

It will protect intellectual property rights while inspiring innovators and businesses to invest more in better innovations and technologies, he said.

According to him, the new updated law will help Bangladesh cope with challenges stemming from its United Nations status graduation to a developing country.

For this, Bangladesh needs to develop a robust protection mechanism in terms of innovation, technology and patent protection regime, he said.

He said the law would help mobilise foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh as investors give priority to strong laws for protection of innovation and idea generation.

He also said foreign investors and multinational companies might be discouraged to invest in Bangladesh unless there was a strong protection mechanism for their intellectual property rights and technical expertise.

However, he said, like other laws in Bangladesh, there were challenges in implementation and monitoring.

He also said the act was a strong base to adopt international standards to protect intellectual property.

"We did not have any innovation-related law although there was a policy. For this reason there was a possibility for ideas or innovations to be hacked," he said, adding, "This act will protect the idea and innovation of the patent holder."

Naser Ezaz Bijoy, president of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said they support modernisation and simplification of patent acts, which may be effective in protecting intellectual property and enabling international practices.

However, he emphasised on proper implementation of the law so that confidence grew among foreign investors over the protection of their intellectual property.

The government should implement the law in the greater interest of the industry, investment, innovation and products, he suggested.

Nurul Kabir, vice president of the Intellectual Property Association of Bangladesh, said there were weaknesses in the new act, such as a clause saying it would take an applicant 12 months from the day the request was registered to avail a patent.

He alleged that this unintentionally provided a scope for products and innovation to be copied.

"The foreign investors fear about copy of their innovation as this is a lengthy system of registration accompanied by a verification system of Bangladeshi databases with global databases," he noted.