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safeguarded and the patent çevergreeningé is prevented. Patent oppositions are

significant in bringing pertinent proof and contentions before patent examiners,
especially in the countries with severe resource limitations.

The example of the resource to patent oppositions in the area of HIV

was the case that the activists in Thailand brought regarding the patent on
(22)
didanosine in 2001. Nevertheless, the country which sought the most to the
(23)
opposition proceedings has been India. Their experience illustrates that
merely filing patent opposition may cause the pharmaceutical firms to drop the

(24)
prices, to issue voluntary licenses or even to remove patent applications.

It should be noted that, such procedures must allow companies,

NGOs, and third parties to participate, and avoid limiting the categories of

challenges and evidence demonstrated or assumptions of patent validity.
The Patent and Trademark Office of the United States (USPTO), for instance,

has attempted to better exploit outside data for patent quality control through

a çpeer to patenté mechanism allowing the third parties to remark on
applications and present prior art.

(22)
NDP (2010), Good Practice Guide: Improving Access To Treatment By Utilizing Public Health
Flexibilities In The WTO TRIPS Agreement at p. 23; see Médecins Sans Frontières (2003),

Drug Patents under the Spotlight: Sharing Practical Knowledge about Pharmaceutical
Patents, available at http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/pdf/s4913e/s4913e.pdf. at 20; see AIDS
Access Foundation et al. v. Bristol Myers-Squibb Company and Department of Intellectual
Property, Central Intellectual Property & International Trade Court, Black Case No. Tor Por
34/2544, Red Case No. 92/2545 (2002).
(23)
Sections 25.1, 25.2, Indian Patents Act, 1970.
(24)
Both examples are discussed in Amin, T (2010), Re-visiting the Patents and Access to
Medicines Dichotomy: An Evaluation of TRIPs Implementation and Public Health Safeguards
in Developing Countries, in Global Governance of HIV/AIDS: Intellectual Property and

Access to Essential Medicines (Aginam, O, Harrington J & Yu PK eds., 2010).

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