Civil society has expressed concerns on India’s proposed MoU with US on intellectual property rights, saying it could lead to changes in patent laws which are harmful to public health. Though details have not been disclosed by the government, there is speculation the proposed MoU will provide for training of Indian IP officials by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).“Unable to change the substantive provisions of the Patents Act, 1970, the US is trying to use indirect methods such as training Indian patent examiners to dissuade them from implementing the public health safeguards in Indian patent law. Any accommodation of a demand from the US to directly change laws or indirectly impact the implementation of the public interest provisions should be rejected outright,” civil society groups said in a letter to Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal Public health provisions in the country's Patents Act are crucial for ensuring affordable generic medicines for millions around the world. India is often called pharmacy of the world, with every third tablet sold globally, made by an Indian company.The MoU comes ahead of US President’s maiden visit to India, after the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade had discussions on reviewing the country’s IPR laws. US has been pressing India to make changes in its IP legislation through the annual United States Trade Representative (USTR) Special 301 reports, and is also interested in getting Indian IP management officials to opt for a stronger IP regime. India’s IPR policies have come under fire since the country chose to make use of flexibilities available in the TRIPS agreement. A strong IP regime favouring the patent holder will create changes in the form of extending the term of protection through establishment of linkage between patent and drug registration procedures, facilitating enforcement; and expediting litigation to block local inventors and innovators from commercializing their products within domestic markets.“These trainings by the USPTO do not appreciate that patentability standards in India and US are different. In fact, Indian patent law has higher and stricter patentability standards as compared to US patent laws. We apprehend that such trainings of Indian patent examiners as were part of the MoU in 2006, could be a factor behind the poor or non-implementation of the strict standards of patentability in the Indian patent law.Past experience also informs us that enhanced bilateral engagement with the US on IP, led Indian IP management officials to accommodate the demands of US without informing the Parliament or public’’, the letter, a copy of which is available with TOI said."Unable to change the substantive provisions of the Patents Act, 1970, US is trying to use indirect methods such as training Indian patent examiners to dissuade them from implementing the public health safeguards in Indian patent law. Any accommodation of a demand from US to directly change laws or indirectly impact the implementation of the public interest provisions should be rejected outright, it adds.Civil society organisations including All India Drug Action Network , National Working Group on Patent Laws and WTO Campaign for Access to Medicines and Devices–India and Third World Network (India) have urged government to reject US demands to influence the implementation of India’s IP legislation. It has asked the government to make contents of MoU, prior to its finalisation, public.Through such a bilateral arrangement, the aim of United States could be to get Indian IP management organizations to strengthen enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms for combating IPR infringements through the introduction of specialized commercial courts to achieve a higher level of monopoly for US multinationals operating in the Indian market, for medicines, seeds, electronic designs and products of new and emerging technologies involving biotech, new materials and software, the letter says.