Intellectual Property Rights and Public Policy on the Role of Plain Packaging and Health Care in India

Abstract

Although tobacco is a multi-billion-dollar industry globally, its consumers are prone to various non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, heart attack, etc. Therefore, to prevent this, many states have taken initiatives to discourage the consumption of this harmful product. Many international organizations like World Health Organization (WHO) have supported these preventive measures through The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). The main objective of this convention is to encourage the concept of packaging all brands of tobacco products in a uniform standard, which is known as the Plain packaging process. This was the first initiative adopted by Australia. This research aims to determine the intellectual property rights and public policy on the role of plain packaging and health care in India as a developing country and the best strategy to tackle these issues. The authors have also made efforts to have a comparative study of New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, etc for better understanding.