Patent Act 1970 UPSC Notes

The Indian Patent Act 1970 illustrates that an innovation, which might be a product or a
procedure that generally provides a unique method of performing a task or the latest
innovative solution for a problem, is given an exclusive license by way of a patent.
Technical details concerning the innovation must be publicly disclosed in a patent filing
in order to obtain one.
Indian Patent Act 1970 UPSC
• The history of Indian patent law began with the passage of Indian Patents and
Designs Act, of 1911, in that year.
• The Patent Act 1970 is the statute that still governs patents in India. It first went
into effect in 1972.
• The Department of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks,
or CGPDTM, is responsible for monitoring the Indian Patent Act 1970.
• The Patent Office has offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, and Calcutta in
addition to its headquarters there. The headquarters of the CGPDTM are in
Mumbai. Both the National Institute for Intellectual Property Management and the
Patent Information System center are situated in Nagpur.
• The Controller General supervises the Act's implementation and provides advice
to the executive branch on relevant issues.

What is Patent?
A patent can be described as the sole right granted to an invention which can be any
product or technique that helps to enhance how something can be done more
effectively or merely offers a solution to an issue. It offers the patent holder protection
for the invention. The Indian Patent Act 1970 illustrates the rules and provisions
pertaining to patents.

During the duration of the patent's protection, the owner of the patent has the authority
to decide who is and is not permitted to utilise the innovation. If the patent holder is fine
then other parties may be granted a licence to use the innovation under mutually
agreed-upon terms by the patentee. The proprietor may also transfer the ownership of
the innovation to a third party who will thereafter have the rights of the patent.
The innovation is no longer under the owners' exclusive control after the patent expires
and reaches the public realm making it available for commercialisation by others.

What are the types of Patents?

The patent is given for a limitless 20-year duration. Without any permission of the
patentee, the innovation cannot be made, utilised, disseminated or marketed for a profit.
There are a total of three types of patents in India such as the Ordinary patent
application, convention patent application, and OCT national phase patent application.
Let's discuss all three types of patents in detail-
1. Ordinary Patent Application
 Ordinary patent applications with partial or complete specifications can be
submitted in India. It also distinguishes itself from other patents by not claiming a
reference from any other application. The specification is a statement of
Technical disclosure that enables the average skilled person to implement an
innovation.

2. Convention Patent Application

Within a year after the relevant date the convention application must be
submitted in India with a statutory declaration and an assertion of priority.

3. PCT National Phase Patent Application

Following a pct application filed at w IPO within about 31 months of the relevant
date, the national step patent request must be filed with India in line with the strict
English language standards. The English translation of the essential papers must
be submitted within 31 months of the date of the earliest primary consideration or
within 3 months of the controller's demand.

Patent Law Amendment Act 2005

The Patents (Amendment) Bill 2005 was approved by the Indian Parliament, replacing
the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 that had previously been issued by the
Indian government in December 2004. Important aspects of the 2005 Patent
(Amendment) Act that affect product patents include:

• The expansion of goods patent rights to include goods in the chemical, food, and
pharmaceutical industries.
• A product patent should be valid for a period of twenty years.
• The creation of a clause that permits the granting of a mandatory license for the
export of medicines to nations with completely inadequate or no production
capabilities, provided that the procurement of patent-protected pharmacological
products manufactured in India has been authorized in some other way by the
importing nation, such as by notification ( as Per the Doha Declaration on TRIPS
and Global Health).

Importance of Intellectual Property Rights

IPR stands for Intellectual Property Rights. Intellectual property rights are popularly
known as IPR a rights granted to people over their creative works that include artistic
productions, literary productions, and inventions like symbols names and pictures to be
used as commercial commodities. A time-limited exclusive right to utilize their
creations.
It is important to have IPR since it is one of the important means of securing intangible
assets that are still accessible to the general public and easily duplicable by anyone. A
patent is used to restrict other parties' use or sale of the original work for a
predetermined amount of time.

Challenges Associated with Patent Regime

Patenting of products and new inventions are really important. The owner of the
invention has to do a lot of paperwork to get the patent for their product or inventions.
The Indian Patent Act 1970 illustrates the provisions of the patent law, however, there
are numerous challenges associated with the patent regime. There are a number of
challenges associated with the patent regime, like-
• Public disclosure of the invention's specifics. The creator must provide the
technical details of the innovation in order to submit a patent application.
Depending on the invention, some inventors opt to withhold this information and
maintain trade secrecy about the specifics of their good or service.
• The application procedure can take a lot of time and effort. A patent application
may be finished and approved in three to four years. Additionally, there is a
chance that the market or technology could undergo major long-term change.
• Costs are involved with maintaining a patent, which is necessary. A patent must
be renewed three times during the course of its lifetime after it has been
awarded. The owner of the patent may lose their rights to protect if renewal
charges are not paid.

Effects of Patent Law 2005

The Patent (Amendment) Act of 2005 clarifies that nothing that is already known or
created can be patented and specifies what constitutes an invention. The clause
provides that "novelty" is one of three requirements for "patentable subject matter,"
along with "quasi" or "original idea" and industrial application.

• Increased product pricing was seen as a major barrier at the time due to the new
patents act. However, the government took aggressive steps to guarantee cheap
pricing for necessary medications and has utilized compulsory licensing as a
mechanism to rein in high rates.
• The legislation aimed to level the playing field between domestic and
international pharmaceutical and medicine businesses.
• Indian pharmacological companies that produce generic medications have
prospered over the past ten years despite early doubts.
• Additionally, MNCs have established R&D Centers in India.

Biotech and Pharmaceutical Patents

The Indian Patent Act 1970 also elucidates biotech and pharmaceutical patents. It is
important to remember that India only experienced a significant boom in the
pharmaceutical industry after implementing WTO standards (TRIPS) and admitting
global investors.

• After going through a rigorous evaluation process, pharmaceutical and biotech

patents are filed in India.
• When a novel use of an already-existing material, technique, or machine
produces a new product, or at most one high flexibility, it is permissible to patent
the innovation under clause (d) of Section 3, which lists innovations that are not
patentable.
• Additionally, the patent law's clauses permit the patenting of finished goods in the
fields of chemicals, biotechnology, food manufacturing, medications, and
pharmaceuticals and the process itself.

Rights Granted by Indian Patent Act 1970

When a patent is granted in India, the patentee is given exclusive rights to use the
patented item, create the innovation, or employ the patented method that goes along
with the invention.

• If the patent is for a method, the patentee has the right to stop others from
employing the method, making the product generated directly from the process
available for sale, exporting it, or bringing it into India.
• The patentee has the right to prohibit others from creating, using, offering for
sale, selling, or having to import the patented product within the country if the
patent was granted for a product.

Patents Act Amendment Rules 2021

To encourage the creation, innovative thinking, and advancement of new technologies
in the educational sector, the Ministry for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
publicly released the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2021 in September, which also
added academic institutions to the list of individual citizens, start-ups, and small
organizations.

Reduced Patent Fees for Educational Institutes

• A number of Educational institutes are involved in the task of research and

development for new inventions and generating the latest technologies. For this
patents are required for them before commercializing the technology or product.
• When submitting a patent application the inventors must do so on behalf of the
institution and will be responsible for paying the hefty amount of fees associated
with large applicants, which serves as a deterrent.
 • With the help of patent amendment rules, in 2021 the official fees of educational
Institutes that had to be paid in relation to the number of acts under the patent
roles of 2003 were decreased.
• All types of education institutes are now eligible for benefits attached to the 80%
fee reduction of patent filing and prosecution. Earlier only government-accredited
educational institutes were eligible for this benefit.

Extending of Expedited Exam System

• The patent issued 41 days after the application was filed is the one issued the
quickest. Initially, patent claims submitted by startups were eligible for the
expedited examination method.
• It has recently been expanded to include 8 additional classifications of patent
applicants: SME, that is, Small and Medium Enterprises, female candidates,
government departments, institutions and organisations created by central,
provincial, or state laws, government companies, institutions whose funding is
entirely or largely provided by the government, and those applying through the
Patents Prosecution Highway.
• The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a series of efforts that various patent
offices are participating in to provide expedited patent prosecution processes.