Patent rights in the Indian legal system

 Patent rights in the Indian legal system

A patent is the government's exclusive right to prevent others from using, making, or selling an innovation for a certain period of time. For improvements to their earlier invention, a patent is also attainable. The basic goal of patent legislation is to encourage innovators to contribute more to their fields by giving them exclusive rights to their ideas. The patent is the privilege awarded to an inventor for the invention of any novel, useful, non-obvious process, machine, product of manufacture, or composition of matter in contemporary words. The word "patent" comes from the Latin word "patere," which meaning "to lay open," or to make anything available for public view.

The exclusions limiting what can be patented in India are clearly stated in Sections 3 and 4 of the Indian Patents Act, 1970. In order to secure a patent in India, various requirements must be met. They are as follows:

Subject of the patent:

The most critical factor to evaluate is whether or not the invention relates to a patentable subject matter. Non-patentable subject matter is included in Sections 3 and 4 of the Patents Act. Unless the invention falls under one of the provisions of Sections 3 or 4, it is a patentable topic.

Novelty:

When it comes to assessing the patentability of an invention, innovation is a critical factor. A novelty or fresh invention is defined as "no invention or technology disclosed" under Section 2(l) of the Patent Act. The complete specification, that is, the subject matter has not fallen into the public domain or is not part of state of the art”.Simply, the novelty requirement basically states that an invention that should never have been published in the public domain. It must be the newest which have no same or similar prior arts.

An innovative step is defined as "the characteristic of an invention that incorporates scientific development or is of economic importance or both, as contrasted to existing knowledge, and innovation not evident to a person versed in the art" under Section 2(ja) of the Patents Act. This means that the innovation should not be evident to someone with experience in the same field as the invention. For someone with experience in the same sector, it should not be imaginative and apparent.

Capable of being used in an industrial setting:

Industrial applicability is defined as "the invention is capable of being manufactured or employed in an industry" in Section 2 (ac) of the Patents Act. This simply indicates that the invention isn't allowed to exist in the real world. These are statutory criteria for the patent of an invention. In addition, other important criteria for obtaining a patent is the disclosure of a competent patent. A competent patent disclosure means a patent draft specification must adequately disclose the Invention, so as to enable a person skilled in the same field related to carrying out the Invention with undue efforts.

In India, the procedure for obtaining a patent is as follows:

Within 48 months after the date of priority of the application or the date of filing of the application, a request for examination must be filed with the Indian Patent Office for examination of the application. The applicant is given the option to respond to the concerns stated in the initial examination report when it is released. The applicant must meet the requirements within 6 months of receiving the initial examination report, which may be extended for an additional 3 months at the applicant's request. If the initial examination report's criteria are not met within the time frame specified, period of 9 ;months, then the application is treated to have been abandoned by the applicant. After the removal of objections and compliance of requirements, the patent is granted and notified in the Patent Office Journal.