1.What is a patent?

A patent in an exclusive right granted by a country to the owner of an invention to make, use, manufacture and market the invention, provided the invention satisfies certain conditions stipulated in the law. Exclusivity of right implies that no one else can make, use, manufacture or market the invention without the consent of the patent holder. This right is available only for a limited period of time. However, the use or exploitation of a patent may be affected by other laws of the country which has awarded the patent.

These laws may relate to health, safety, food, security etc. Further, existing patents in similar area may also come in the way. A patent in the law is a property right and hence, can be gifted, inherited, assigned, sold or licensed. As the right is conferred by the State, it can be revoked by the State under very special circumstances even if the patent has been sold or licensed or manufactured or marketed in the meantime. The patent right is territorial in nature and inventors/their assignees will have to file separate patent applications in countries of their interest, along with necessary fees, for obtaining patents in those countries.

2. What is expected from patentee as an obligation to the state?

A patentee must disclose the invention in a patent document for anyone to practice it after the expiry of the patent or practice it with the consent of the patent holder during the life of the patent.

3. What are the conditions to be satisfied by an invention to be patentable?

An invention must satisfy the following three conditions of :

(i) Novelty (ii) Inventiveness (Non-obviousness) (iii) Usefulness

Novelty :

An invention will be considered novel if it does not form a part of the global state of the art. Information appearing in magazines, technical journals, books, newspapers etc. constitute the state of the art. Oral description of the invention in a seminar/conference can also spoil novelty. Novelty is assessed in a global context. An invention will cease to be novel if it has been disclosed in the public through any type of publications anywhere in the world before filing a patent application in respect of the invention. Prior use of the invention in the country of interest before the filing date can also destroy the novelty. Novelty is determined through extensive literature and patent searches. It should be realized that patent search is essential and critical for ascertaining novelty as most of the information reported in patent documents does not get published any where else.

Inventiveness (Non-obviousness) :

A patent application involves an inventive step if the proposed invention is not obvious to a person skilled in the art i.e., skilled in the subject matter of the patent application. The prior art should not point towards the invention implying that the practitioner of the subject matter could not have thought about the invention prior to filing of the patent application. Inventiveness cannot be decided on the material contained in unpublished patents. The complexity or the simplicity of an inventive step does not have any bearing on the grant of a patent. In other words a very simple invention can qualify for a patent. If there is an inventive step between the proposed patent and the prior art at that point of time, then an invention has taken place. A mere 'scintilla' of invention is sufficient to found a valid patent.

Usefulness: An invention must possess utility for the grant of patent No valid patent can be granted for an invention devoid of utility.

4. What are patentable inventions under the Patents Act, 1970?

Invention means any new and useful

(a) Art, process, method or manner of manufacture
(b) Machine, apparatus or other article
(c)Substances produced by manufacture, and include any new and useful improvements of any of them and an alleged invention.

However, inventions claiming substance intended for use, or capable of being used, as food or as medicine or drug or relating to substances prepared or produced by chemical processes (including alloys, optical glass, semiconductors and inter-metallic compounds) are not patentable.

5. What are the types of inventions which are not patentable in India?

An invention may satisfy the conditions of novelty, inventiveness and usefulness but it may not qualify for a patent under the following situations:

(i) An invention which is frivolous or which claims anything. Obviously contrary to well established natural laws e.g. different types of perpetual motion machines.

(ii) An invention the primary or intended use of which would be contrary to law or morality or injurious to public health e.g. a process for the preparation of a beverage which involves use of a carcinogenic substance, although the beverage may have higher nourishment value.

(iii) The mere discovery of a scientific principal or formulation of an abstract theory e.g., Raman effect.

(iv) The mere discovery of any new property or new use of known substance or the mere use of a known process, machine or apparatus unless such a known process results in a new product or employs at least one new reactant.

(v) A substance obtained by a mere admixture resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of the components thereof or a process for producing such substance.

(vi) The mere arrangement or rearrangement or duplication of features of known devices each functioning independently of one another in a known way.

(vii) A method or process of testing applicable during the process of manufacture for rendering the machine, apparatus or other equipment more efficient.

(viii) A method of agriculture or horticulture .

(ix) Any process for medical, surgical, curative, prophylactic or other treatment of human beings, or any process for a similar treatment of animals or plants.

(x) Inventions relating to atomic energy.

6. When should an application for a patent be filed?

Filing of an application for a patent should be completed at the earliest possible date and should not be delayed. An application filed with provisional specification, disclosing the essence of the nature of the invention helps to register the priority by the applicant. Delay in filing an application may entail some risks like
(i) other inventors might forestall the first inventor by applying for a patent for the said invention
(ii) there may be either an inadvertent publication of the invention by the inventor himself/herself or by others independently of him/her.

7. Can a published or disclosed invention be patented?

No, publication of an invention in any form by the inventor before filing of a patent application would disqualify the invention to be patentable. Hence, inventors should not disclose their inventions before filing the patent application. The invention should be considered for publication after a patent application has been filed. Thus, it can be seen that there is no contradiction between publishing an inventive work and filing of patent application in respect of the invention.

8. What is considered as the date of patent?

The date of patent is the date of filing the complete specification. This is an important date because it is from this date that the legal protection of an invention covered in the patent takes effect. The term of the patent is counted from this date.

9. What is the term of a patent in the Indian system?

(a) Five years from the date of sealing of the patent or seven years from the date of the patent (i. e. the date of filing the complete specification), whichever period is shorter, for an invention claiming the method or process of manufacture of a substance, where the substance is intended or capable of being used as a drug, medicine or food.

10. How does one keep a patent in force for the full patent term?

A patent has to be maintained by paying the maintenance fees every year. If the maintenance fees is not paid, the patent will cease to remain in force and the invention becomes open to public. Anyone can then utilize the patent without the danger of infringing the patent.

11. What are the essential patent documents to be generated and submitted by a potential patentee?

There are two types of patent documents usually known as patent specification, namely

(i) Provisional Specification and (ii) Complete Specification

Provisional Specification :

A provisional specification is usually filed to establish priority of the invention in case the disclosed invention is only at a conceptual stage and a delay is expected in submitting full and specific description of the invention. Although, a patent application accompanied with provisional specification does not confer any legal patent rights to the applicants, it is, however, a very important document to establish the earliest ownership of an invention. The provisional specification is a permanent and independent scientific cum legal document and no amendment is allowed in this. No patent is granted on the basis of a provisional specification. It has to be a followed by a complete specification for obtaining a patent for the said invention. Complete specification must be submitted within 12 months of filing the provisional specification. This period can be extended by 3 months. It is not necessary to file an application with provisional specification before the complete specification. An application with complete specification can be filed right at the first instance.

Complete Specification :

Submission of complete specification is necessary to obtain a patent The contents of a complete specification would include the following

1. Title of the invention.
2. Field to which the invention belongs .
3. Background of the invention including prior art giving drawbacks of the known inventions & practices.
4. Complete description of the invention along with experimental results.
5. Drawings etc. essential for understanding the invention.
6. Claims, which are statements, related to the invention on which legal proprietorship is being sought. Therefore the claims have to be drafted very carefully.

12. What are the criteria for naming inventors in an application for patent?

The naming of inventors is normally decided on the basis of the following criteria:

i. All persons who contribute towards development of patentable features of an invention should be named inventor(s).

ii. All persons, who have made intellectual contribution in achieving the final results of the research work leading to a patent, should be named inventor(s).

iii. A person who has not contributed intellectually in the development of an invention is not entitled to be included as an inventor.

iv. A person who provides ideas needed to produce the ‘germs of the invention’ need not himself / herself carry out the experiments, constructs the apparatus with his/her own hands or make the drawings himself/herself. The person may take the help or others. Such person who have helped in conducting the experiments, constructing apparatus or making the drawings or models without providing any intellectual inputs are not entitled to be named inventors.

Quite often difficulties are experienced in deciding the names of inventors. To avoid such a situation, it is very essential that all scientists engaged in research should keep factual, clear and accurate recorded of daily work done by them in the form of diary. The pages in the diary should be consecutively numbered and the entries made be signed both by the scientists and the concerned leader.

13. What is the nature of information needed while consulting a patent attorney?

As an inventor one should share the complete invention with a patent attorney in the same manner as a patient confides in a doctor. As a doctor may not be able to write a correct prescription without knowing the details of the disease/problem, a patent attorney may not be able to draft a good specification in the absence of details about the invention. Following points should be kept in mind while discussing with the attorney:

i. Provide complete details of the invention including failures, if any, on the way to the invention.

Do not feel bad if attorney asks you questions like where did you get the idea from or did you copy the idea from somewhere or are you keeping other inventors working with you on the inventorship or have you published the invention or disclosed it in a seminar/conference or have you displayed the invention in an exhibition? A patent document is a techno-legal document, hence all precautions are to be taken right from the first step. Provides right answers and you may even show your laboratory note book/log book to the attorney. This will help the attorney / agent to explain the inventive step in a precise manner and draft a good specification and associated claims.

ii. Explain the central theme of the invention and novelty, inventiveness and utility of the invention.

iii. Share all the prior art documents in your possession with the attorney.

iv. If you have developed an improved version of your competitor's product/process, admit it and be totally honest. This would help the attorney in drafting precise claims and avoid excessive claims, which might be struck down immediately or at a later date.

v. A detailed description of the best way of putting the invention into practical use, results of your tests and trials, etc., including all failures and defects should be given to the attorney.

vi. Alternative ways of using the invention, and the substitutes or parts of it i.e., will one chemical compound do as well as any other in the process?

vii. It may be worth drafting the patent widely enough to cover less satisfactory alternatives as well so as to prevent rivals from marketing a less satisfactory competing product which because of its defects might bring the whole genre of product into disrepute or which may be cheap.

viii. Both after an initial search and during the course of the filing and grant of a patent application, it is important to respond quickly and accurately to queries which the patent attorney may have. Thus the client should keep the patent attorney informed of any new developments in the field of invention carried by the patentee or some one else.

14. What is opposition under the Indian Patents Act 1970?

After the Patent Office has examined an application and found it in order forgrant of a patent, it publishes the title pf the invention, name of the inventor(s) and the applicant(s), abstract of the invention, drawings and claims in the Gazette of India, Part III Section 2, for interested parties to oppose the grant of the patent. An application for opposition may be filed at the concerned Patent Office branch within four months of the date of the issue of the concerned gazette. An extension of one month is possible; a request for extension has to be made within the first four months. Typed or photocopies of the specification together with photocopies of the drawings, if any, can be obtained from the Patent Office, Calcutta or the concerned branch office on payment of the prescribed fees. One would like to oppose if the idea of the accepted application infringes upon one's invention/existing patent, if the coverage of the proposed patent is very wide which may be detrimental to one's research or if the idea is not novel and so on.

15. What is the cost of filing a patent application in India?

The Government fee for filing a patent application (complete/provisional) in India is Rs. 1,500/- for individuals and Rs. 5,000/- for legal entities. A sealing fee of Rs. 1,500/- for individuals and Rs. 5,000/- for legal entities has to be paid at the time of grant (sealing) of patent.

16. What is the distinction between a patented invention and know how?

The law does not require that the information disclosed in the patent specification be sufficient for commercial exploitation of the invention. Thus, patent usually will not disclose sufficient information for commercialization. Know how on the other hand, covers all information necessary to commercialize the invention e.g. setting up a production plant. Such information would include, for example, details of the production methods, the design drawings etc. It is this know how which is traded while transferring technology. Know how is always kept as a trade secret and not shared with public. Know how is not protected through patents as most of it is non-patentable matter and one does not take patent on the remaining parts to avoid public disclosure. A know how developed around an existing patent and commercialized subsequently may be an infringement of the patent unless the patentee has agreed to commercialization on mutually agreed terms.

17. Is a patent granted in one country enforceable in other countries?

No. There is nothing like a global patent or a world patent. Patent rights are essentially territorial in nature and are protected only in a country (or countries) which,has (have) granted these rights. In other words,-for obtaining patent rights in different countries one has to submit patent applications in all the countries of interest for grant of patents. This would entail payment of official fees and associated expenses, like the attorney fees, essential for obtaining patent rights in each country. However, there are some regional systems where by filing one application one could simultaneously obtain patents in the member countries of a regional system; European Patent Office is an example of a similar system.

18. Does grant of a patent in one country affect its grant or refusal in another country?

Each country is free to grant or refuse a patent on the bases of scrutiny by its patent office. This means that granting a patent in one country of the Union does not force other countries to grant the patent for the same invention. Also, the refusal of the patent in one country does not mean that it will be terminated in all the countries.

19. What is industrial property?

Industrial property includes:

(a) Patents (b) Utility models (c) Industrial designs (d) Trademarks, service marks and trade names (e) Indication of source or appellations of origin (this is same as the geographical indications adopted in TRIPS);

The Paris Convention is an international convention for promoting trade among the member countries, devised to facilitate protection of industrial property simultaneously in the member countries without any loss in the priority date. All the member countries provide national treatment to all the applications from the other member countries for protection of industrial property rights. The Convention was first signed in 1883. Since then, the Convention has been revised several times, in 1900 at Brussels, in 1911 at Washington, in 1925 at the Hague, in 1934 at London, in 1958 at Lisbon and in 1967 at Stockholm. The last amendment took place in 1979. mdia became a member of the Paris Convention on December 7, 1998. (Readers may note the use of the phrase 'Industrial Property' and not Intellectual Property).

The principal features of the Paris Convention have been listed below

National treatment
Right of priority
Independence of patents
Parallel importation
Protection against false indications and unfair competition

This is a very important concept and is essential for successfully achieving the fundamental aim of the Paris Convention. The idea is to provide equal treatment to applications from member countries, in a given member country and not to differentiate between the nationals of your country and nationals of the other countries for the purpose of grant, and protection of industrial property in your country. Imagine that a national of country X applies for grant of a patent in India. According to the Paris Convention, the Indian Patent Office shall apply the same norms and rules, to the applicant from X, as applicable to an Indian applicant, for granting a patent. Similarly the applicant from X shall have the same protection after grant and identical legal remedies against any infringement shall be available to the applicant provided the conditions and formalities imposed upon Indians are complied with. No requirement as to domicile or establishment in the country where protection is claimed, may. be imposed.

The date from which patent right is deemed to start is usually the date of filing of complete specification. To obtain rights in other member countries, the application must be filed on the same day in other member countries if it is desired to have the rights started from the same day. However, there are practical difficulties in synchronizing the activities. For facilitating simultaneous protection in member countries, the Convention provides that within 12 months of national filing, if patent applications are filed in those member countries, the patents, if granted in member countries, will be effective from the date of national filing. This right is known as the right of priority. In other words you maintain the priority or the same date of filing in all the member countries and no one else in those countries can obtain the patent rights on a similar/identical invention from the same or a later date.

In case the applicant after a second look at the patent application finds that the patent contains more than one invention or on his own accord wishes to divide the application, he can claim the initial date of priority for subsequent patent applications. The applicant may also, on his own initiative, divide a patent application and preserve as the date of each divisional application the date of the initial application and the benefit of the right of priority, if any. Each country of the Union shall have the right to determine the conditions under which such division shall be authorized.

Priority may not be refused on the ground that certain elements of the invention for which priority is claimed do not appear among the claims formulated in the application in the country of origin, provided that the application documents as a whole specifically disclose such elements.

Importation is considered as working of patent, provided the patented product is manufactured in a member country and is imported into another member country which has also granted a patent on the same invention to the same applicant. Imagine that a product X has been patented in two member countries A and B. The product X is then manufactured in country A and imported into the country B. This product X shall enjoy the same patent protection in the country B even though it has been manufactured in the country A. This would also be considered as if the patent has been worked in country B.

25. Is there a provision for compulsory license in the Paris Convention?

Yes, each member country shall have the right to provide for the grant of compulsory licenses to prevent the abuses resulting from the exclusive rights conferred by the patent. Compulsory licenses for failure to work or insufficient working of the invention may not be requested before the period of time of non-working or insufficient working has elapsed. This time limit is four years from the date of filing of the patent application or three years from the date of the grant. Such licenses will be a non-exclusive and non-transferable one.

It has been made mandatory for the member countries of the TRIPS Agreement to comply with the Article 1 to 12 and Article 19 of the Paris Convention.

27. What are the other advantages of joining the Paris Convention?

There are a number of international conventions and treaties, which are open only to the members of the Paris Convention. Some of these are:

• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
• Budapest Treaty (for deposition of microorganisms)UPOV (for protection of new varieties of plants)
• Madrid Agreement (for repression of false or deceptive indications of source on goods)
• Madrid Protocol (concerning registration of marks)
• Hague Agreement (concerning deposits of industrial designs)

This is an international convention governing the recognition of deposits in officially approved culture collections for the purpose of patent applications in any country that is a party to it. Because of the difficulties and on occasion of virtual impossibility of reproducing a microorganism from a description of it in a patent specification, it is essential to deposit a strain in a culture collection centre for testing and examination by others. The Treaty was signed in Budapest in 1973 and later on amended in 1980. India has become a member of this Treaty, with effect from December 17, 2001.

An inventor is required to deposit the strain of a microorganism in a recognized depository which assigns a registration number to the deposited microorganism. This number needs to be quoted in the patent application. Obviously a strain of microorganism is required to be deposited before filing a patent application. It may be observed that this mechanism obviates the need of describing a microorganism in the patent application. Further, samples of strains can be obtained from the depository for further working on the patent. There are many international depositories in many countries, which are recognized under the Budapest Treaty.

30. What is the system for protecting microbiological inventions and microorganisms?

The Indian Patent Act has no specific provision for patenting of microorganisms and microbiological processes. However, as a matter of practice microorganisms per se are not patentable in India. (However, a recent decision of the Kolkata High Court has held that microbiological processes are patentable in India). In order to meet the obligation under TRIPS. India is required to introduce a patenting of microorganisms. Draft laws in this regards have been formulated. It may, however, be noted that many countries allow both process and product patents in regard to microbiological inventions and microorganism per se. all such countries allow patenting of genetically modified microorganisms but a few also allow patenting of naturally occurring microorganisms if isolated from nature for the first time and if other conditions of patentability are satisfied.

more....