Patent Articles
Patent Protection in India : Between Innovation and Regulation
Patent protection in India is commonly described as a mechanism to reward innovation although that description is..
Patent Infringement in India: Law, Remedies and Litigation Practice
Patent infringement litigation in India is no longer rare or exceptional. Over the last decade, particularly in pharmaceuticals, teleco..
Pre-Grant and Post-Grant Opposition in India
Pre-grant and post-grant opposition proceedings under the Patents Act, 1970 constitute one of the most distinctive features of the Indian patent system…
Compulsory Licensing under The Patents Act,1970
Compulsory licensing under the Patents Act, 1970 represents one of the most carefully calibrated intersections between private.
Novelty as a Criterion for Patentability in India
Novelty is the first and most fundamental criterion for patentability under Indian patent law. Before any question of inventive step…
Patentability of AI and Software Inventions in India
Artificial intelligence and software are transforming every sector of the economy – from drug discovery and autonomous vehicles….
Patent Licensing and Technology Transfer in India
Patent licensing and technology transfer are among the most commercially significant yet legally complex dimensions of intellectual property practice in India As the country accelerates..
Non-Patentable Subject Matter in India: A Complete Guide to Section 3
The grant of a patent is not an automatic entitlement that follows from novelty or inventive step alone. Before any invention can be…..
Understanding the First Examination Report (FER) and How to Respond
The journey of a patent application in India does not end with filing. In many respects, it begins in earnest only when the Indian Patent..
Revocation of Patents under Section 64 – Grounds and Procedure
A patent, once granted, is not inviolable. The Patents Act, 1970 recognizes that the grant of a patent is an administrative act performed on the basis of an..
Industrial Applicability as a Patentability Criterion under the Patents Act, 1970
Among the three foundational criteria that a patent applicant must satisfy to obtain a grant novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability ..
Section 3(d) and the Evergreening Debate in Indian Pharma Patents
Few provisions in the entire canon of global intellectual property law have attracted as much sustained attention, controversy and scholarly debate as Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, 1970.
Specification Writing in Indian Patent Practice – Complete and Provisional
The specification is the heart of a patent application. Every other element of the application the claims, the abstract, the drawings derives its meaning and its legal validity from..
Claim Drafting for Indian Patents – Types, Scope and Strategy
If the specification is the heart of a patent application, the claims are its spine. Every structural decision in the specification how the invention is described, what embodiments are disclosed which prior art is distinguished ultimately..
The PCT System and India: International Filing, National Phase Entry and Prosecution Practice
India’s accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty on December 7, 1998, fundamentally transformed the landscape for both inbound and outbound patent..
Working of Patents in India – Section 83, Form 27 and Consequences
Few obligations in Indian patent law are as frequently misunderstood, as consistently neglected and as consequential in their implications as the requirement to work a patent in India.
Government Use of Patents – Section 99 to 103 of the Patents Act, 1970
The relationship between sovereign power and private intellectual property rights has been one of the most contested and consequential questions in the design of..
Patent Assignment and Transmission in India – Section 68 and 69
The commercial value of a patent lies not only in the right to exclude others from using the patented invention but in the capacity to transfer, assign and transmit that right to move it through…
Parallel Imports and Section 107A – The Bolar Exemption and Doctrine of Exhaustion in Indian Patent Law
Among the most practically significant yet doctrinally complex provisions of the Patents Act, 1970 is Section 107A, inserted into the Act by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002.
Patent Infringement in India: What Constitutes Infringement under Section 48 of the Patents Act, 1970
TA patent, at its core, is a bargain between the inventor and the state. The inventor discloses the invention to the public in full; the state, in return, grants a limited monopoly for twenty…
Defences to Patent Infringement – Section 107 and Beyond
Patent infringement litigation in India, as in every major patent jurisdiction, is rarely a simple contest between an unimpeachable patent and an undeniable act of infringement. The defendant in a patent infringement suit has available to it a range of defences..
Remedies for Patent Infringement – Injunctions, Damages and Accounts of Profits
The enforcement of a patent right is only as meaningful as the remedies available when that right is infringed. A patent that cannot be effectively enforced whose violation attracts only nominal consequences or…
Patent Suit – Jurisdiction, Procedure and the Commercial Courts Act
Intellectual property litigation in India has undergone a transformation of considerable significance over the past decade and nowhere is this transformation more visible than in the conduct of patent suits The enactment of the..
Anton Piller Orders and Mareva Injunctions in Indian Patent Litigation
Patent litigation is as much a battle of speed and strategy as it is one of legal argument. An infringer who receives advance notice of impending legal action has every incentive and often every means to destroy evidence, conceal infringing or dissipate..
Border Measures and Customs Recordal for Patents in India
India’s integration into global trade and manufacturing supply chains has brought with it a sharp increase in the cross-border movement of goods including goods that infringe intellectual property rights. While the narrative around IP enforcement at the border has historically centred..
Standard Essential Patents and FRAND Licensing in India : Law, Litigation and the Road Ahead
The story of Standard Essential Patents in India is, at its core, a story about two competing ideas: the right of an inventor to profit from a technology that the entire world has come to depend on and the right of every device manufacturer…
Biosimilar Patents in India – Patentability, Exclusivity and the Patent-Regulatory Interface
Biologics occupy a peculiar and increasingly central place in modern medicine large, complex molecules manufactured through living cell systems rather than chemical synthesis, used to treat cancer, autoimmune disease and..
Anti-Suit and Anti-Anti-Suit Injunctions in Indian SEP Litigation – CrossBorder FRAND Disputes and the Delhi High Court’s New Jurisprudence
Standard essential patent litigation has always been an inherently global affair. A single smartphone implementing 4G or 5G cellular standards may infringe hundreds of patents held across dozens..
Divisional Patent Application in India Section 16, Unity of Invention and the Post- Boehringer and Syngenta Legal Landscape
Among the more technically demanding areas of Indian patent prosecution, divisional applications occupy a position of outsized practical importance. The ability to divide a patent application..
Competition Law and Patent Licensing in India
Patents and competition law sit in a relationship of permanent structural tension. A patent is, by design, a legal monopoly that the State grants an inventor the exclusive right to prevent all others from making, using, selling, or importing the patented invention for a fixed term. Competition law, by contrast, exists precisely to prevent monopolistic conduct …
National IPR Policy 2016 India: Objectives, Reforms & Impact
India’s adoption of a comprehensive National Intellectual Property Rights Policy on 12 May 2016 marked an inflection point in the country’s engagement with the knowledge economy.