In-depth analytical articles on Indian patent law including prosecution,enforcement, statutory interpretation and case developments.
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 a growing list of conditions for which no small-molecule alternative exists. As the patents covering the first generation of blockbuster biologics Herceptin, Avastin, Rituxan, Humira
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, service provider and ultimately every consumer to access that technology on
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 on trademarks and copyrights, the enforcement of patent rights at Indian ports of entry
Border Measures and Customs Recordal for Patents in India Read More »
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 goods or dissipate assets before the plaintiff can secure relief. The law, recognising this vulnerability,
Anton Piller Orders and Mareva Injunctions in Indian Patent Litigation Read More »
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 Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the establishment of specialized intellectual property divisions in the High Courts, the introduction of case management procedures
Patent Suit – Jurisdiction, Procedure and the Commercial Courts Act Read More »
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 whose vindication requires years of inconclusive litigation provides little real protection to the inventor and little genuine deterrence to would-be infringers. Conversely,
Remedies for Patent Infringement – Injunctions, Damages and Accounts of Profits Read More »
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 statutory, equitable and procedural that can defeat or substantially limit the plaintiff’s claim even
Defences to Patent Infringement – Section 107 and Beyond Read More »
A 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 years. The value of that monopoly depends entirely on how effectively it can be enforced. An unenforceable patent right is no
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 systems since the earliest days of modern patent law. A patent grants its holder a monopoly a right to exclude all others, including the state, from using the patented invention
Government Use of Patents – Section 99 to 103 of the Patents Act, 1970 Read More »
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 the marketplace as a fungible asset that can be bought, sold, mortgaged, inherited and incorporated into the complex webs of
Patent Assignment and Transmission in India – Section 68 and 69 Read More »