RM4151 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND

IPR

“Invention is valuable one

If it is useful to the Society”

BY
Dr. C. MANIKANDAN, M.E,Ph.D
 UNIT-V: PATENTS
Patents- objectives and benefits of patent –
concept, features of patent, inventive step,
specification.
Types of patent application, process E-filling,
examination of patent, grant of patent,
Revocation.
Equitable Assignments, licenses, licensing of
related patents, patent agents, Registration of
patent agents.
 PATENT
• Patent is one of the very common modes through which
scientific inventions having potential for industrial
application are being protected.
• In India, the law relating to patents is contained in the
Patents Act, 1970. This Act has been amended in the
year 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2005 to meet India’s
obligations under the agreement on Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
forming part of the Agreement establishing the World
Trade Organisation (WTO).
 Patent…!

• Generally speaking, patent is a monopoly grant and it

enables the inventor to control the output and within
the limits set by demand, the price of the patented
products.
• Underlying economic and commercial justification for
the patent system is that it acts as a stimulus to
investment in the Industrial innovation.
• Innovative technology leads to the maintenance of
and increase in nations stock of valuable, tradable and
industrial assets.
 Patent history…!
• The grant of first patent can be traced as far back as
500 B.C. It was the city dominated by gourmands, and
perhaps the first, to grant what we now-a-days call
patent right to promote culinary art.
• For it conferred exclusive rights of sale to any
confectioner who first invented a delicious dish. As the
practice was extended to other Greek cities and to
other crafts and commodities, it acquired a name
‘monopoly’, a Greek Portmanteau word from mono
(alone) and polein (sale).
 Patent history…!
• Evidences of grant to private individuals by
kings and rulers of exclusive property rights to
inventors dates back to the 14th Century, but
their purpose varied throughout the history.
• History shows that in 15th Century in Venice
there had been systematic use of monopoly
privileges for inventors for the encouragement
of invention.
 Patent Requirements
• Utility and novelty of the invention were the important
considerations for granting a patent privilege.
• The inventors were also required to put their invention in
commercial use within a specified period.
• In 16th Century the German princes awarded inventors of
new arts and machines and also took into consideration
the utility and novelty of inventions.
• Early laws in American colonies served primarily to
encourage foreign manufacturers to establish new
industries in the colonies by providing them protected
domestic markets.
 Patent history …!
• In England during the 16th and 17th Century, the
inventor’s patent of monopoly had become of
great national importance.
• From the mid-seventeenth Century through the
mid-nineteenth Century, the laws recognising
the patent monopoly spread throughout Europe
and North America, but these privileges were not
granted without the opposition.
 Indian Patent system
• The Indian Patent System could be traced to the Act
of 1856 granting exclusive privileges to inventors.
• The patent regime at the time of Independence was
governed by the Patents and Designs Act-1911,
which had provisions both for product and process
patents.
• It did not help at all in the promotion of scientific
research and industrialization in the country, and it
curbed the innovativeness and inventiveness of
Indians.
 Patent law
• In 1949, a committee was constituted under the
chairmanship of Justice Dr. Bakshi Tek Chand, a retired judge
of the Lahore High Court, to undertake a comprehensive
review of the working of the 1911 Act.
• The Patent Act should contain a clear indication that food and
medicine and surgical and curative devices were to be made
available to the public at the cheapest price commensurate
with giving reasonable compensation to the patentee.
• In 1952, a further amendment was made (by Act LXX of 1952)
to provide for compulsory license in respect of food and food
and medicines, insecticide, germicide or fungicide, and a
process for producing substance or any invention relating to
surgical or curative devices.
 Patent Act
• In 1957, another committee came to be appointed under the
chairmanship of Justice N. Rajagopala Ayyangar .
report specially discussed:
(a) patents for chemical inventions; and
(b) patents for inventions relating to food and medicine.
• Justice Ayyangar submitted a comprehensive Report on Patent
Law Revision in September 1959 and the new law of patent,
namely, the Patents Act, 1970, came to be enacted mainly based
on the recommendations of the report, and came into force on
April 20, 1972 replacing the Patents and Designs Act, 1911.
However, the 1911 Act continued to be
applicable to designs.
 Patent act -1970 ,
• The Patents Act, 1970 remained in force for about 24
years without any change till December 1994.
• India amended its Patents Act again in 2002 through
the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 increasing the
term of patent to 20 years for all technology,
Reversal of burden of proof, compulsory licences etc.
• This Act came into force on 20th May 2003 with the
introduction of the new Patent Rules, 2003 by
replacing the earlier Patents Rules, 1972.
 Patents Rules
• Under the provisions of Section 159 of the Patents Act, 1970 the Central
Government is empowered to make rules for implementing the Act and
regulating patent administration. Accordingly:

• The Patents Rules, 1972 were notified and brought into force w.e.f.
20.4.1972.

• These Rules were amended from time to time till 20th May 2003 when new
Patents Rules, 2003 were brought into force by replacing the 1972 rules.

• These rules were further amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules,

2005 and the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006. The last amendments are
made effective from 5th May 2006.
Four Schedules to the Patents (Amendment)
Rules 2005;
• The First Schedule prescribes the fees to be paid;
• The Second Schedule specifies the list of forms and
the texts of various forms required in connection
with various activities under the Patents Act.
• The Third Schedule prescribes form of Patent to be
issued on Grant of the Patent.
• The Fourth Schedule prescribes costs to be
awarded in various proceedings before the
Controller under the Act.
 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT
• A patent is 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.
• Patent 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.
 Patent law
• A patent is an official document given to an inventor by
the government allowing him to exclude anyone else
from commercially exploiting his invention for a limited
period which is 20 years at present.
• As per the Supreme Court, the object of Patent Law is to
encourage scientific research, new technology and
industrial progress.
• Grant of exclusive privilege to own, use or sell the
method or the product patented for a limited period,
stimulates new inventions of commercial utility.
 Elements of Patentability
• A patent is granted for an invention which may be related to
any process or product.
• An invention is different from a discovery. Discovery is
something that already existed but had not been found.
• Not all inventions are patentable. An invention must fulfil
certain requirements known as conditions of
patentability.
• The word “invention” under the Patents Act 1970 means “a
new product or process involving an
inventive step and capable of industrial application. (Section
2(1)(j)).
 Elements of Patentability
• The patent must be in respect of an invention and not
a discovery.
• The fundamental principle of Patent Law is that a
patent is granted only for an invention which must be
new and useful.
• It must have novelty and utility.
• It is important to bear in mind that in order to be
patentable an improvement on something known
before or a combination of different matters already
known.
 Elements of Patenability
• It should be something more than a mere
workshop improvement; and must
independently satisfy the test of invention or an
“inventive step”.

• To be patentable the improvement or the

combination must produce a new result, or a
new article or a better or cheaper article than
before.
 “New invention”
• “New invention” is defined as any invention or technology
which has not been anticipated by publication in any
document or used in the country or elsewhere in the
world before the date of filing of patent application with
complete specification.
• The subject matter has not fallen in public domain or that
it does not form part of the state of the art [Section 2(1)(l);
• Where, capable of industrial application, in relation to an
invention, means that the invention is capable of being
made or used in an industry [Section 2(1)(ac)].
 Conditions of Patentability
The conditions of patentability are:
• Novelty
• Inventive step (non-obviousness) and
• Industrial applicability (utility).
• Novelty:
• A novel invention is one, which has not been disclosed, in
the prior art, where prior art means everything that
has been published, presented or otherwise disclosed to the
public on the date of patent (The prior art
includes documents in foreign languages disclosed in any
format in any country of the world.).
 Patents conditions
• Therefore, an invention shall be considered to
be new, if it does not form part of the prior
art. Although the term prior art has not been
defined under the Indian Patents Act, it shall
be determined by the provisions of Section 13
read with the provisions of Sections 29 to 34.
 Patent terms
• An invention shall not be considered to be
novel if it has been anticipated by publication
before the date of the filing of the application
in any of the specification filed in pursuance of
application for patent in India on or after the
1st day of January 1912.
 Patent terms
• An invention shall not be considered to be
novel if it has been claimed in any claim of any
other complete specification filed in India
which is filed before the application but
published after said application.
 Patent terms
• An invention shall not be considered to be
novel if it has been anticipated having regard
to the knowledge, oral or otherwise, available
within any local or indigenous community in
India or elsewhere.
REFERENCES