With India embracing the World Trade Organisation's guidelines on various trade-related matters, the patents issue has come under the spotlight.
Will the prices of live-saving and other drugs rise in this new regime? How will Indian pharmaceutical companies be affected by the new rules?
rediff.com looks at all these issues in a special series. But first, just what are patents?
A patent is a kind of intellectual property right (IPR).
It allows rights (including exclusive manufacturing and marketing rights) pertaining to an object (product) and/or a means (process), with a view to rewarding the invention.
The government mandates a patent right for the inventor of the product or process. Since a patent right is trade-related, the relevant norms under the Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement of the World Trade Organisation should apply to patent systems of WTO member countries.
Being a member of WTO, India is mandated to make its patent-related laws (the Patent Act 1970) and other trade-related IPR laws (like those related to copyright, geographical indications etc.) in conformity with the TRIPs norms.
What is a Patent?
A Patent is an exclusive monopoly granted by a government to an inventor over his invention for limited period of time.
Who can obtain a Patent?
An inventor or any other person/company assigned by the inventor can obtain the patent over his invention.
How is a Patent obtained / filed?
The inventor or his assignee obtains a patent by filing an application with the patent office in the stipulated forms as required by the Patent act of that country.
Are patents global or national?
Patents are technically national, given that the designated authority in each country grants patents in that country. But with many multilateral agreements, like TRIPs, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and Substantive Patent Law Treaty patenting systems are increasingly being globalised.
An international patent search/examination system mooted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation may even bring a confluence of the decision-making processes in many countries.
In future, a particular patent application filed under the PCT in many countries simultaneously might get examined and decided upon with a greater degree of cohesiveness among the national patent authorities.
For how many years does a patent remain valid?
TRIPS mandates a 20-year patent protection. India, too, allows the same duration.
What distinguishes a product patent from a process patent?
The difference is in the name. A product patent allows rights (including exclusive manufacturing and marketing rights) relating to the object, while a process patent relates to a means.
A product patent grants more benefits to the owner.
Who is responsible for ensuring that the patent has not been infringed?
It is the sole responsibility of the patentee (the person to whom a patent is granted, by the appropriate authority the patentor) to see that his patents are not being
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