OVERVIEW OF PATENT LAW

Introduction

Intellectual Property Right is the emerging form of law where the applicability of your mind can be protected. In other words, we can say that the things produced or designed by your creation and use of the mind can be safeguarded. The Patents Act, 1970 is one part of the Intellectual Property Rights. The Act deals with the rules and regulations related to the patents.

If a person thinks, what he has made is capable of an invention, he or if he works for an entity, that entity can ask the Government, by filing an application with the Patent Office to give him a certificate in which it is stated what the invention is and that person or the entity is the owner. Such a right conferred upon the inventor is called ‘Patent’ by which the inventor, called as the ‘Patentee’, can exclusively use his invention.

Essentials of a valid Patent

According to Section 2(j), invention means a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application. One of the most complex aspects of patent law is the determination of the inventive step of the invention. The inventive step means a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both. We can say the inventions should be not obvious to a person skilled in the art. The innovation should also be a novelty or new. To put together we can say that the essentials of a valid patent are:

1. Firstly, The innovation should be a patentable subject matter.
2. Secondly, Novelty, i.e. the invention should be new. At the time of filing for the registration of the patent, it is necessary to disclose the product or the process.
3. Thirdly, The invention should include the inventive step which is related to the obviousness of the process, product or invention.
4. Fourthly, The invention should be useful. Here the process, product, and invention relate to whether the applicant has made the application made in accordance with the claims and information in the patent. This aspect relates to the utility of the patented article or invention.
5. Lastly, The innovation must not have prior use. If the innovation is already in use in the business or if it has been licensed, this prior use disqualifies it from being patentable.

Non Patentable Inventions

Sections 3 and 4 of the Indian Patent Act, 1970 deal with the inventions which are not patentable. Some non-patentable inventions are:

1. The invention which is superficial or which claims anything contrary to the law.
2. The invention contrary to public order or morality or which causes serious prejudice to human, animal or plant life or health or to the environment.
3. The mere discovery of a scientific principle of an abstract theory or discovery of any living thing or non-living substance.
4. The mere discovery of a new form, new property, new use of a known substance or when a known process results in a new product.
5. A substance obtained by a mere admixture resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of the components.
6. The mere arrangement or re-arrangement or duplication of known devices each functioning independently of one another in a known way.
7. A method of agriculture or horticulture. The process of agriculture like producing a new form of the known plant is not patentable.
8. The agricultural equipment is patentable.
9. Any process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, therapeutic or other treatment of human beings or any process for a similar treatment of animals to render them free of disease or to increase their economic value or that of their products.
10. Plants and animals in whole or any part thereof other than micro-organisms but including seeds, varieties, and species and essentially biological processes for the production of plants and animals.
11. A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any other creation including cinematographic works and television productions. These subject matters fall under copyright protection.
12. A mere scheme or rule or method of performing a mental act or method of playing a game.

Conclusion

Hence, It is important to safeguard your rights and protect your product or process under The Patents Act, 1970. Once the registration is done, patent protection is valid for 2o years.. However, no one can make, use, sell or distribute  the innovation without the patents owner’s consent. Moreover, The Central Government has got the power to make the rules for carrying out the purposes of the act.