The product patent rule was amended on May 11, 2006 and as a result the newly formulated rule brings in much more transparency and decentralization of the functioning of patent office India. As per the changes patent applications have to be published within a period of one month after the expiry of official 18 months. In case if the party involved requests for an early publication such application should be published before one month starting from the date of request.

India patent in order to make the process more transparent and a time bound one has introduced timeframes for activities of patent office India. Thus, now a patent application drafting first has to be referred to an examiner within period of a month while the controller will be taking decision regarding the submission within one month followed by submission of examination report within six months from the date of request of examination.

Patent filing process can be carried on different patent offices located at Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. The services of patent agent and patent law firms India can be used for getting through the entire process. Resultantly, the permission of filing patents abroad has been reduced to 21 days. In order to make patent service India more effective and user friendly the time available for the applicants has also been extended. Similarly the time period for requesting an examination has been extended by almost a year while six months have been extended for filing a pre grant opposition. The applicants can also take help from patent consultancy India for information on newly amended product patent rule. The same has been done in respect of filing for a reply to pre grant opposition which has been extended by 1 to 3 months. The applicants will also be benefited by the extended time period for meeting the requirements of first examination report.

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If you’ve created something unique and something you believe to be marketable the subject of patents should be of immense interest to you. Without a patent your idea could be stolen from you. With a patent in place the concept, and its financial rewards, are yours for a minimum of 17 and a maximum of 20 years.

Does your new product qualify for a patent, however? To determine this you’ll need to not only prove its uniqueness but to also make sure it’s not disqualified for category.

In the United States, for example, the issuing federal agency is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This agency offers utility patents, the most common form of patent, on brand new designs that can prove usefulness. They can even patent new varieties of foliage such as plants.

What cannot be patented, however, are new pharmaceuticals that are determined to be unsafe, nuclear weapons, phenomena theoretical in nature, inventions that aren’t operable, non-operational changes such as aesthetic improvements, inventions whose primary purpose would be seen as illegal, and those considered by the patent office as “whimsical,” i.e., serving no serious purpose. As of this writing the patent office also refuses “immoral” patents, but a change is in the offing that will eliminate this category from patent refusal.

One of the criteria used by the US PTO to determine uniqueness and thus eligibility for a patent is whether someone who is considered an expert in the field in which you’re introducing a new product would consider the product not only useful but also unique. You will, therefore, delay your application for a patent until you’ve determined that the answer to this is yes. You’ll want to provide the PTO with the name or names of experts who have attested to the usefulness and unique nature of your creation.

This is where you must be careful. Sharing your idea prior to its patent could result in its theft if you don’t take precautions. Besides carefully studying the credibility and ethics of those from whom you seek a professional opinion of your new idea or product, you’ll also want to carefully document your step-by-step creation – from original concept to completion.

Purchase a notebook. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy – just a diary sort of concept that notes each and every move made and every idea generated that helped to bring your concept and product to fruition. While in this day and age you’re probably more prone to use a word processing system to do so (and that’s a great idea for backup since you can not only keep it on your hard drive but save it to CD, DVD or disk) you’ll first want to record these steps, in your own handwriting, in your notebook. Make sure you date each step as well.

The process for earning a patent from initial application averages two years. However, while that process is pending you will still have proof that you’re the inventor by showing the PTO documentation of application number and official date of filing. If applying online, you’ll have this information in minutes. If you apply by mail, the documentation should arrive within eight weeks.

Once you’ve received your patent, you’ll have protected your new product or idea from infringement. What this means is that were anyone to try to claim it as their own, or to duplicate it and use or sell that duplication, you could sue for damages.

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The major concern that the social and economic costs of introducing pharmaceutical patents India are likely to outweigh the benefits in the case of most developing countries suggests a cautious approach to intellectual property protection in the area of pharmaceuticals. On the other side, there is also evidence that the patent system has a detrimental impact on pharmaceutical prices, particularly if the product itself is protectable.

The WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) introduced intellectual property rules into the multilateral trading system for the first time. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only most powerful legislative and judicial body which makes an economic relationship between trade and nations with its “free trade” agenda.

The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is a treaty administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) which sets down minimum standards for forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation that was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) treaty in 1994. The new WTO regime effectively outlawed the generic production of new medicines

It was made mandatory by the WTO for its developing nations to fully abide by their IP laws and enforcement practices with the agreement on TRIPS by no later than 1st January 2005. It lays down minimum standards for protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in member countries which are required to promote effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights with a view to reducing distortions and impediments to international trade. For the least-developed countries (LDCs) the transition period will remain in force for pharmaceutical patents and data protection at least until 2016 under Article 66.1 of TRIPS under paragraph 7 of the Doha Declaration.

Further, Article 27 of the TRIPS Agreement harmonizes the subject matter of patent in a broad manner which clearly states that the patents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention, the field of technology and whether products are imported or locally produced.

Under article 28 (1) (a) of TRIPS, there are exclusive rights for product patents to prevent third parties not having the owner’s consent from the acts of: making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing for these purposes that product.

Overall, the TRIPS Agreement will have a substantial impact on intellectual property regimes in developing countries. Although, under the TRIPS Agreement member countries are bound to provide such protection, yet certain compensatory measures and schemes are taken in the hands to avoid the negative impact of monopolization of product patents especially in health and pharmaceutical sectors. Such measures as per the TRIPS are as follows:

• Transition periods 
• Compulsory Licensing 
• Public, non-commercial use of patents 
• Parallel imports 
• Exceptions to patent rights 
• Exceptions from patentability; and 
• Limits on data protection

India as a member of WTO, tried to make its patent legislation TRIPS compliant by bringing into force the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005 w.e.f. 1st January, 2005 which provided for product patents – a long debated issue globally and nationally.

Making the patent legislation in compliance with the TRIPS would put India in the row of nations having strong patent legislation. Salient features of the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005 related to product patents:

a) Extension of product patent protection to products in sectors of drugs, foods and chemical. 
b) Term for protection of product patent shall be for 20 years. 
c) Introduction of a provision for enabling grant of compulsory license for export of medicines to countries which have insufficient or no manufacturing capacity; provided such importing country has either granted a compulsory license for import or by notification or otherwise allowed importation of the patented pharmaceutical products from India (in accordance with the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health) 
d) A new provision has been introduced that provides that the mere discovery of a new form of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance or the mere discovery of any new property or new use for a known substance or of the mere use of a known process, machine or apparatus unless such known process results in a new product or employs at least one new reactant, shall not be patentable.

These amendments have been made with the intention to make India drug and pharma industries competitive at par with multinational companies. The generic drugs would have a limitation and the MNCs would enjoy monopolistic rights, however there is a silver lining in this concept that it would attract contract R&D and therefore MNCs would prefer to open their R&D centers in India.

The major concern arising out of these amendments is increased prices of drugs thus creating problems for the poor. Resolving such a problem would not be easy but other regulatory mechanisms could be put in place to control the drug prices. Indian government can make use of price controls, its bargaining power as a large purchaser, and compulsory licenses in the meantime to ensure that the process does not proceed more quickly than is desirable.

Indian pharmaceutical firms may also suffer with the lack of Indian jobs. This fear is by no means far-fetched, but there are lots of reasons to have a faith that Indian industry would be able to compete with global players. Such as an educated, well-trained scientific workforce that is a backbone of current successful Indian Pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, by passing such reforms that would encourage the development of venture capital, India’s government can make certain that funding will be available for the country’s nascent biotechnology industry, an industry that holds the promise of making significant contributions to India’s economic growth and public health needs.

Taking into account social benefits only is compromising with economic stand. For making the nation strong, the approach should be for socio-economic development.

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