Do you think the stringent standard set for patents in India degrades innovation and public welfare? Justify. (200 words)
Refer – The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 7 years
KEY POINTS
· In 2005, India has made some remarkable amendments to the Indian Patents Act of 1970.
· Through this, it has evolved strong standards for patents in India.
Strong Standards
· It includes, Section 3(d), which is responsible for over 65% of all pharmaceutical patent rejections in India.
· This section provides for rejecting applications that are mere variants of known compounds and lack a demonstrable increase in therapeutic value.
· Basic patentability criteria are that the invention should be new, involve a significant inventive step, and should be capable of industrial application.
· Not meeting one of these was the most frequently used grounds for rejection.
Its effect on innovation
· These standards actually help to weed out non-serious patent applications.
· It filters the bad patent from the good, with the lowest possible administrative and financial burden.
· It equips Indian patent office (IPO) with a yardstick to evaluate patents that are merely trivial innovations over existing technology.
· In cases where the invention is a variant of a known substance, the criterion for patentability is proof of a necessary improvement in its performance for its designated use, i.e., increased efficacy.
· This results in the arrival of far better product in the market in order to qualify for patent protection.
Its effect on Public welfare
· These strong standards resulted in effectively keeping medicines low priced and affordable in the country.
· Because, such standards provides the advantage of questioning an application at the IPO itself.
· Without these provisions, the only alternate will be the expensive and time consuming litigation.
· In such cases, disputes are often settled before reaching a conclusion, in pay-for-delay settlements negotiated by patent owners.
· Patent claimers usually pay off generic manufacturers to stay off the market, which effectively increases the cost of medicines.
· Hence, without these standards, Indian public would have to either bear the burden of invalidating a bad patent through litigation or the cost of expensive medicines.
· Thus, the stringent standards set for patents in India have actually led to the promotion of real innovation and protection of the consumers, with lowest financial burden.
Taniya 7 years
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