Patenting is a process of attaining a grant for a new invention, to which the government confers the guarantee for a limited period of time for the exclusive privilege of making, selling or importing the patented invention. A Patent right is not a right to perform the invention or a monopoly in the market place.
The purpose of getting a patent is to enjoy the exclusive rights over the invention and to ensure commercial returns to the inventor for the time and money spend in generating a new product. In order to get patentable, an invention should pass four tests:
(i) The invention must fall in to one of the five classes i.e., processes, machines, manufactures composition of matter like chemical compounds and physical mixtures,
(ii) Useful
(iii) Novel
(iv) Non obvious.
The sailent features of patent law are both product and process patent should be provided, examination on request, both pre-grant and post-grant opposition, substantially reduced time lines, 18 months after publication of applications with facility for early publication, fast track mechanism for disposal of appeals and finally term of patent is 20 years. The safeguards in the patent law are compulsory license to ensure availability of drugs at reasonable price and provision to deal with public health emergency.
The three types of patents are granted under the act, namely an ordinary patent, a patent of addiction and a patent of convention. The second type of patent classification is product and process patent. Expiry of patent can be in following ways (i) the patent has lived its full term (ii) the patentee has failed to pay renewal fee and (iii) filing an opposition either with the patent office or with the courts.
The stages from filing to grant of a patent are obtaining a patent, formality check, publication, appeal for examination, examination, issue of first examination report (FER), response from the applicant, pre-grant opposition, examination of pre-grant opposition, considerations of pre-grant opposition and a grant of a patent. The rights of a patentee are right to exploit the patent, right to grant license, right to surrender, right to sue for infringement.