The Patents Act, 1970 is an act to amend and consolidate the law relating to patents. Patent is a grant made by the Government to an inventor conveying and securing to him an exclusive right to make, use and sell his invention for a term of years. The patent should be in respect of an invention and not a discovery. Since 1970 the Patents Act was subjected to a single amendment in the year 1999 to the obligations of the Union of India under an agreement on trade related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) forming part of the World Trade Organization (WTO). For the purpose of integrating Intellectual Property Law with international practice, the act required another amendment so that it is modern and in consonance with international practice and consistent with the trips agreement. Hence, the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 was introduced in Parliament with far-reaching changes in the Patent Act of 1970. It enlarged the scope of patentability in addition to the existing requirements of novelty and utility under the Parent Act. It also widened the scope of non-patentability of certain inventions like discovery of any living or non-living substance in the nature and the provisions for compulsory licensing have been re-structured to safe-guard against the possible abuse which may be caused by the exclusive rights conferred by a Patent.
In super session of the patent rules, 1972, dt 20.04.1972, the Central Government framed the patent rules, 2003 vide Notification No S.O 493(E) dt 02/05/2003. These new rules came into force on the same date on which the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 came into force i.e. on 20/05/2003. The salient features of the Patents (Amendment) Act.2002 are as follows:
1. Modification of the term Invention:
Sec. 2(1) (i) of Patent (Amendment) Act, 2002 defines the term Invention, as a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of Industrial application where Inventive Step means a feature that makes the invention not obvious to person skilled in the art.
2. Fees for filing a new application for Patents:
For individual applicant Rs 750/-
For legal entities - Rs 3,000/-
3. Publication (Sec 11A):
The Controller will notify the contents of the application in the official gazette, after expiry of 18 months from the date of filing or the date of priority, whichever is earlier.
4. Request for Examination (11B):
The application for a patent shall not be examined by the Controller unless the applicant or any other interested person makes a request in the prescribed manner (in Form No.19) for such examination, within 48 months from the date of filing application. In case of an application filed before the commencement of the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002, a request in the prescribed manner for examination shall be made by the applicant or any other interested person within a period of 12 months from the date of such commencement or within 48 months from the date of application whichever is later. If the applicant or any other interested person does not make a request for examination of the application for a patent within the period as specified above, the application shall be treated as withdrawn by the applicant.
5. Term of Patent (Sec 53):
From the date of filing of the application, the term of patent has been extended to 20 years for existing patents and patents granted on pending applications.
6. Date of Patent (Sec 45):
The date of patent is the date of filing the application for grant of a patent.
7. Time for putting application in order for acceptance (Sec 21):
12 Months from the date of first examination report. The first reply to the FER is within 4 months from the date of its issue.
8. Advertisement of acceptance of complete specification (Sec 23):
On the acceptance of a complete specification, the Controller shall give notice thereof to the applicant and shall advertise in the official gazette the fact that the specification has been accepted, and thereupon the application and the specification with the drawings (if any) shall be open to public inspection.
9. Suits relating to infringements (24E):
All suits relating to infringement of a right under Sec 24B (grant of exclusive rights) shall be dealt with in the same manner as if they were suits concerning infringement of patents.
10. Opposition to grant of Patent (Sec 25):
At any time within four months from the date of advertisement of acceptance of a complete specification, any person interested may give notice to the Controller of opposition to the grant of the patent.
11. Prohibition to apply under certain circumstances for patents relevant for defence purposes, etc. (Sec 39):
No person shall, except under the authority of a written permit granted by or on behalf of the Controller, make or cause to be made any application outside India for the grant of a patent for an invention relevant for defence purposes or related to atomic energy, unless an application for a patent for the same invention has been made in India, not less than six weeks before the application outside India, and, either no direction has been given in relation to the application in India, or all such directions have been revoked.
12. Restoration of lapsed patent (Sec 60):
The time has been extended from one year to eighteen months for filing an application requesting restoration of a lapsed patent.
13. The powers of branch office (Rule 4):
The branch offices have been vested with more powers under Sec 68 in regard to filing a request for sealing of patents etc., now; they can be filed in the appropriate branch offices.
14. The Controller has been vested with the power of considering the question relating to obviousness of an invention while conducting the examination of an application for grant of a patent for an invention, the power of which had not been given to the Controller under the Patent Act, 1970.
15. Unity of Invention {(Sec 10(5)}:
As per this amendment, now it is possible to claim more than one process by a single application if the processes come under one group and are closely linked, which was not possible earlier due to the restricted concept of ‘Unity of Invention’.
16. Electronic Communication (Rule 6):
Now, the duly authenticated documents can be filed by electronic transmission also, and its original shall have to be submitted within 15 days from the date of receipt of the communication.
17. Statement and Undertaking (Rule 12(4)):
A provision has been provided for filing the statement and undertaking for extension of time beyond three months.
18. Declaration of Inventor-ship (Rule 13(6)):
A declaration of Inventor-ship should have to be filed along with complete specification on Form No 5. But, by payment of a fee of Rs 250/- per month, if the applicant is individual or Rs 1,000/- per month, if the applicant is a legal entity. Extension of one month beyond this period can be obtained for filing a request on Form No 4.
19. Abstract (Rule 13(a) to (d)):
An abstract of invention has to be filed with a maximum of 150 words along with the application and a complete specification.
20. What is patentable is:
Any invention which is not obvious and is novel and not previously published in any country.
Any new and useful,
Art, process or method of manufacture,
Machine apparatus or other article, substance produced by manufacture.
21. What is not patentable is:
a) An invention which is frivolous or which claims anything obviously contrary to well-established natural laws
b) An invention the primary or intended use or commercial exploitation of which could be contrary to public order or morality or which causes serious prejudice to human, animal or plant life or health or to the environment.
c) A mere discovery of a scientific principle or a formulation of an abstract theory.
d) A mere discovery of a 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.
e) A substance obtained by a mere ad-mixture resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of the components thereof or a process for producing such substance.
f) A mere arrangement or rearrangement or duplication of known devices each functioning independently of one another in a known way.
g) A method of agriculture or horticulture
h) A mathematical or business method or a computer program per se or algorithms
i) A presentation of information
j) Topography of integrated circuits
k) A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any other aesthetic creation whatsoever including cinematographic works and television productions. | 
