Patent

The Delhi High court comes to a decision in the ongoing dispute between the Monsanto Group of Companies and the Nuziveedu Group of Companies. A far-reaching decision and the first on the patentability of genetically modified plants, the court has held that genetically modified plants, genetically modified seeds and gene sequences that provide genetic traits to plants are not patentable subject matter in India. ...

Law requires patent holders to submit statements of working on a regular basis. Since in many cases the requirement is not being complied with, a public interest litigation was filed in the Delhi High Court in 2015, asking the Patent Office to take action against those who did not submit this information. The IPO called for comments as a pre-cursor to hosting a stakeholder consultation on the issue of working of patents. ...

Patent applications for inventions that use biological resources require approval from NBA. Aspects to keep in mind are the nationality of the applicant, source of the biological resource and does the invention relate to a biological resource defined under BDA....

There has been a steady increase in the number of patent applications centered around biological resources. The Biological Diversity Act and its provisions are an important consideration while filing or prosecuting such patents. ...

The 2017 amendment to Patent Rules, 2003 have allowed inclusion of foreign entities under the definition of start-up. They must, like Indian start-ups, fulfill the criteria for turnover and period of incorporation as per Start-up India Initiative. ...

Home to one of the world’s most bio diverse ecosystems, India must safeguard plant biosecurity. Laws and regulations governing this seek to prevent, minimize and control the introduction and spread of pests in international trade of plants....

With agricultural companies filing patents for chemical composition of substances to equipment to gene sequences and methods of genetic transformation, a controversy has emerged in the IPR of GM seeds. These contain man-made gene sequences. This is making companies seek indirect patent rights on the seed itself. ...

With Monsanto filing claims against various Indian seed companies and invoking arbitration proceedings, nearly 2/3 of the cotton seed industry and farmers are questioning the alleged patent rights of Monsanto. It is important to examine the patent issue involved to gain clarity on the matter...

Once a transgenic plant variety is approved and released, others can be created from it. When these further varieties seek registration, they must submit an NOC from the first developer. In the case of Bt cotton, this entity is Monsanto. Indian seed companies have to enter exploitative agreements with Monsanto to obtain NOC. This is a study of whether the NOC requirement is at all legal....