The Patents Act, 1970 (Act No. 39 of 1970) is the primary piece of legislation governing the grant and enforcement of patents in India, defining the legal framework for intellectual property rights related to inventions. It was enacted to replace the colonial-era Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911, and came into force on April 20, 1972. The Act's original purpose was to promote local innovation and ensure that essential goods, particularly medicines, remained affordable by initially allowing only process patents for food, drugs, and chemicals, not the product itself.
The Act works by granting an inventor exclusive rights for 20 years over an invention that meets the criteria of novelty, inventive step (non-obviousness), and industrial applicability. A key mechanism is the provision for compulsory licensing under Section 84, which allows the government to authorize a third party to manufacture a patented product without the patent holder's consent under specific conditions, such as public health emergencies or if the patented invention is not available at an affordable price. The Act is administered by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM).
The most significant change came with the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005, which was necessary to align India's law with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). This amendment introduced product patents for all fields of technology, including pharmaceuticals and agro-chemicals, which had been previously excluded. However, the Act retained a crucial safeguard: Section 3(d), which prevents the patenting of a mere new form of a known substance unless it demonstrates significantly enhanced efficacy. This provision is designed to prevent "evergreening," where companies extend their monopoly through trivial modifications, and was upheld by the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Novartis AG v. Union of India. Recent changes, such as the Patent (Amendment) Rules, 2024, have focused on streamlining the application process and timelines.