Writing successful patents and overcoming patent barriers

Abstract

Inventions related to pre-harvest and post-harvest technologies have revolutionized agriculture. There is a significant growth of intellectual property rights (IPR) in agriculture across the globe. The predominant forms of IP relevant to agriculture sector are patents and designs. Patents are given to inventions that qualify patent eligibility, patentability criteria and disclosure norms. In the area of agriculture, patents provide a great opportunity for improving agricultural processes and products. Understanding the requirements of an invention under the Indian Patents Act, 1970 is necessary to know what can be patentable in India. The criteria of novelty, non-obviousness and industrial application and disclosure norms are applicable to all inventions irrespective of the technology areas. Examination guidelines for each technology area indicate to the elaborateness of the practice in relation to patents. While preparing patent specifications for agriculture inventions, it is important to ensure that the subject matter claimed should not be a method of agriculture (under Section 3h) or plants or plant parts (under Section 3j of the Act). Identification of relevant prior art and its anticipatory value is very important for the assessment of novelty of inventions. Agriculture inventions which can lower the cost, be obtained by reduced number of steps and are environment friendly can be considered under ‘economic significance’ by the Indian patent office (under the purview of Section 2(1) ja). Adhering to the disclosure norms (as mandated under Section 10 of the Act) are also important. Inventors/applicants need to also consider the deposit requirements. The present work examines the relevance of IPR and expansion of the patentability criteria, disclosure norms and additional requirements in relation to agriculture. It will highlight the need for patent search as an integral requirement for research, the process of preparation of invention disclosures to enhance the innovative ability of academic institutions as well as researchers.