Indian Patent Office Research Articles

Estimating the value of expired and active patents: A renewal model approach

ABSTRACT This study proposes an updated renewal model to estimate active patent value and technical depreciation in five major Indian technology fields. According to a study of 27,000 patents issued by the Indian Patent Office between 1998 and 2018, Indian patents have a lower value than foreign patents. This suggests that India's patenting and R&D qualities differ from those of more advanced countries. Technology-specific factors are important because technology fields depreciate at different rates. The top 5% of patents accounted for most international and domestic patent values. A genetic algorithm is used to optimise the renewal model accuracy. This study has significant implications for Indian policymakers, patent holders, international investors, and technology market participants. This model allows startups and new businesses who want to value their IP at the very early stage to negotiate with their counterpart when licensing or selling the patents.

A new hybrid machine learning model for predicting the renewal life of patents.

In almost every country, patents need to be renewed multiple times after they are granted. A patentee assesses the value of the patent and then pays a renewal fee to keep it active for another stipulated period. The factors that characterize the value of a patent is subjective. This paper aims to address the research gap of building an accurate model for predicting the renewal life (often considered as a substitute for the patent value) of Indian patents, and identification of significant factors that influence the renewal life. This study uses an extensive data set collected from the Indian Patent Office for all granted patents filed between 1995 and 2005. The popular statistical and machine learning algorithms do not result in accurate predictive models, because the patent renewal life distribution (at least for the Indian patents) shows unusual spikes at the two extreme values, which makes the modeling task more challenging. We propose a new two-stage hybrid model by combining an efficient multi-class classifier and a binomial regression model for predicting the complex renewal data distribution. We conducted a comparative analysis of the proposed model with several state-of-the-art machine learning and statistical models. The results show that the proposed hybrid model gives 90% accuracy as compared to the best competitor which gives only 40% accuracy.

International Patent System - A Comparative Analysis

The Patents Act, 1970 was amended in 1999, 2002 and finally in 2005 to provide for product patents in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, and agro-chemicals and bring in other necessary amendments in line with Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Patents Rules have been commensurately amended, initially as Patent Rules, 2003, which were further amended in 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. India became signatory to Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 1998. Consequently, patent filing in India, including National Phase applications under PCT, has increased exponentially. Indian Patent Office is a major PCT filing country and functions as ISA/IPEA under PCT.

Emvolio - A battery operated portable refrigerator preserves biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples in preclinical studies.

Background: Emvolio is a non-medical device, indigenously developed portable refrigeration for maintaining the internal temperature 2-8˚C. The Indian Patent Office has granted patent for applications such as preservation and transport of medicines, vaccines, food, beverages, dairy etc. Further, use of Emvolio can be utilized in transport and store biologicals to preserve their biochemical and cellular integrity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples such as rat blood, serum and liver. Methods: The steady temperature was maintained inside the Emvolio, and it was compared to that of thermocol and polypropylene boxes aided with frozen gel packs. The blood and liver samples were isolated from Wistar rats and kept in Emvolio, thermocol and polypropylene boxes for 10 hrs, and the temperature was monitored. The blood parameters, namely red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), platelets, haematocrit, haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width (RDW), serum parameters like alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, albumin, creatine kinase, blood urea nitrogen and liver parameters like superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), catalase were estimated and compared. Results: Emvolio maintained a constant inner temperature range of 2-8˚C, whereas a significant temperature variation was seen in thermocol and polypropylene boxes. There was no significant deviation in the parameters tested when samples were kept in Emvolio for six hours compared to the zero hour readings. In contrast, there was a significant deviation among the parameters for the samples kept in thermocol and polypropylene boxes for six hours compared to zero hour parameters. Conclusions: Emvolio maintained constant temperature and preserved the biological integrity of rat blood, serum and liver. Thus, Emvolio can be efficiently used as a biological sample carrier, especially in preclinical studies.

Emvolio - A battery operated portable refrigerator preserves biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples in preclinical studies

Background: Emvolio is a non-medical device, indigenously developed portable refrigeration for maintaining the internal temperature 2–8˚C. The Indian Patent Office has granted patent for applications such as preservation and transport of medicines, vaccines, food, beverages, dairy etc. Further, use of Emvolio can be utilized in transport and store biologicals to preserve their biochemical and cellular integrity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples such as rat blood, serum and liver. Methods: The steady temperature was maintained inside the Emvolio, and it was compared to that of thermocol and polypropylene boxes aided with frozen gel packs. The blood and liver samples were isolated from Wistar rats and kept in Emvolio, thermocol and polypropylene boxes for 10 hrs, and the temperature was monitored. The blood parameters, namely red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), platelets, haematocrit, haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width (RDW), serum parameters like alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, albumin, creatine kinase, blood urea nitrogen and liver parameters like superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), catalase were estimated and compared. Results: Emvolio maintained a constant inner temperature range of 2–8˚C, whereas a significant temperature variation was seen in thermocol and polypropylene boxes. There was no significant deviation in the parameters tested when samples were kept in Emvolio for six hours compared to the zero hour readings. In contrast, there was a significant deviation among the parameters for the samples kept in thermocol and polypropylene boxes for six hours compared to zero hour parameters. Conclusions: Emvolio maintained constant temperature and preserved the biological integrity of rat blood, serum and liver. Thus, Emvolio can be efficiently used as a biological sample carrier, especially in preclinical studies.

Analysis of patent mortality rate across different technology fields in India

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate how indicators of patent quality affect the value of a patent, which can be measured by how often it is renewed (or “survives”). Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are becoming more important in a wide range of industries. In the same way, a country's intellectual strength can be judged by how many patents it has and how much research and development it does. The Cox-PH model and the accelerated failure time (AFT) model are used in this study to determine the patent's worth across the five major technology groups and ownership status. The final sample for survival analysis is made up of 40132 patents that were obtained from the Indian Patent Office between 1995 and 2005. (IPO). We find that broad academic patents don't last longer, but that the patent's ability to be used internationally makes it last longer. In contrast, institutional patents are geographically restricted. The collaboration appears to have a greater impact on patent value.

Let’s Talk About Patent Act, 1970

The Patent Act of 1970 is a pivotal legislation that has shaped India’s intellectual property landscape and played a significant role in fostering innovation, technological advancement, and economic growth. This abstract provides an overview of the Patent Act, its historical context, key provisions, and its impact on various stakeholders. The Patent Act, enacted in India in 1970, replaced the outdated and restrictive Patents and Designs Act of 1911. It aimed to align the Indian patent system with global standards while addressing the unique needs and challenges of the Indian economy. The Act provided legal protection for new inventions, encouraging inventors to disclose their innovations and contribute to the public domain in exchange for exclusive rights. One of the pivotal features of the Patent Act, 1970 was the introduction of a “process patent” system, which allowed for the patenting of manufacturing processes, thereby stimulating domestic innovation and entrepreneurship. This system also supported the growth of the pharmaceutical industry by facilitating the production of affordable generic drugs. The Act also introduced certain safeguards and limitations to ensure that patents did not hinder public welfare or create barriers to technological progress. It included provisions for compulsory licensing, enabling the government to authorize the use of patented inventions in specific circumstances, such as ensuring access to essential medicines. This provision balanced the interests of patent holders with the public interest. Furthermore, the Patent Act, 1970 established the Indian Patent Office, responsible for granting and administering patents in the country. It provided a framework for patent examination, opposition, and revocation, ensuring a fair and transparent patent granting process. Over the years, the Patent Act, 1970 has had a profound impact on various stakeholders. It has encouraged domestic research and development, leading to technological advancements and increased competitiveness in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and information technology. The Act has also facilitated technology transfer and collaboration between Indian and foreign entities, fostering innovation ecosystems and attracting foreign investment. However, the Act has not been without its challenges. Critics argue that certain provisions, such as Section 3(d) related to patentability criteria for pharmaceuticals, may restrict access to essential medicines or discourage innovation. There have been ongoing debates regarding the balance between incentivizing innovation and ensuring affordable access to patented technologies.

Agrobacterium rhizogenes mediated genetic transformation in Ficus religiosa L. and optimization of acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity in hairy roots

The use of decoctions prepared from stem bark to treat neurodegenerative problems is amongst the widespread applications of Ficus religiosa L., a tree of great ethno-medicinal importance in the Indian sub-continent. The stem bark of the tree has been reported to have significant acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity (AChEI). Latter is one of the most effective modalities used for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The development of any commercial treatment modality for AD from this tree faces serious challenges for sample consistency in terms of quality (being strongly influenced by environmental and developmental stages) and quantity. Hairy root (HR) cultures are an excellent choice for such studies. Since no study has been reported for HR culture systems for F. religiosa , the present study was targeted to develop one. Three different HR lines were induced and cultured on different media. Root extracts, obtained from HRs on different media, were subjected to an AChEI assay to select the best conditions where HRs exerted higher AChEI. The wild-type strain of A. rhizogenes was used to induce hairy roots in different explants. The method of genetic transformation was optimised by changing concentrations of bacterial suspension, acetosyringone and calcium chloride in the infection and co-cultivation medium. The assay for measuring AChEI activity was modified from the assays described by Ellman et al. (1961) and Ingkaninan et al. (2000) . These methods recommend the use of IC 50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) value for comparing AChEI activities in different samples. We developed a protocol for induction and long-term maintenance of HR cultures of F. religiosa L. In vitro conditions were optimized where hairy root extracts exerted higher AChEI activity (IC 50 value of 0.16 µg/ml) compared to that in the stem segments of the mother plants (IC 50 value of 0.49 µg/ml). The present work has been granted a patent by the Indian Patent Office, Government of India (Patent No360050, Date of grant 02/03/2021) (Siwach and Gill, 2021). The present study confirms the utility of F. religiosa in AD treatment and provides a standardized protocol for large-scale production of HR cultures (75ml medium in Erlenmeyer flask of 250 ml volume) that have higher AChEI activity; these cultures offer excellent platforms for future characterization and commercial preparation.

A detailed overview of the patent system

The roots of today’s solid patent system are from the ancient trade system, the introduction, and the evolvement of different intellectual properties. Various international legislations, collaborations, and treaties, as well as the introduction of various acts, rules, and amendments, are responsible for the management and growth of the recent patent system. Novelty, utility, and non-obviousness are the basic patentability criteria. The Indian patent act also defines things that are not inventions under section 3 of the Indian patent act as “statutory subject matter”. The patent system working is described under patent prosecution (filing, publication, examination, opposition) sequentially. “Patent co-operation treaty” (PCT) introduced by the “World intellectual property organization” provides a most effective and economical way of patent application in multiple countries through a single filed application. A general overview of a patent application, drafting of claims, patent analysis, invalidation of patents, Infringement of patents, non-infringing activities, prosecution history estoppel, and remedies under the jurisdiction, are also described hereunder. At present, the number of patent applications filed in India is continuously increasing. Indian patent office is becoming one of the designated search authorities under the PCT. General awareness about patents and intellectual property in all sectors can be improved further.

Re evaluating Indias Third Mission through Top Ranked Universities & Technological Institutes

The present study explores the patenting activities of the faculty staff of the top 20 Indian academic and engineering institutes during 2011-2020 by excavating the Indian patent office database. Of the total 963 granted patents, the highest patents were published in 2016, and the academician of IIT Madras invented 167 patents followed by IIT Mumbai with 156 patents during this period. Most of the innovation takes place in the macro-field like chemical engineering, and micro-fields like nano-technology, nano-materials, and nano-complex. Collaboration with inventors of the same academic institution is found as the best choice of the inventors, only a meagre portion of patents was published in collaboration with of industries and organisations around the globe. The tag ‘highest number of patents inventor’ goes to Padma Shri Prof. Thalappil Pradeep of IIT Madras who has contributed 19 Indian patents in the last 10 years.

Dental Patents in India: A Decade Long Review.

The advent of technology in dentistry compels the safeguard of intellectual property to guarantee a steady flow of ideas. A guarantee preserves the idea/invention which is conductive to the subsequent financial gain or marketing of the said product for the patentee. The main objective of the present study was to illuminate the trends in the dental patents filed in India over the past decade and to analyze these in context with the recent developments in dental markets. A total of 641 dental patent applications retrieved from the Indian Government Official Website between 2010 and 2020 were scanned for field of invention, type or status of application along with details regarding date of publication or filing of application, etc., The dataset was collaboratively analyzed using Panda's Library in Python software as analysis tool for data preparation and frequency analysis. The estimates were presented as mean differences and 95% confidence intervals. The results showed that Indian Patent Office (IPO) has granted 54 dental patents in the last decade. The maximum applications of the IPO processes are the patent co-operation treaty National Phase applications (53.3%), mostly in the bio-engineering field (36.8%). Chiefly, patents were filed by individuals and companies (n = 180) and average time for grant was 4.90 years and 5.34 years, respectively. The process of patent application in India although has become digitalized needs to be more comprehensible and time bound, with more awareness disseminated to entrepreneurs and dental students alike.

Emvolio - A battery operated portable refrigerator preserves biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples in preclinical studies

Background: Emvolio is a non-medical device, indigenously developed portable refrigeration for maintaining the internal temperature 2–8˚C. The Indian Patent Office has granted patent for applications such as preservation and transport of medicines, vaccines, food, beverages, dairy etc. Further, use of Emvolio can be utilized in transport and store biologicals to preserve their biochemical and cellular integrity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples such as rat blood, serum and liver. Methods: The steady temperature was maintained inside the Emvolio, and it was compared to that of thermocol and polypropylene boxes aided with frozen gel packs. The blood and liver samples were isolated from Wistar rats and kept in Emvolio, thermocol and polypropylene boxes for 10 hrs, and the temperature was monitored. The blood parameters, namely red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), platelets, haematocrit, haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width (RDW), serum parameters like alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, albumin, creatine kinase, blood urea nitrogen and liver parameters like superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), catalase were estimated and compared. Results: Emvolio maintained a constant inner temperature range of 2–8˚C, whereas a significant temperature variation was seen in thermocol and polypropylene boxes. There was no significant deviation in the parameters tested when samples were kept in Emvolio for six hours compared to the zero hour readings. In contrast, there was a significant deviation among the parameters for the samples kept in thermocol and polypropylene boxes for six hours compared to zero hour parameters. Conclusions: Emvolio maintained constant temperature and preserved the biological integrity of rat blood, serum and liver. Thus, Emvolio can be efficiently used as a biological sample carrier, especially in preclinical studies.

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF PATENT ATTRIBUTES ON THE VALUE OF DISCRETE AND COMPLEX INNOVATIONS

This study assesses the degree to which the social value of patents can be connected to the private value of patents across discrete and complex innovation. The underlying theory suggests that the social value of cumulative patents is less related to the private value of patents. We use the patents applied between 1995 and 2002 and granted on or before December 2018 from the Indian Patent Office (IPO). Here, the patent renewal information is utilised as a proxy for the private value of the patent. We have used a variety of logit regression model for the impact assessment analysis. The results reveal that the technology classification (i.e., discrete vs. complex innovations) plays an important role in patent value assessment, and some technologies are significantly different than the others even within the two broader classifications. Moreover, the non-resident patents in India are more likely to have a higher value than the resident patents. According to the conclusions of this study, only a few technologies from the discrete and complex innovation categories have some private value. There is no evidence that patent social value indicators are less useful in complicated technical classes than in discrete ones.

Amendments at Indian National Phase: In Harmony with PCT Standards?

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) under Article 28 / Rule 52 or Article 41 / Rule 78 guarantees the applicant the right to amend claims, description and drawings before each designated/elected office, on national phase entry or at least one month thereafter, further to the amendments submitted during the International phase of the application. The Indian Patent Office (IPO) however refuses to allow amendments while entering the national phase,1 except for deletion2 of one or more claims under Rule 20(1)3 of the Patent Rules 2003. The Patent Offices of other PCT signatories like the European Patent Office(EPO), the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS)4, the Chinese Patent Office (CNIPA) and the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (INPI)allow this amendment under Article 28/Article 41 PCT. The IPO accepts all other types of amendments such as merging of two or more claims, alteration of the claim language, etc. only during the national phase proceedings. These amendments can be made either through a request for voluntary amendments in Form 13 along with payment of the associated fee, or in response to the examination report. The latter requires, the applicant to wait until the examination report is communicated. In this article, we are attempting to analyze whether India is in line with the above mentioned provisions of PCT in respect of providing the applicants an opportunity to amend the claims further from that on file in the international phase, at the time of filing the national phase application.

Significance and Factors Hampering Patents Commercialization in India

As per the Patents Act, 1970 one of the patentability criteria is ‘the invention should have industrial application’. The patents’ rights conferred to the patentee are merely not to enjoy the monopoly over the invention, but the patentee has to ensure the use of technology for the societal and economic benefit of the country. Once the patent is granted, the patentee has to ensure the working of the patent in India on a commercial scale. In return, the patentee gets his due amount for his hard work and efforts rendered for the intellectual creativity. Current paper focuses on the working/non-working profile of the patents granted to Indian Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and National Research Labs (NRLs) in the country from January 2010 to December 2017. The data has been procured from the prescribed ‘Form-27’ by the Indian Patent Office, which the patentee is required to file every year before the end of financial year, post grant of the patent. The research depicts in how many patentees submitted requisite ‘Form-27’, and in how many cases patents granted, worked or didn’t work. Moreover, various reasons cited for the non-working of the patents have also been identified. The issues being encountered with by the patentees have been identified and measures thereof required to be taken, at the individual level, institutional level and government level, have also been suggested.

Interface between Competition Law and Patents Law: A Pandora Box

The interface between Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law has remained a moot point in several jurisdictions including India. There have been conflicting views regarding powers of the Competition Commission to exercise its jurisdiction over Patentee’s right to exclude his/her competitors from using its patented technology. This question again came up before the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in a recent case of Monsanto v Competition Commission of India. Though the court in the instant case tried to clarify the issue with regard to the conflict of powers between the Competition Commission of India and Power of the Controllers of the Indian Patent Office, there were various issues which were overlooked by the Court. Due to the lack of specific guidelines regarding how to deal with the interface between Competition Law and Patents Law, the issues are settled by the courts on case to case basis. Through this paper, the authors look into the issue of how this interface is dealt with in other jurisdictions such as US and EU. Unlike India, in US and EU guidelines are issued by respective governments regularly in order to solve any possible conflict between Competition Laws and Patent Laws. Through this paper the author suggests for providing such guidelines so as to allow and maintain the delicate balance between Patent Law and Competition Law.

Working/non-Working Status of Patents Granted to HEIs and NRLs in India

The era of knowledge economy has seen a transition in the business market, from the need to control raw materials towards the protection of ideas, either as tangible or non-tangible assets. These assets may be secured in the form of various intellectual property (IP) instruments such as patents, know-how or technologies. These IP instruments (patents) not only give the IP owners (patentees) a monopoly over the use of their ideas/inventions, but also mandate them to commercially exploit the same for the benefit of the population at large. While economically developed countries (like China, USA, South Korea, Japan, etc.) appreciate this fact, developing countries like India are yet to make their mark in this transition; thus it is imperative to evaluate the IP landscape of the country. It is well acknowledged that major contributors to fundamental research in any country are the higher educational institutions (HEIs) and national research laboratories (NRLs). Hence, this study evaluates the patent commercialization ecosystem of Indian HEIs (351) and NRLs (553) for the period January 2010 to December 2017, based on the working statements filed by the patentees/assignees in the prescribed Form-27 at the Indian Patent Office.

Legal and Administerial Overreach by IPO while Considering Proof of Right Requirement

India being a dualist country has to domesticate treaty obligations to enforce the same at domestic level by enacting statutes, which in turn must be construed in the light of the parent treaty. This paper introspects the complexity in identifying the applicable rule concerning the Proof of Right requirement for Indian National Phase Applications under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Rule 4.17. It goes on to highlight the incongruity between the PCT regulations and the domestic law as interpreted and applied by the Indian Patent Office (IPO). A comparative study of legal positions in other also included for a better understanding of approaches by foreign patent office towards implementing PCT obligations concerning Proof of Right. In essence, this paper sheds light on how the IPO’s demand for proof of right contradicts with several provisions of the PCT Regulations, the recent PCT Applicant’s Guide for the national phase and concludes by mooting some suggestions to resolve the issue.

Novel mixed-encoding for forecasting patent grant duration

In an age when data is regarded as the most essential commodity, organizations are racing to use it for better decision making. The quality of the patent portfolio is an important indicator of technological innovation in an organization and its analysis can reveal several indicators linked to the growth of a company. The advancement of machine learning along with the access to large amounts of patent data has led to a paradigm shift from traditional patent data analysis methodologies to novel approaches. A lot of research has been done in this direction for analysing data on patent citations, patent text, IPC class etc. However, much less has been explored regarding the forecast of patent grant duration and its significance for decision making with an even lower focus on data collected from developing countries. This work is built upon our existing study on patent grant duration prediction by devising a novel methodology of encoding the data using a combination of augmented one-hot encoding and label-encoding. Thereafter, methodologies such as Outlier Detection have been applied to this data to yield an improved result vis-à-vis our baseline results. In addition, we identify some of the important factors which impact the decision on grant duration of patent applications using the raw data from the Indian Patent Office.

R&D tax credit and innovation: Evidence from private firms in india

Using firm-level data from 2001 to 2016, this paper evaluates the impact of India’s R&D tax credit scheme and its 2010-11 reform on the innovation activity of the country’s private firms. Registration with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is a requirement for the R&D tax credit eligibility. Not all firms have registered with the DSIR by 2016 and those that did, vary by year of registration. In a difference-in-difference setting, we evaluate the change in innovation activity after the reform in DSIR-registered firms relative to non-DSIR-registered firms. We also study the timing of DSIR registration and examine how the changes in firm innovation activity following registration were impacted by the 2010-11 reform. Among firms first registered with the DSIR after the 2010-11 reform, we find a sharp increase in firm R&D expenditures, R&D intensity, and the number of patent applications filed at the Indian Patent Office following registration. The reform has also spurred innovation in firms registered with the DSIR in or before 2001. The results are not driven by unobserved cross-firm heterogeneity or firm-specific time trends.