Ordinance issued by Government of India to amend the Indian Patents Act 

The Government of India issued the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004 on December 27,2004. The Ordinance amends the Indian Patents Act, 1970 for the third time to introduce product patent protection for drugs, food and chemicals. The Ordinance also makes a number of other changes in the Indian Patents Act. The Ordinance comes into effect from January 1,2005. Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr. Kamal Nath said that the Ordinance brings the Indian Patents Act in full conformity with the international intellectual property system in all respects, on terms that are practical and credible.

Text of the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004

Salient features of the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004 

a) Extension of product patent protection to all fields of technology (i.e., drugs, food and chemicals);

b) Deletion of the provisions relating to Exclusive Marketing Rights (EMRs) (which would now become redundant), and introduction of a transitional provision for safeguarding EMRs already granted; 

c) Introduction of a provision for enabling grant of compulsory licence for export of medicines to countries which have insufficient or no manufacturing capacity, to meet emergent public health situations (in accordance with the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health);

d) Modification in the provisions relating to opposition procedures with a view to streamlining the system by having both Pre-grant and Post-grant opposition in the Patent Office;

e) Addition of a new proviso in respect of mailbox applications so that patent rights in respect of the mailbox shall be available only from the date of grant of patent, and not retrospectively from the date of publication.

f) Strengthening the provisions relating to national security to guard against patenting abroad of dual use technologies;

g) Clarification of the provisions relating to patenting of software related inventions when they have technical application to industry or are in combination with hardware;

h) Rationalisation of provisions relating to time-lines with a view to introducing flexibility and reducing the processing time for patent applications, and simplifying and rationalising procedures.

Statement by Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister for Commerce and Industry on the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004

The Patent Rules 2005

The Patents Act, 1970

The Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999

The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002