Twenty Years of Patenting Activity of Micro-Organism(s) in India: Trends and Patterns

Abstract

This paper looks at the innovation activity of micro-organisms (novel, isolated or discovered) in India to decipher the trends in the past twenty years (1995–2022) under the Indian Patents Act, 1970 (hereinafter Patents Act). As of today, the Patents Act expressly specifies that a microorganism is patentable, a result of the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002. Prior to 2002, the Indian Patent Office (IPO) refused the grant of a patent to a method of producing a vaccine containing a live microorganism on the ground that the term ‘manufacture’ does not include a process with a living substance as its end product. The Calcutta High Court, however, negated the decision of the IPO as the assessment of the method of manufacture does not concern live or dead micro-organism, and directed the grant of patent. Twenty years on, this paper analyses the patterns and trends based on the response of the IPO regarding the grant/refusal of the patents related to micro-organism. Few observations that emerge from this paper include the distribution of novel and not novel micro-organisms that constitute the patenting landscape in India; contributions of foreign and India patent holders; major sectors where novel micro-organisms are used; the involvement of the applicant and the examiner in the grant/rejection of patents before the IPO, major objections that applicants face before the IPO, and the connection between the Indian guidelines on patenting activity of micro-organisms and the patenting activity before the IPO.