Patents in India

History of Indian Patent System | | 1856 | THE ACT VI OF 1856 ON PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS BASED ON THE BRITISH PATENT LAW OF 1852. CERTAIN EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO INVENTORS OF NEW MANUFACTURERS FOR A PERIOD OF 14 YEARS. | 1859 | THE ACT MODIFIED AS ACT XV; PATENT MONOPOLIES CALLED EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES (MAKING. SELLING AND USING INVENTIONS IN INDIA AND AUTHORIZING OTHERS TO DO SO FOR 14 YEARS FROM DATE OF FILING SPECIFICATION). | 1872 | THE PATENTS & DESIGNS PROTECTION ACT. | 1883 | THE PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS ACT. | 1888 | CONSOLIDATED AS THE INVENTIONS & DESIGNS ACT. | 1911 | THE INDIAN PATENTS & DESIGNS ACT. | 1972 | THE PATENTS ACT (ACT 39 OF 1970) CAME INTO FORCE ON 20TH APRIL 1972. | 1999 | ON MARCH 26, 1999 PATENTS (AMENDMENT) ACT, (1999) CAME INTO FORCE FROM 01-01-1995. | 2002 | THE PATENTS (AMENDMENT) ACT 2002 CAME INTO FORCE FROM 2OTH MAY 2003 | 2005 | THE PATENTS (AMENDMENT) ACT 2005 EFFECTIVE FROM Ist JANUARY 2005 | | |
Brief about Indian Patent System
1. The first legislation in India relating to patents was the Act VI of 1856. The objective of this legislation was to encourage inventions of new and useful manufactures and to induce inventors to disclose secret of their inventions. The Act was subsequently repealed by Act IX of 1857 since it had been enacted without the approval of the British Crown . Fresh legislation for granting ‘exclusive privileges’ was introduced in 1 859 as Act XV of 1859. This legislation contained certain modifications of the earlier legislation, namely, grant of exclusive privileges to useful inventions only and extension of priority period from 6 months to 12 months. This Act excluded importers from the definition of inventor. This Act was based on the United Kingdom Act of 1852 with certain departures which include allowing assignees to make application in India and also taking prior public use or publication in India or United Kingdom for the purpose of ascertaining