Revisiting the working of patent requirements under Indian patent law

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the working of patent requirements under Indian patent law. A patent working requirement generally entails that the patentee must work or apply the patented product in the patent granting country. This article evaluates the compatibility of the patent working requirement with the TRIPS Agreement from the perspective of international human rights law. A human rights approach suggests that the rights of the patentee must be reconciled with the interests of the general public. In such pursuance, this article argues that there is a need to recalibrate the patent working requirement under the Indian law to strike a right balance between the rights of the patentee and the public interest. Particularly, this article argues that India must modify the present patent working disclosure requirements to ensure that foreign patentees are able to do business in India without bureaucratic hassles.