Shereen Samant, Ramaiah College of Law
ABSTRACT
This assignment attempts to analyse the scope of patent protection as an incentive towards biotechnological innovation in India and the recent improvements in Indian Patent Law. Product patentability is crucial in the biotechnology field for the reason that limited market exclusivity compensates biotech companies’ investments in research and development.
Introduction
Several Indian biotechnology companies have come to develop exclusive processes for creating copies or imitative forms of first- generation biologics i.e., "bio-generics" or "bio-similar." Despite having favourable outcomes in process development, only a few companies that generate significant biotech revenues filed Indian patent applications. The anomaly in patenting biotechnological products arises for the reason that patent law was intended to satisfy the requirements of industrial technology1. The emergence of biotechnology makes it necessary for the patent laws to suitably modify itself to match the needs of technology and science. The conventional requirement of disclosing at the time of filing of a patent application had to be altered in order for it to cater itself to the biotechnological innovations.
Biotechnology: Biotechnology incorporates any technology that makes use of living entities like animals, plants and microorganisms. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) “biotechnology includes any technique that uses living organisms (or parts of organisms) to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses.”
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