The status of patents protecting plant technologies in India is unclear following recent decisions, as Disha Jeswani explains.
Plant breeders need to protect their genetically modified (GM) plants to compensate for the high levels of investment in developing plants with desired genotypic and/or phenotypic traits. In India, GM plants enjoy plant variety protection and, to a certain extent, patent protection. However, a recent decision of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) refusing Monsanto’s patent on a method for obtaining shock-resistant plants has made patent protection an unclear issue in India.
Plants or parts of plants and essentially biological methods for propagation of plants are not patentable in India. Similarly, methods of agriculture/horticulture and discovery of isolated genetic sequences from plants or used in plants are not patentable. The guidelines for examination of biotechnology applications for patents specify the relevant provisions relating to non-patentability of genetically modified plants in the Indian Patents Act along with illustrations.
These include:
The rest of this article is locked for subscribers only. Please login to continue reading.
If you don't have a login, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content. Please use this link and follow the steps.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription to us that we can add you to for FREE, please email Atif Choudhury at achoudhury@worldipreview.com
Patent, India, Plant technology, GM