PRESIDENT’S ASSENT
TO PATENTS (AMENDMENT) BILL
The President has given his assent to the Patents
(Amendment) Bill, 2002. With this, the Bill as passed by the Parliament
in its Budget Session ending May 17, 2002, has been notified in
the Gazette of India as Act No. 38 of the year 2002. The various
provisions of the Act will be implemented on different dates to
be appointed and notified by the Ministry of Commerce.
The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002, seeks to amend
the Patents Act, 1970, to be referred to as the principal Act.
The comprehensive amendment of the principal Act is intended to
prepare and ready India to meet the challenges of globalization
under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime and the Intellectual
Property Rights Agreements on Trade Related Aspects of the WTO.
Under the Act, there will be a Controller to issue licence for
patents, cancellations of licence for patents and regulation of
patent regime in the country in keeping with the global standards
to maintain quality of products, services and other related matters.
The Appellate Board established under the Trade Marks Act, 1999
shall be the authority for appeal against the orders of Controller.
The Appellate Board will replace High Courts and any other court
for adjudication of cases relating to the patents under this Act,
and appeal, if any, against orders of the Appellate Board shall
lie to the Supreme Court of India. The Act provides for procedure
of the Appellate Board, the performance of Controller, their authorities
and powers in line with the best of the global standards besides
mechanism and procedure for granting compulsory licences, its
terms and conditions, power of Controller to revoke licence and
procedure for dealing with applications for patents.
With this Act in position, the country is now
poised to meet all the challenges relating to patents of Indian
heritages, products and services including protection of its defence
and national sovereignty.
