Previous Year Question
Consider the following statements.
According to the Indian Patents Act, a biological process to create a seed can be patented in India.
In India, there is no Intellectual Property Appellate Board.
Plant varieties are not eligible to be patented in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1 and 3
2 and 3
Only 3
1, 2 and 3
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Section 3 of the Patents Act, 1970 specifies the subject matter that is not regarded as an invention and cannot be patented.
Under Section 3(j), plants and animals, whether in whole or any part thereof, other than microorganisms, are excluded from patentability.
Seeds, plant varieties, species and essentially biological processes for the production or propagation of plants and animals are also not patentable.
Therefore, a biological process for creating a seed cannot be patented in India. Hence, Statement 1 is not correct.
Microorganisms and certain microbiological or biotechnological processes may qualify for patents if they satisfy the other conditions of patentability.
At the time the question was asked, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) existed in India. Therefore, Statement 2 is not correct.
The IPAB heard appeals in intellectual-property matters, including appeals against certain decisions of the Controller of Patents.
The IPAB was subsequently abolished through the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, and its functions were transferred to the respective High Courts.
Plant varieties cannot be patented in India. Therefore, Statement 3 is correct.
Instead of patents, plant varieties receive a separate form of legal protection under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001.
It is India’s distinct or ‘sui generis’ system for the protection of plant varieties.
The Act recognizes the rights of farmers and researchers along with the rights of plant breeders.
Subject to prescribed conditions, farmers have rights such as saving, using, sowing, resowing, exchanging and sharing seeds.