- Introduction
This is the Patent age of new inventions for killing bodies, and for saving souls. All propagated with the best innovations.
……..Lord Byron
Lord Byron in this famous quote expressing his concern regarding the ongoing patentibility race, where everyone is trying to create best innovation regardless of any moral or sentimental issues connected with it. Patent is generally a negative right, which gives the innovator the exclusive right to use his invention, and when this exclusive right given on a life form, conflicts arise.
“Bio-patents” are the term used to describe patents issued on living things, such as microbes, genetically modified plant and animal species, genes, cell lines, etc. Living things can be patented to differing degrees in various nations. However, the patenting of new life is predicated on how it differs from the characteristics and applications of known substances, as the usual standards of non-obviousness and novelty also apply to the patenting of living matter.
For analysing the patentability of life forms in different jurisprudences, this paper is divided into 3 parts. Part I of this paper deals with the widely accepted fundamental legal and moral challenges to this new form of patent regime. Part II discusses the American and European patent regimes. Part III provides an overview of India’s history with the TRIPS Agreement and the various changes made to its patent laws both before and after it was signed.