In India, a patent for invention
has always found its roots in statutes of Indian legislature. The first Act
relating to patent rights was passed in 1856 (Act VI of 1856) which granted
certain exclusive privileges to inventors of new manufacture for a period of 14
years. The objective of the Act VI of 1856 was to encourage inventions of new
and useful manufactures and to induce inventors to disclose secret of their
inventions. The Act VI of 1856 was subsequently repealed by Act IX of 1857
since the Act VI of 1856 had been enacted without the approval of the
sovereign, i.e., the British Crown. Fresh legislation for granting 'exclusive
privileges' was introduced in 1859 as Act XV of 1859. This legislation
contained certain modifications of the earlier legislation, namely, grant of
exclusive privileges to useful inventions only and extension of priority period
from 6 to 12 months. The Act XV of 1859 excluded importers from the definition
of inventor. The Act XV of 1859 was based on the United Kingdom Act of 1852
with certain departures including allowing assignees to make application in
India and also taking prior public use or publication in India or United
Kingdom for the purpose of ascertaining novelty.
The Act XV of 1859 provided
protection for invention only and not for designs whereas United Kingdom had
been protecting designs from 1842 onwards. To remove this lacuna, the 'Patterns
and Designs Protection Act' (Act XIII) was passed in 1872. This Act amended the
1859 Act to include any new and original pattern or design or the application
of such pattern to any substance or article of manufacture within the meaning
of 'new manufacture'. The Act XV of 1859 was further amended in 1883 by XVI of
1883 to introduce a provision to protect novelty of the invention, which prior
to making application for their protection were disclosed in the Exhibitions of
India. A grace period of 6 months was provided for filing such applications
after the date of the opening of such Exhibition.
In 1888, new legislation was introduced to consolidate and
amend the law relating to invention and designs in conformity with the
amendments made in the UK (United Kingdom) law.
The modifications introduced in
the Indian law, by Act V of 1888, over the UK legislation, inter alia, include:
i. Shifting of authority to administer the Act, from Home
Department to Secretary to Government of India;
ii. Extension of the jurisdiction of the Act to other
courts apart from High Courts of Madras, Calcutta and Bombay;
iii. Reduction in the fee from Rs. 100 to Rs. 10 only at
filing stags;
iv. Graduation of fee as to amend approximately with the
increasing value with the invention acquires as it becomes more commonly known
and used.
v. Provision for detailed disclosure of the invention,
including best mode of working the invention in full clear, concise and exact
terms, in order to enable any person skilled in the art to make use of the
invention;
vi. Provision of powers to ask for a model of the invention;
vii. Change of time for filing petition in respect of
patent granted in UK from 12 months from the 'letters patent' to 12 months from
the 'date of sealing';
viii. Powers to extend the term of exclusive privileges by
7 years ordinarily and 14 years in exceptional cases.
ix. Provision for granting compulsory license where
invention is not made accessible to public on reasonable terms;
x. Registration of Agents to encourage filing by foreign
inventor;
xi. Introduction of provision for protection of new or
original design; and
xii. Provision for counting the grace period for filing
application for invention displayed in the Exhibition from the date of
admission of the invention into the Exhibition instead of the date of the
opening of the Exhibition.
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