The Patents Act, 1970 establishes strict requirements to prevent the grant of low-quality or frivolous patents that restrict public welfare.
1. Three Criteria for Patentability
To qualify for a patent grant, an invention must meet these three requirements:
- Novelty: The invention must be new, not having been disclosed to the public anywhere in the world (no prior art).
- Inventive Step (Non-Obviousness): The invention must involve a technological advance or have economic significance that makes it not obvious to a person skilled in that specific art.
- Industrial Utility: The invention must be capable of being made or used in an industry.
2. Section 3 Exclusions (Non-Patentable Inventions)
Section 3 lists things that are not inventions under the Act, protecting public access to basic resources:
- Section 3(c): The mere discovery of a scientific principle or the formulation of an abstract theory, or discovery of any living thing in nature.
- Section 3(d): The mere discovery of a new form of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance (prevents *evergreening* of pharmaceutical patents).
- Section 3(h): A method of agriculture or horticulture.
- Section 3(i): Any process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic, diagnostic, or therapeutic treatment of human beings or animals.
- Section 3(k): A mathematical or business method or a computer program per se or algorithms.