COVID Crisis unleashed creativity of Indian Researchers and Innovators like never before. Is India becoming an Innovation nation? Here, we look at basics of IPR and some of the COVID 19 innovations.

1. Patents and COVID Innovations
• A.S.Rao
• Indian Innovators
Association
• indiainvents@gmail.com
• https://youtu.be/EnN444EZ
AbQ
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2. Patent
• A patent is a grant given by the state in the form
of a certificate for disclosing an invention by
which certain exclusive rights are conferred on
the patentee which can be exercised in the
country which grants the rights for a limited
period.
• One does not need a patent to commercialize an
invention if the said invention is not already
protected by a patent by someone else. But in
the event the inventor chooses not to patent his
invention, he forfeits his legal right to stop others
from working the said invention without his
permission.
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3. Patent and know-how
Patent is what is written in the patent document
and protected by law. “Know-how” refers to the
larger body of embodied and disembodied
knowledge one requires to produce an article.
Part of the “know-how” could be patented
matter and in areas like drugs and
pharmaceuticals patent license may be sufficient
to exploit a patent but for most other areas in
engineering additional information is required
to bring an invention to market place.
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4. Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
BIRAC for Medical devices
TRL1: Ideation
TRL2: Proof of Principle
TRL3: Proof of Concept demonstrated
TRL4: Proof of concept established.
TRL5: Early stage validation
TRL6: Fully functional clinical grade device
ready with regulatory dossier for use
on human subjects/patients.
TRL7: Late stage validation
TRL8: Pre-commercialisation
TRL9: Commercial launch of the new device, 4

5. Patent requirement
Criteria for securing a patent for invention in
India under the Patent Act of 1970:
1. It must be novel
2. It must involve an inventive step.
3. It must be capable of industrial application.
4. It must not belong to one of the categories of
Excluded subject matter.
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6. Compulsory License
Patent laws often provide for situations in which
exploitation in the public interest on behalf of the
Government may be allowed on the basis of compulsory
license. A compulsory license is demanded generally in
very special cases defined in the law, e.g., public interest
and only where the entity willing to exploit the patented
invention is unable to obtain the authorization of the
owner of the patent for invention. Under the amended
Indian patent act compulsory license can be requested on
the ground that “ the establishment or development of
commercial activities in India is prejudiced”.
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7. Business Method patents
Business Methods are not patentable in India,
but there is a flood of them in USA. This recent
rise can be attributed in part to three factors:
the Federal Circuit’s July 1998 decision in State
Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial
Group Inc.; the rise of the Internet; and greater
patent savviness among companies.
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8. Utility patents
Utility model patents (similar to a petty patent)
are granted in China for technical solutions that
relate to shapes or structures, and have a term
of 10 years from the date of filing. Utility model
(UM) applications are subjected only to novelty
assessment and formality examination. USA has
similar provision. India does not provide utility
patents.
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9. Juggad
• Jugaad comes from the necessity of having to
make do with scarce resources, both money and
material, and it has shaped the way Indians deal
with a variety of everyday situations.
• They cannot be patented India as they lack
novelty & inventive step.
• Some are patented in China under utility patent
category.
• Every nation has Juggad inventors called by
different names.
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10. Protection of designs
A design can be protected in India if the features
of shape, configuration , pattern or ornament
applied to an article by any industrial process or
means, whether manual mechanical or
chemical, separate or combine, which in the
finished article appeal novel and original to and
are judged by naked eye.
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11. Copyright
• Copyrights are a set of exclusive rights granted by
law to the creators and producers of forms of
creative expressions such as literacy, artistic,
musical and cinematographic works.
• Indian Copyright act includes tables, compilations
including computer databases along with
computer programmes in the `literacy work’.
• Computer Related Innovations , IOT, AI, Big data
analytics, software are protected under copyright
in India. The position is different in USA.
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12. Trademark
Trademark is a visual symbol in the form of a
word, device, a label applied to an article of
manufacturing or commerce with a view to
indicate to the purchasing members of the
public about the origin of the manufacture of
the goods affixed with the mark. The mark
distinguishes such goods from the goods
manufactured by others in the trade.
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13. Trade secret
Information imparted in confidence will be
protected. The courts will restrain the use of it, if it
is in breach of good faith. The information may be a
trade secret, e.g. a method of production not
protected by a patent, or a business secret, such as
the financial arrangements of the undertaking or a
piece of domestic information like the salary scale
of clerks or the efficiency of the firm’s filling system.
Some of this information would be of a highly
confidential nature as being potentially damaging if
a competitor should obtain it.
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14. Innovation topology
• Discovery- covers scientific principles , cannot be
appropriated by the scientist.
• Invention like IC are technological breakthroughs ,
protected under patent.
• Innovation is commercial application of invention.
One invention can lead to thousand of
innovations. Can be protected under patent.
• Imitations are copy cats, some are preferred to
original by the market.
• Counterfeits are illegal copies.
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15. Freedom to work
• Innovations patented outside India but not in India are
free to copy.
• Patents are granted limited life and become free to use
by all after the term.
• Patents are limited by claims and working around
patent is technically feasible.
• Copies cannot be made of Copyrighted articles but
modified.
• Industrial design is limited by novelty granted, creative
imitations are possible.
• Logos, names, brands even when not available in India
are protected under Trademarks act.
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16. WIPO Proof
• WIPO PROOF is an online service that rapidly produces
tamper-proof evidence which you can use to prove
that your digital file existed at a specific point in time.
• In seconds, WIPO PROOF uses industry-leading secure
technology to generate a globally recognized digital
fingerprint of your intellectual asset. This is your WIPO
PROOF token – a unique fingerprint of your digital file,
dated and time stamped the second it is created. You
receive your token and another copy is stored securely
on WIPO servers in Switzerland.
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17. Face mask- historical
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18. 3Ms patented N95
N95 classification of
air filtration, meaning
that it filters at least
95% of airborne
particles. N95
respirators were
originally designed for
industrial use in
sectors such as mining,
construction, and
painting.
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19. Patent infringement
3M Vs Venus
In the year 2013, 3M
successfully blocked
Venus Safety &
Helath private lts
from manufacturing
a product infringing
its patent.
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20. Anti-viral face masks
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21. Wearable Thermal scanners
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22. Juggad innovations
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23. Designer Face masks
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24. Full Shield
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25. PPE
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26. Infection Proof fabrics
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27. Hot air sealing machine for PPE
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28. Ambu Bag Ventillator
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29. ICU VentilatorICU Ventilator
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30. UV-C LED
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31. Vaccine
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32. Repurposed drugs
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33. Herbal drugs
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34. Testing method
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35. Testing apparatus
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36. Testing ingredients
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37. Summery
• The total number of patents in force in India till
31st March 2018 was 56,764 of which a mere
8,830 patents belonged to Indians. On the other
hand patent filing in China including utility
patents crossed million.
• India’s Innovation rank was 52 in 2019, so there is
long way to travel but India can close gap quickly
with public support for Indian Innovations.
• COVID 19 crisis has demonstrated India’s
imitation capability in medical devices, testing,
hospital care etc.
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38. Further Reading at
motguru.com
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