MEANING OF PATENT

Introduction
The term 'patent' has its origin from Latin word 'patene' which means to open'. In legal parlance the
patent is a legal grant of monopoly right for some fixed term to the creator of new and useful
invention in return of his-disclosing the invention. It is an important species of intellectual property.
The grant and use of patent is regulated by law. In this chapter salient features of patent are
explained for proper understanding of the concept and dynamics of patent.

B. OBJECTIVE BEHIND THE PATENT LAW

The objective of patent law is again twofold: protection to individuat ahe inventory and to
the society at large who will benefit ; who are the end users of the invention. By granting a
patent- what is ensured is not just a monopoly but also a promise of quality to the
consumer. When the patented product reaches market through properly licensed and sub
licensed channels there exists the said promise of quality, safety and authenticity. Take
for instance the Covid vaccine when we hear Covishield we feel reassured about its safety
and origin

The judgement of Bishwanath Prasad Rachey Shyam v. Hindustan Metal Industries,

"The object of Patent Law is to encourage scientific research, new technology and
industrial progress. Grant of exclusive privilege to own, use or sell the method or the
product patented for a limited period, stimulates new inventions of commercial utility. The
price of the grant of the monopoly is the disclosure of the invention at the Patent Office,
which after the expiry of the fixed period of monopoly passes into public domain

objective of Patent law is twofold:

o To protect the interests of the individual- who has invested time, money, effort,
skill, intellect in order to make the invention. The law achieves this objective by
way of granting the inventor the exclusive right to exclusive control over use of this
patented invention.
o To protect the interests of society- so that inventors do not keep their inventions
secret due to fear of theft or misappropriation and owing to this disclosure the
entire society benefits from accessibility and use of such invention,

C SIGNIFICANCE OF PATENT
Reward of monopoly rights to inventor simulates him more and more in the field of
research and technology development. Research and development in the field of industrial
enterprise are the key factors for economic prosperity of a nation. Superiority and
prosperity of U.S.A. in all the sphere of technological and industrial area can be attributed
to its strong and vibrant patent regime. Value of patent system has now been realized at
global level. In India, the patent law has been suitably modified to bring it in tune with
TRIPs requirements.

D. General principles applicable to working of patent

Section 83 of the Patent Act very succinctly narrates the aims and objects of grant of
patent. Further, the law presumes that the patented invention will be exploited for the
benefit of general public and the Central
Government is entitled to take suitable measures these statutory presumptions are as
follows :
1. that patents are granted to encourage inventions and to secure that the inventions
work in India on a commercial scale and to the fullest extent that is reasonably
practicable without undue delay;
2. that they are not granted merely to enable patentees to enjoy a monopoly for the
importation of the patented article;
 3. that the protection and enforcement of patent rights contribute to the promotion of
technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the
mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a
manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and
obligations;
4. that patents granted do not impede protection of public health and nutrition and
should act as instrument to promote public interest specially in sectors of vital
importance for socio-economic and technological development of India;
5. that patents granted do not in any way prohibit Central Government in taking
measures to protect public health;

E. DEFINITIONS
The word patent has been derived from Latin word patere which literally means to lay
open?: In this case to lay open the invention for inspection to the general public. The
antonym of the word patent is the term-latent- which means hidden.
According to WIPO, "A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a
product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a
new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the
invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application. "1
According to Investopedia, "A patent is the granting of a property right by a sovereign
authority to an inventor. This grant provides the inventor exclusive rights to the patented
process, design, or invention for a designated period in exchange for a comprehensive
disclosure of the invention. They are a form of incorporeal right. Government agencies
typically handle and approve applications for patents. In the United States, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO), which is part of the Department of Commerce, handles
applications and grants approvals."2
In accordance with Section 5, Article 27 of Agreement on TRIPS,1995; a patent is a right
that is available for any inventions whether product or process, in all fields of technology,
provided that it is new, involves an inventive step and capable of industrial application.
So patent include
o A set of exclusive rights
o Granted by the State or the Government
o To the Patentee
o For a fixed period of time, i.e. 20 years

As give and take or quid pro quo or in return for- his (the patente ) public disclosure of
information of invention.

Look but don't Touch!!

This disclosure only denotes that the information is available for the public to see or
inspect. But despite being in possession of the information regarding details of invention-
the public cannot use it (till the term of patent runs out). This disclosure is highly regulated
in nature. The best way to describe this would be - 100k but don't touch!! The public can
look at the information but cannot use that information to make the patented device. If
they want to make use of the patented information to make the end product or use the
process- they have to take the permission of the patentee because the law of patent has
granted him a monopoly as a REWARD for his DISCLOSURE.

Monopoly over the patent is the reward of the inventor, as stated in-Telemecanique &
Controls V. Schneider Electric Industries', in the following words:

"It has to be appreciated that undoubtedly patent creates a statutory monopoly protecting
the patentee against any unlicensed user of the patented device. Thus once a violation is
established in case of a registered patent, subject of course, to the patent being used, it
will not be permissible to contend that the said patentee is not entitled to an injunction. A
monopoly of the patent is the reward of the inventor."

John Lord Hinde v. Osborne Garrett, and Co

"He has invented something, and he says, "I may keep it to myself," or, he says, "Well, I
will not keep it to myself, but I will give it to the public, but then I shall expect the public
to give me something in return," and the contract between the inventor and the public is
this -the inventor says, I ask you, the public, or rather I ask the Crown, to give me a
monopoly for a certain number of years, and in consideration of their giving me that
monopoly I will tell them in my specification the nature and manner of using the invention I
claim, and therefore at the expiration of the time which is guaranteed for my monopoly the
public will be the gainers because they will learn how to do this"

Everything in this world is give and take. This forms the foundation of all of our social
interaction . Then and the inter personal relations

Hon'ble Justice Prakash Narain has aptly stated that:

"The effect of the grant of a patent is quid pro quo.
• Quid is the knowledge disclosed to the public and
o quo is the monopoly granted for the term of the patent.

Section 12 of the Patents and Designs Act, 1911 sets out that a patent once granted
confers on the patentee the exclusive privilege of making, selling and using the invention
throughout India and of authorising others so to do. This is the quo. The quid is compliance
with the various provisions resulting in the grant of the patent."

F. DISCLOSURE
Patent system provides a judiciously tailored bargain that rewards an inventor in lieu of the
disclosure of his invention to the society- which
confers, for a limited period, an exclusive right upon the patentee to prevent third parties,
who do not have his consent, from the act of making, using, offering for sale, selling or
importing his invention. To induce an inventor to disclose his invention to the society, the
patent system of a country, in conformity with its public policy objectives, provides a
balancing mechanism wherein the public is benefitted from the disclosure and the inventor
is benefited from the exclusivity.
Hence disclosure is a very important aspect of patent application. And by disclosure- the
law means prope disclosure. In Press Metal Corporation Limited v. Noshir Sorabi
Pochkhanawalla it was held that -
"It is the duty of a patentee to state clearly and distinctly the nature and limits of what he
claims. If the language used by the patentee is obscure and ambiguous, no patent can be
granted, and it is immaterial whether the obscurity in the language is due to design or
carelessness or want of skill.

S DISCOVERY VS INVENTION

The law of Patent demarcates or differentiates between invention and discovery. At this
point this can be best explained by stating that invention is when you bring someone thing
new or novel into existence whereas discovery is when that particular thing was already in
existence only waiting to be discovered. This is why Issac Newton does not have a patent
for his law of gravity!!!

should you Patent your invention? YES!!!

Also it is pertinent to mention here that- unlike other forms of intellectual property like
Copyright or Trade Mark- which become the property of the maker or proprietor upon fixing
the work or using the TM respectively- Patent rights do not come into existence unless the
invention is patented. (Shining Industries y.
Shri Krishna). Also, if you are not keen to patent your invention and insist on working it by
keeping it a secret- you expose yourself to a huge risk which puts you in a very vulnerable
position of being left stranded- with no remedy in case your secret is leaked to the public!

Rights Granted by a Patent

The Act provides for patent protection for inventions relating to both processes and
products. In case of patents relating to product, the grant of patent provides

• exclusive right to prevent unauthorized persons from making, using, offering for sale,
selling or importing the product in India.

In case of patents relating to process, the patentee receives:

• an exclusive right to prevent unauthorized persons from using the process and offering
for sale, selling or importing for those purposes the product obtained directly from the
process in India. Product produced by the process is also protected.

RATIONALE BEHIND PATENT PROTECTION

Person patent his invention so that he is granted monopoly rights over it!! In exchange
for your monopoly- the law obligates you to disclose this information the public so that
duplication of effort is reduced or in some cases eliminated.
Now when others see that you are making money out of your intellectual work- it may
inspire or encourage others to follow suit. (some may work more out of jealousy or
envy !!!). And when more and more people are inspired to produce more patentable
inventions- it leads to an overall development of society and mankind. With the advent of
new inventions, the entire mankind takes a giant leap together towaras technological
advancement (Bentham's Utilitarian Theory).