The Controller General of Patents has recently published guidelines for the examination of ‘biotechnology patents’ under the Patents Act, 1970.
Comments and suggestions on these guidelines can be emailed to a.chakaraborti@nic.in of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks latest by January 11, 2013.
Intended to bring in uniform and consistent practice for the examination of biotech patents, the Indian Patent Office’s guidelines address issues relating to novelty, obviousness, industrial applicability, extent of disclosure and clarity in claims.
In addition, it also addresses issues relating to moral and ethical concerns, environmental safety, issues relating to patenting of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) of partial gene sequences, cloning of farm animals, stem cells, gene diagnostics, etc.
Link to the guidelines:
http://www.ipindia.nic.in/iponew/Draft_Biotech_Guideline_19December2012.pdf
Link to the public notice:
http://www.ipindia.nic.in/iponew/publicNotice_19December2012.pdf
EP News Bureau – Mumbai