Patenting Nanotechnology: Obstacles for the Law

The Indian patent system, which dates back to 1856, has developed into one of the most effective systems of the modern period. The current Indian Patent Act, which has seen some remodelling and revisions since its beginning, presently stands as almost meeting all standards imposed by the globalised patent regimes, as reflected in the TRIPS mandate as well as the Patent Co-operation Treaty, 1970. Any brand-new and practical invention is protected by a patent.

The core of the Patents Act is found in the requirements that must be met before an invention may be given a patent. The invention must be original, have an inventive element, and have some potential for industrial use.

The Indian Patent Act covers a variety of minor matters, including the filing of applications, drafting of provisional and complete specifications, resolving infringement complaints, granting of mandatory directions, issuing of secrecy instructions, and revoking of patents.

In exchange for complete public disclosure of your innovation, patents grant you the sole authority to bar anyone from producing, commercialising, utilising, or importing a certain good or service. Contrarily, trade secrets are methods, procedures, or other business knowledge that a company makes a reasonable attempt to keep secret and that derives its commercial worth from being kept that way. Google's search algorithm and the additives in Coco-Cola are two well-known examples.

The laws governing patents and trade secrets have fundamentally distinct social functions; while trade secrets protect people or businesses from theft and encourage confidentiality, patent laws primarily encourage the sharing of information. Comparatively speaking to patents, trade secret law has developed more slowly.

Technology has undergone an operational transformation at the same time as society. As additional paths open up, science consistently puts obstacles in the way of the law as each new mechanism raps on the doors of the intellectual property system in search of protection. The Indian Patent system frequently has grey areas when it comes to protecting some of these innovations. The field of nanotechnology is one such route that has caused a lot of controversy. Nanotechnology is distinctive because it employs a technique that is different from that of conventional kinds of technology. The top down technique, which divides larger blocks into smaller ones, is used in the majority of top down manufacturing processes.

Scientists and patent offices have long struggled to come up with a clear and consistent meaning of the terms "nanotechnology" and "nano-scale." The absence of a consistent definition has effects on patent search, classification, and trend monitoring. It increases the chance that pertinent previous art may go unnoticed and raises questions about how "nanoscale" might be understood by a person with ordinary skill in the field, which is one of the standards used to determine patentability.

It increases the chance that a nanotechnology patent will be revoked and that patents that overlap or clash with one another may be issued.

The employment of complex and pricey microscopy methods and apparatus is the only way to ascertain whether a marketed final product violates a nanotechnology patent. Beyond the reach of most outfits' purses is the analysis of every questionable goods.

Moreover, even if misuse is discovered, it might be challenging to establish a legal basis for an infringement case because much of the present nanotechnology research is protected behind closed doors in corporate research centres and university laboratories.

These elements run the risk of eroding the main justification for patent disclosure, namely the desire to acquire an exclusive monopoly over the use and sale of an invention.