BIOTECHNOLOGICAL PATENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA - SOME POLICY ISSUES

Biotechnological innovations are likely to be responsible for the next phase of Industrial Revolution. Patenting of Biotechnological (BT) innovations has, therefore, been a very keenly debated issue by industry on one side and the consumer interest groups on the other. The scientific workers have been yet another group of persons involved in this debate having divergent viewpoint. The problems with patenting biotech innovations have been analyzed here with broadly two standpoints, one concerning the technical problems of such patenting, and the other regarding the interest of concerned groups as perceived by the likely impact of these patents. The Indian Patents Act 1970 had broadly opposed product patents to BT innovations. Product patents to plant and animal varieties are not allowed in patent acts of many other countries also. A detailed analysis is presented of the factors influencing BT patenting and their likely impacts on countries like India. It is argued why product patenting of BT inventions should not be allowed in India at this stage.