Proof of Progress: The Role of the Inventive Step/Non-obviousness Standard in the Indian Patent Office

Authors

Feroz Ali Khader
Srividhya Ragavan, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

5-2014

ISBN

9780199334278

DOI

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199334278.003.0018

Abstract

Though much has been written about the recent developments in Indian patent law, scholarship has not looked beyond the famed §3(d) and compulsory licensing. This chapter introduces a new protagonist in Indian patent law: the new standard of nonobviousness. The authors argue that the heightened standard operates as a more objective tool to measure the inherently subjective concept of nonobviousness. By requiring patent applicants to demonstrate technical advancement, the law mandates them to show technical superiority over the prior art, which the authors refer to as the “proof of progress” requirement. The new standard is explained and compared with the nonobviousness standard in the United States. Uniquely focusing on the grant opinions of the patent office involving pharmaceutical patent applications, the authors show how the new standard operates in practice.

First Page

571

Last Page

601

Num Pages

31

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Place

New York, NY

Editor

Ruth L. Okediji & Margo A. Bagley

Book Title

Patent Law in Global Perspective

Recommended Citation

Feroz A. Khader & Srividhya Ragavan, Proof of Progress: The Role of the Inventive Step/Non-obviousness Standard in the Indian Patent Office, in Patent Law in Global Perspective 571 (Ruth L. Okediji & Margo A. Bagley eds., 2014).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1059