ABSTRACT
Patent protection in India is governed by the Patents Act 1970, which was subsequently amended in 1999, 2002 and 2005. The present legislation, Patents Act 2005, was enacted in order to comply with the minimum protection standards prescribed by the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. India was compelled to amend its Patent Act in 2005 in order to incorporate the TRIPS Agreement into its domestic legislation, after the ten-year transitional period provided by TRIPS expired. Patent law was first imposed in India in 1856 during the colonial era by the British, based on its Patent Statute 1852. Against a backdrop of international patent rights harmonisation, India has been very assertive when upholding the principle of the ‘right to health’. To challenge a patent grant, pre-grant and post-grant opposition are the two available procedures provided by India’s patent legislation.
