ABSTRACT
As given in the list of patents in Appendix 1 of this chapter, Indian workers were the first to isolate neem bitters in 1945-46 and they got patents for these, but the patents could not be effectively utilized by the industry because no product which might have good demand could be developed from these bitters. Later on, the insecticidal value of neem was observed by Indian scientists but they were not granted a patent for their discovery, because of the common use and common knowledge clause in the Indian Patent Act. The Indian Central Insecticides Board did not register neem products under the Insecticide Act 1968 (Vijayalakshmi et al., 1995). In England and Japan, a few bodycare products with neem as an ingredient were patented.
