Pre-Grant and Post Grant Opposition

A generic medicine maker in Hyderabad hears that a multinational has applied for a patent on a pill its patients depend on. A patent would block cheaper versions for twenty years. Can the Hyderabad company, or an NGO for patients, or a student researcher, say to the patent office, do not grant it? And if the patent is already granted, is it too late? The Patents Act gives two doors: one before grant, open to anyone, and one after grant, open for a limited time to a person interested.

In two minutes

Section 25 allows any person to file a representation opposing the grant of a patent after the application is published but before grant (pre-grant), and any person interested to give notice of opposition within one year of publication of grant (post-grant), on the listed grounds only.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Intellectual Property Laws on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.