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19. Provision to have an informal discussion with 24. Clarification of India’s official stand on the
the Examiner to avoid hearings or to reduce the Patent Prosecution Highway.
scope of hearings.
25. Clarification on the modus operandi of request
20. Relaxing the large entity status of Universities for extension of time to file reply to First
which may pose a financial burden on them for Examination Report, that is, can extension
obtaining a patent. be sought for one month at a time or is the
Applicant under an obligation to seek extension
21. Constitution of an Opposition Division for for three months at once.
dealing with oppositions pending at the Patent
Office for a long time and appointment of legally 26. Retrieval and processing of requests filed
qualified members to said Division to help physically before the implementation of the
appreciate legal nuances better. electronic module.
22. Indexing and classification of documents 27. Discontinuing the fees charged for change in
uploaded on the website of the Patent Office. address for service in India in accordance with
the practice followed in a number of Patent
23. Ensuring timely receipt of certified copies. Offices globally.
NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY ACT: ISSUES AND
RECOMMENDATIONSn furtherance to the IP stakeholders’ meeting It is critical that the NBA sticks to the 90 days’
timeline. This is because Section 6 of the BD Act
which was held on 14th December 2016 at prohibits a person using biological material from
India to file an application outside India without
IUdyog Bhawan, New Delhi, Anand and Anand seeking permission of the NBA. However, if a patent
application is filed, permission from the NBA should
was requested by the Government to make a be sought before grant. Patent applications are time
short note on the National Biodiversity Authority bound under the PCT and the Paris Convention.
(NBA) related patenting issues along with Therefore, even though an application may be filed
recommendations. The note is being reproduced outside India under the PCT or Paris Convention,
below for the purpose of dissemination of the application may end up getting granted outside
information and awareness of patenting issues in India even before permission from the NBA has
relation to NBA. been obtained.
DELAYS - COLLABORATION OF
NBA AND PATENT OFFICE
LEGAL POSITION ISSUE
Under Section 6 of the Biodiversity Act, 2002 The NBA is taking close to 7 years to grant
(BD Act), the NBA is required to dispose of an approval/ permission under Section 6 of the Bio
application for permission to apply and be granted Diversity Act, 2002.
an IP right for inventions using biological material
from India within a period of 90 days from the
date of receipt of the application seeking such a
permission.
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