IPR I
LL.M. · 9 topics in 4 units
Unit I 2 topics
- Theories and Justifications of Intellectual PropertyWhy the law grants exclusive rights over ideas: Locke's labour theory, Hegel's personality theory, utilitarian incentive theory and social planning, the economics of public goods, and the critiques of Boyle, Drahos and the anticommons, applied to Indian law.8 min
- History of Patents and Intellectual PropertyFrom royal letters patent and the Venetian statute of 1474 through the Statute of Monopolies 1624, the industrial-age statutes and the Paris and Berne Conventions, to Indian patent law from Act VI of 1856, the 1911 Act and the Ayyangar Report to the Patents Act 1970 and its TRIPS amendments.7 min
Unit II 3 topics
- Invention and Patent: Meaning and DistinctionWhat the law counts as an invention under section 2(1)(j) of the Patents Act, how it differs from a discovery and from the patent granted over it, the three tests of novelty, inventive step and industrial application, the section 3 exclusions, and the comparative position in the UK, US and EPC.7 min
- Inventive Step and Non-ObviousnessSection 2(1)(ja) of the Patents Act and its technical advance and economic significance limbs, the person skilled in the art, the Indian tests from Biswanath Prasad to Roche v. Cipla, and the comparative tests: Windsurfing and Pozzoli in the UK, Graham and KSR in the US, and the EPO problem-solution approach.6 min
- Salient Features of the Patents Act, 1970The architecture of the Indian patent statute after the 1999, 2002 and 2005 amendments and the 2024 Rules: patentability and section 3, procedure and the two oppositions, rights and term, working and compulsory licences, government use, the Bolar and parallel import exceptions, revocation and the post-IPAB appeal route.6 min
Unit III 2 topics
- The Paris Convention and Industrial PropertyThe Paris Convention of 1883 as the first multilateral IP treaty: its subject matter, national treatment, the right of priority, independence of patents and marks, compulsory licences for non-working, well-known marks, unfair competition, the special agreements built on it (PCT, Madrid, Hague, Lisbon), its incorporation into TRIPS, and its effect in Indian law.7 min
- The TRIPS Agreement: Principles and Minimum StandardsHow IP entered the GATT Uruguay Round, the seven parts of TRIPS, its basic principles (minimum standards, national treatment, MFN, exhaustion, objectives and principles in Articles 7 and 8), the minimum standards for each right, enforcement, dispute settlement and transition periods, and the India Mailbox dispute that forced India's amendments.7 min
Unit IV 2 topics
- IP, Development and Access to MedicinesThe North-South debate on IP and development, the TRIPS flexibilities, the Doha Declaration of 2001, the paragraph 6 system and Article 31bis, the COVID-19 waiver and the 2022 Ministerial Decision, TRIPS-plus pressure through FTAs and Special 301, the WIPO Development Agenda, and India's role as pharmacy of the developing world through section 3(d), compulsory licensing and the right to health.6 min
- Enforcement of Intellectual Property RightsPart III of TRIPS on enforcement, and the Indian system: civil remedies and interim injunctions, Anton Piller and John Doe orders, dynamic injunctions against piracy sites, damages, criminal remedies under the trade mark and copyright statutes, border measures, the Commercial Courts Act, and adjudication after the abolition of the IPAB.7 min