Patent Facilitating Cell Department of Biotechnology Government of India

Biotechnology Patent Facilitating Cell (BPFC) 

Intellectual property protection plays an important role in gaining advantageous position in the competitive game for economic growth. India enjoys a large asset of R&D personnel and infrastructure facilities. Scientists and policy makers need information and facilities for protecting the products of intellectual power of Indian Scientists. As a step in this direction, a Biotechnology Patent Facilitation Cell was established by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in July’1999.   Biotechnology Patent Facilitating Cell, a single window awareness -cum - facilitation mechanism, established under Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, aims to create awareness and understanding about Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) among scientists and researchers, by arranging workshops, seminars, conferences, etc. at all levels and for introducing patent information as a vital input in the process of formulation of R&D programmes in biotechnology and providing patenting facilities to biotechnologists in the country, for filing Indian and foreign patents on a continuous basis.    Objectives  BPFC has been established with the following objectives: Creating awareness and understanding among biologists and biotechnologists, relating to patents and the challenges and opportunities in this area including arranging workshops, seminars, conference, etc., at all levels. Introducing patent information as a vital input in the process of promotion of R&D programmes in biotechnology and biology. Providing patenting facilities to biologists and biotechnologists in the country for filing Indian and foreign patents on a sustained basis. Keeping a watch on development in the area of IPR and make important issues known to policy makers, bio-scientists, biotech industry, etc. Achievements  During few years of its existence, BPFC has carved out a unique identity of its own among the biologists and biotechnologists in the country; with several achievements in the field of technology development in the Indian context. BPFC has facilitated filing more than 100 Indian and international patent applications out of which more than 10 patents have been granted. BPFC now look forward to Industry for taking up of these technologies to the market and to the consumers. Patents Granted so far Inventor Title of Invention International Patents Dr. Asis Datta,SLS, JNU Seed storage protein with nutritionally balanced amino composition. (3 US Patents) Dr. Rup Lal Department of Zoology, University of Delhi A Process for development of cloning vectors. (2 Patents, Europe, USA) Dr. Debi P. Sarkar Delhi University South Campus A targeted drug delivery carrier (1 Patent, USA) A Process for Producing a targeted gene for drug delivery carrier(1 Patent, USA) Prof. A. N. Maitra, Deptt. Of Chemistry University of Delhi,' Particles of below 109 mm highly mono-disposed drug loaded… medical systems (1 Patent, USA) Indian Patents Dr. Padma Sridhar Department of Microbiology Osmania University Hyderabad       Process of producing Cephamycin-C by Solid state formation Process for continuous production of Cephamycin-C by fermation. Process of producing Cephamycin-C by submerged batch fermentation (3 Patents) Dr. Rekha Hari Das, CBT, Mall Road, Near Jubilee Hall Process for Preparing transfer vector PCTB1 to PCTB4 for the purpose of expressing proteins for commercial use (1 Patent)   Awareness Creation Series of national roving seminars are organized on “Patenting in Biotechnology” and “IPR in Biotechnology” at various institutions and universities around the country, in collaboration with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, to enhance the awareness of the scientists about the inventions, process of patenting, issues in IPR in biotechnology and the strategic importance of the IPR in post-GATT era. Training of Scientists In order to promote basic understanding of patents and other IPR-related issues among the Indian scientists, and to analyze issues in the area of patenting in biotechnology, department has initiated one-week refresher courses on IPR in biotechnology for officers and scientists at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore which will be held four times in a year.  The four such courses were held during the last financial year. Through these training programmes it is intended to create awareness about the need for protection of intellectual property generated by the scientists in biotechnology and its identification, utilization, IPR regime in the country and outside, the procedures and nuances of writing patent documents with description and claims and issues associated with the protection of live forms, international patenting, product patents etc. Facilities High speed LAN based Internet connection for online patent searches using international databases, using the support services of the Biotechnology Information Centre (BTIC) at DBT, including CD-ROM based databases. Mechanism for obtaining full patent documents and patent searching elsewhere. Expert Advisory committee for advice on Patent ability of inventions and related issues. Panel of patent attorneys from all over the country to help BPFC in patenting activities. Panel of expert faculty for workshops and training programmes for creating awareness among the scientists. All applications will be received on prescribed format only,  Which can be downloaded in thePDF format or as an  MSWORD  file. For further information and your requirements contact: The Programme Officer Biotechnology Patent Facilitating CellDepartment of Biotechnology Block II, 7th Floor, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110 003 E-mail : bpfc[at]dbtdotnicdotin

Indian Patents in Biotechnology

Patenting activity in India in the area of biotechnology (BT) is captured in this section. Data from the Indian Patent Office (IPO) journal formed the base for a descriptive analysis of patenting in Biotechnology during 2001-07. The data of patents published are identified to be falling under Biotechnology using the 1PC codes, which were selected by OECD in 2004. The data for 2004 was not available in the database referred above and hence not included in the present analysis. 

Number of domestic patents in Biotechnology has increased from 126 during 2001-03 to 181 during 2005-07. The BT patents by domestic applications were more (~ 3 times) than patents by foreign applicants during 2001-03. The trend reversed during 2005-07 when BT patents by Indians formed only 12 of all the patents.

Of the total patents, 77% come from the private applicants, while public research institutions contribute a mere 19%. Remaining 4% patents are applied for by individuals and nonprofit organizations. The countries that contribute in a big way, together, have a share of 80% of all patents published in BT during the period under study. Of these top five countries (USA, India, Germany, UK and Denmark) have 73% contribution. When the contributions from Switzerland and the Netherlands are added to the contribution by the top five countries, 81% of patents in BT are covered.

During 2001-07 the largest and most consistent contributor from India is CSIR. The trend of Indian applicants is presented in Figure 4. There is an increase in the number of applicants from India in this period. Increased interest of Indian companies in going for patents becomes evident when figures for 2005-07 are compared to those for 2001-03.

Codes based distribution of patents published during 2001-07 shows that there is an increase in the number of patents that come under the IPC codes A61K. The codes C07K, C12Q have made significant and consistent appearance in the period 2005-07. This would mean that production related patents have increased in 2005-07. This corroborates with the observation that during this period more private industry applicants have applied for patents with Indian patent office (IPO).

Based on the major codes of IPC relevant for Biotechnology (The list and description is available in Annexure) we find that the focus is more in A61k, C07k, C12N and C12Q. There is a slight shift in the focus from 90’s during 2000’s. A61K which was very prominent and the only specialization of focus during the 90’s became less prominent during 2000 and its place was occupied by C12N, C12Q and C07K (figure 5) [The data for 90’s is taken from earlier study of NISTADS].

Focus in terms of application in various areas like agriculture, industrial enzymes, healthcare and environment during 90’s and 2000 has shown that environmental BT patents (C20F) are very few and the importance given has not changed in the two periods. Health care BT patents, indicated by A61K, C07K, C12N, C12Q, G01N have been in focus. Though there is a change in their performance between them and during 90’s and 2000’s-prominence of codes C12N, C12, C12M, C12S indicate focus on Industrial BT involving enzymes. Of these C12S could also indicate healthcare related products; focus on this area has also increased nominally.  The codes indicating AO1H (Agriculture process of obtaining new plants and modifying genotypes) have not increased from the 90’s.

From this trend it appears, Indian institutions as well as foreign applicants feel that there is a larger opportunity for health care BT related patents to be worked in India compared to industrial BT or Agri-biotechnology. Environmental Biotechnology does not seem to be in focus for applicants from India or abroad.

Patenting activity in India in BT has increased since the 90’s and significant increase in the number of patents has been observed during 2005-07. Patenting activity by a number of countries from outside India plays a dominant role, accounting for ~70% of BT patents. Then there is an increase in patent activity by Indian private sector as well. Significant increase in number of institutions, both private and public, from foreign countries has also been observed. The focus of patenting activity seems to be healthcare, followed by Industrial enzymes. Low level patenting activity is observed in the area of agriculture and environment.

Ref: http://www.nistads.res.in/indiasnt2008/t5output/t5out12.htm