Patents in Indian Fisheries Sector  Patents in Indian Fisheries Sector  Living things generally do not qualify for being granted with patents.  If it is altered by some means, say through biotechnological means, then they are considered, ‘new’ and “non-obvious things” and become patentable.  Fisheries sector could be protected with one or more intellectual Property Rights (IPRS) like breeders rights, patents, trademarks, geographic appellations, copy right, industrial designs, etc.

 Ninan and Sharma (2006) analysed the fisheries patents granted during the period 1913 to The salient features of this study are given below: *The number of patents granted in fisheries is relatively less *Patents for innovations in fisheries for Indian applicants is less than that of foreign applicants. *Aquaculture (31 patents) showed continuous granting of patent with one patent on an average per year for 87 years (1913 to 2000).

*Patenting in fish processing technology (83 patents) showed a steady increasing trend while in the case of fishing technology(37 patents) a declining trend was seen. *After the introduction of the Indian Patent Act 1970, about 3 patents per year on an average were granted. It rose to 6 per year in the post-WTO era ( ). *In the post-TRIPS era, the number of domestic applicants increased. *The study concluded that the “patent rights have not been exploited to the fullest extent in terms of enforcement and commercialization”.

Salient Features of Indian Patent (Amendment) Act  The Government of India brought out the Patents (Amendment) ordinance, 2004 to take care of issues relating to patent in the country. This ordinance was replaced by the Indian Patent (Amendent) Act,  India is under the obligation of introducing patent protection in food, chemicals and pharmacuaticals under the TRIPS agreement of the WTO with effect from  The new Act introduced some changes on the provisions of the Patents (Amendment)ordinance 2004 so as to address patent issues in the food, chemicals and pharmacauticals sectors.

Salient features of the Patents (Amendment) Bill 2005  The features in the Patents (Amendments) Bill, 2005 that are same as the provisions in the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004 are given below a)Extension of product patent protection to all fields of technology (i.e., drugs, foods and chemicals); b)Deletion of the provisions relating to Exclusive Marketing Rights(EMRs) (which would now become redundant), and introduction of a transitional provision for safeguarding EMRs already granted;

c) Introduction of a provision for enabling grant of compulsory licence for export of medicines to countries which have insufficient or no manufacturing capacity, to meet emergent public health situations (in accordance with the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health); d)Modification in the provisions relating to opposition procedures with a view to streamlining the system by having both Pre-grant and Post-grant opposition in the Patent Office;

e) Addition of a new proviso in respect of mailbox applications so that patent rights in respect of the mailbox shall be available only form the date of grant of patent, and not retrospectively from the date publication. f) Strengthening the provisions relating to national security to guard against patenting abroad of dual use technologies; g)Rationalisation of provisions relating to time-lines with a view to introducing flexibility and reducing the processing time for patent applications, and simplifying and rationalizing procedures.