COMPULSORY LICENSING

Subject : Economy

Context : Kerala High Court seeks Centre’s response to invoke compulsory licensing of Covid vaccines.

Concept :

A compulsory licence is a licence or authorisation issued by the government to an applicant for making, using and selling a patented product or employing a patented process without the consent of the patentee.
Chapter XVI of the Indian Patents Act 1970 and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights discuss compulsory licensing.
The application for compulsory license can be made any time after 3 years from date of sealing of a patent.

The following conditions should be fulfilled by the applicant:

Reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the patented invention have not been satisfied;
Patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price.
Patented invention is not used in India.
Additionally, according to Section 92 of the Act, compulsory licenses can also be issued suomotu by the Controller of Patents pursuant to a notification issued by the Central Government if there is either a “national emergency” or “extreme urgency” or in cases of “public non-commercial use”.

When was the first license issued?

India’s first ever compulsory license was granted by the Patent Office on March 9, 2012, to Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma for the production of generic version of Bayer’s Nexavar, an anti-cancer agent used in the treatment of liver and kidney cancer.