Patent filings credit Bharat Biotech as ‘inventor’ of Covaxin, omit ICMR

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: IPR

Context:

In Rajya Sabha, Health Ministry had claimed that intellectual property over Covaxin is “jointly owned” by ICMR and Bharat Biotech

Key Highlights:

India’s first indigenously developed coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, was a joint collaboration between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) with intellectual property (IP) rights jointly shared between the two organizations.
Filings by the BBIL at patent offices in India, the United States and Europe suggest that only its scientists and personnel are credited as ‘inventors’ of the vaccine with no mention of ICMR scientists.
The Minister’s statement said the ICMR would provide a “well characterized” virus strain for vaccine development, the BBIL would develop the final vaccine formulation and be given a “non-exclusive” license granted to commercialize the product within two years.
The ICMR would also receive as royalty 5% of net sales to be remitted half-yearly.
It was explicitly mentioned that the “..intellectual property over the product would be jointly owned by the ICMR and the BBIL.” The ICMR would also receive as royalty 5% of net sales to be remitted half-yearly.

Indian patent act 1970:

The Patents Act, 1970 is the legislation that till date governs patents in India. It first came into force in 1972.
The Patents Act has been repeatedly amended: 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006.
These amendments were required to make the Patents Act TRIPS-compliant.
The major amendment was in 2005, when product patents were extended to all fields of technology like food, drugs, chemicals and microorganisms.
The Indian Patent Act, 1970 strikes a balance between the rights of the applicant and his obligation to the society granting the rights.