{"id":34954,"date":"2021-08-27T11:58:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T06:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/?p=34954"},"modified":"2021-10-22T15:38:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T10:08:39","slug":"patent-ever-greening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/patent-ever-greening\/","title":{"rendered":"Overview of Patent Ever-greening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">A patent\nis a set of monopoly right that a Sovereign State grants to an inventor or the\nassignee for a fixed time period in exchange for the patentee to permit public\ndisclosure of his new, useful and non-obvious product or process invention. The\npurpose of providing exclusive right to the patentee is to prevent others from\nusing, making, distributing or selling the patented invention without consent. Patent\nEver-greening is a legal, corporate and technological business strategy for\nextending the time period of the term of the granted patent which is about to\nexpire. So, continue to read further to get an overview of Patent Ever-greening\nfrom this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">Page Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/patent-ever-greening\/#What_is_Patent_Ever-greening\" >What is Patent Ever-greening?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/patent-ever-greening\/#What_is_the_purpose_of_Patent_Ever-greening\" >What is the purpose of Patent Ever-greening?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/patent-ever-greening\/#Patent_Evergreen_in_India\" >Patent Evergreen in India<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/patent-ever-greening\/#A_Balance_approach_between_Patents_and_the_Patients\" >A Balance approach between Patents and the Patients<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/patent-ever-greening\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Patent_Ever-greening\"><\/span>What is Patent Ever-greening?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Patent ever-greening is potentially a term usually referring about the strategy to obtain multiple <a href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/patent-registration\"><strong>patent Registration<\/strong><\/a> that will cover various aspects of the same product, normally by procuring patents on enhanced version of an existing product. In simple words, patent ever-greening means&nbsp;gaining more advantages for a longer time period.&nbsp; Patents are granted for a maximum time period of 20 years and after its expiry period the invention goes into the public domain which makes it free for manufacture, use, import or sell. Though, sometimes the patentee\u2019s mostly the pharmaceutical companies often tries to extend this exclusive right beyond the fixed time period of 20 years. These companies make trivial variation to the existing patented invention as soon as the time period of the patent is about to end and then file for a new patent with the objective to extend their monopoly and maintain the market dominance this is known as Patent Ever-greening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-left\"><b>Read our article<\/b>:<mark style=\"background: #fffd03 !important;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/process-of-patent-registration-india\/\">Detailed Process of Patent Registration in India <\/a><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Let&#8217;s understand Patent Ever-greening with an example:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suppose\na patentee&nbsp;is granted an ordinary patent&nbsp;<strong>&#8220;A&#8221;<\/strong>&nbsp;for\nhis invention in India which was filed in the year 2020. So, the granted patent\n&#8220;<strong>A<\/strong>&#8221; will expire in 2040. Now, the patentee can make a minor\nmodification in patent &#8220;<strong>A<\/strong>&#8221; in the invention and can file a new\nordinary patent &#8220;<strong>B<\/strong>&#8221; application in India in the year 2039\nbefore the expiration of patent &#8220;<strong>A<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_purpose_of_Patent_Ever-greening\"><\/span>What is the purpose of Patent Ever-greening?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The pharmaceutical\nfirms practice patent ever-greening whereby they extend the drug\u2019s patent life\nby obtaining further 20-year patents for minor modification or other reformulation\nof the drug, without essentially increasing its therapeutic efficacy. The\npurpose behind this is as given below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The patent owner wants to make use of the law and other regulatory process to extend the high earning rent from the exclusive intellectual privileges.<\/li><li>To maintain the market dominance.<\/li><li>To extend the life of the patent beyond 20 years to reap more benefits.<\/li><li>The drug becomes generic after losing its patent and the cost of the drug lowers down to 80%, which does not serve the interest of the pharmaceutical companies, hence they resort to various means like patent ever-greening method to have the control over the patents.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It is\nimportant to have check on the patent ever-greening as these pharma companies\nmisuse it and it acts against the interest of the public as because these drugs\nbecome costlier and difficult for the general public to afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Patent_Evergreen_in_India\"><\/span>Patent Evergreen in India<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once\nthe patent expires, the generic product gets available in the marketplace. With\nall these generic products from various companies, it sets in the competition\nin the market. This automatically results in the falling down of the price of\nthe product. Hence, Patent ever-greening does not allow the price of a product\nto lower down due to the reason of extension of the monopoly of the patentee&#8217;s\ninvention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Section\n3(d) of the Patent Act, 1970<\/strong>&nbsp;states that on simple discovery of any new form of the known substance where the\noutcome is not resulting in improvement of the known efficiency&nbsp;of that substance or the&nbsp;simple discovery\nof any novel property&nbsp;or fresh\nuse for any known substance or of the utilization\nof any known process, apparatus or machine unless the consequence of that\nknown process gives the outcome to a new product or employs at least one new\nreactant will not be patentable under the Indian Patent Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Section\n3 (d) in the Patent Act is incorporated with the purpose to initiate the opposition\nto the ever-greening of the patents. Hence, it is not easy to obtain the\never-greening of patents in India in contrast to other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the\nother hand, the affirmative aspect of blocking the patent ever-greening is that\nit will bring relief for all the poor patients who are dependent on the various\nlife-saving drugs. It also assists in maintaining the price of these essential\ndrugs which must be within the reach of common people in all the underdeveloped\nand developing countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Balance_approach_between_Patents_and_the_Patients\"><\/span>A Balance approach between Patents and the Patients <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Just knowing the problems caused by the stringent patent laws or Patent ever-greening is not enough because it is equally imperative to lay down a solution for this problem. The need is to make a balanced approach between the patent laws and its extension while at the same time keeping a low price for the patented drugs, so as to make it affordable for the common people of India to avail the essential drugs. The ways that are helpful in reducing the price of patented drugs are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"998\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/A-Balance-approach-between-Patents-and-the-Patients.png\" alt=\"A Balance approach between Patents and the Patients \" class=\"wp-image-34993\" srcset=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/A-Balance-approach-between-Patents-and-the-Patients.png 998w, https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/A-Balance-approach-between-Patents-and-the-Patients-300x155.png 300w, https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/A-Balance-approach-between-Patents-and-the-Patients-768x396.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 998px) 100vw, 998px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Compulsory\nLicensing<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The non-patent\nholders are granted the permission to manufacture that drug by providing them\nwith the compulsory licensing. In this manner, the prices of these drugs even\non being patented are still maintained low and they are even available and affordable\nfor the poor section of the general public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Mutual\nBenefit Programs<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The government is supposed to make sure that proper health care is made available to every section of the society. As in India there are serious problems like inadequate healthcare facilities and low income. The ordinary man has very restricted access to the basic essential drugs and patent of the drugs is not even an important matter. Even if the patent of the drug is not there, still the chances of access to such essential drugs is very less. Therefore, the <em><strong>government<\/strong><\/em><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Government\"><em><strong>[1]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/sup> must ensure access to the basic health facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Patent ever-greening stimulates the development of an unfair means of competition in the market and such other related abuses. There is an urgent need for the developing countries to foster and develop efficient mechanism to counter the ever-greening practices of the innovators. As because it is equally important to encourage the innovation for the big companies and at the same time respect the efforts of the generic companies so that an equal balanced approach is taken that shall be beneficial for the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"text-left\"><b>Read our article<\/b>:<mark style=\"background: #fffd03 !important;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/benefits-of-the-patent-registration-in-india\/\">5 Remarkable Benefits of the Patent Registration in India <\/a><\/mark><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A patent is a set of monopoly right that a Sovereign State grants to an inventor or the assignee for a fixed time period in exchange for the patentee to permit public disclosure of his new, useful and non-obvious product or process invention. The purpose of providing exclusive right to the patentee is to prevent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":34992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[282],"tags":[1935],"acf":{"service_id":"20"},"authorName":"Kandarp Vanita","authorImageUrl":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/image_2021_02_01T09_09_44_024Z.png","authorDescription":"Kandarp Vanita has done masters in Corporate and Commercial Law from WB National University of Juridical Sciences. She has 3 yrs of experience in drafting legal documents &amp; dissertations. Being a curious reader, she is also passionately into providing legal backups and comprehensive understandings in every aspect of Law to the firms.","postViews":3993,"readingTime":4,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34954"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36559,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34954\/revisions\/36559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}