Ever-Greening Of Patents: An Introductory Brief

Ever-greening of patent, as the name suggests, is a corporate, legal, business, and technological strategy for extending / elongating the term of a granted patent in a jurisdiction that is about to expire, in order to retain royalties from them, by taking out new patents.

A patent is a monopoly right given exclusively to an inventor for a limited period of time in return of his/her disclosure of an invention that is a new, nonobvious, and useful product and/or process.

In India, patents are granted for a maximum term of 20 years (provided it is maintained by paying annuity fees). After the expiry of the patent, the invention goes into the public domain which is free for use, manufacture, sell, or import. However, sometimes the patentees (mostly pharmaceutical companies) attempt to extend this monopoly right beyond the limited period of 20 years. When the term of the patent is about to end, these companies make trivial /insignificant variations to the