Evergreening Of Patents

The origin of the modern statutory patent system is generally traced back to the Venetian Patent Statute of March 19, 1474 which stipulated that patents may be granted for "any new and ingenious device, not previously made" provided it was useful¹. Since then, it has been the fundamental principle of the law of patents that they be granted only for inventions which are new and useful. That is to say it must have novelty and utility. Such is also the position under Indian law².

As patents generally provide a lucrative monopoly over a product or a process, it is often in the best interest of an inventor to obtain a patent though they only have a limited life. In India the term of a patent only extends to 20 years from the date of filing an application for the patent³. Thus, many inventors are incentivised to find innovative and ingenious ways to obtain a new patent on the goods or processes which were previously patented. This process is commonly referred to as the