Rights of Patentee

Under the prevailing Indian Patents Act, 1970, a patentee has the right (Section-48) to exclude others from making, using, or selling a patented invention. The patentee may choose to obtain sole benefit of the patent by withholding the practice of the invention from others or may license one or more parties to practice the invention. In the latter case, the patentee may or may not opt to retain rights to practice the invention as well. The patentee's rights, however, are not unlimited.

The patentee can enjoy the right for 20 years from the date on which the patent application has filed. However, the patentee is liable to practice his patented product or process within the Indian territory and the patentee will ensure that the patented product or process is being accessed sufficiently by the common public in affordable price. 

There is a common misconception that a patentee gets monopoly right from the Government when his application is matured into patent. However, a patent does not provide a monopoly right to the patentee; rather, it provides a right to keep others from making, using, and selling the patented invention till the end of its term. Thus the patent awarded to the patent applicant, can be assumed as a “negative right”.

If a patent is granted to two or more inventors, each of those inventors is entitled equal share in the patent. The right given by the Government in exchange of disclosure of the invention, can be sold, assigned, or can be licensed to third party (Section-70). However, if a patent is granted in the name of two or more person, a license will not be granted or a share in the patent will not be assigned by one of the persons without prior consent of all other persons. In case a patented article is sold by one of the persons/patentee, the purchaser and any person authorized by him shall be entitled to deal with the particle in the same manner as if the article had been sold by a sole patentee.