Lok Sabha Question No. 4101 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-10
Subject: Patent of Ayurveda Formulation
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: PARASURAMAN K.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH)

LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO. 4101 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10 TH AUGUST, 2018

## PATENT OF AYURVEDA F ORMULATION

## 4101. SHRI K. PARASURAMAN:

Will  the  Minister of AYURVEDA,  YOGA  AND  NATUROPATHY,  UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether out of about 40000 formulations of Ayurveda, only 200 patents have been issu far by the Indian patent office;
- (b) if so, t he details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  initiated  any  plan  of  action  for  patenting  all  ayu formulations of the country and protect them; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (SHRI SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK)

- ( a) &( b) : Formulations of Ayurveda and traditional Indian medicines that are p the traditional knowledge of India cannot be granted patent in view of the pro Section 3 (p) of Patents Act, 1970 (as amended). Section 3 (p) s tates that an invention which,  in  effect,  is  traditional  knowledge  or  which  is  an  aggregation  or  dupl known  properties  of  traditionally  known  component  or  components,  is  not  pate under the Patents Act. Moreover, formulations of Ayurveda, be ing traditionally known and well documented in the literature and Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) , do not meet the criteria of patentability according to section 2(1) (j) of the P as such are not patentable. Patents are granted f or inventions in all field of technolog including  inventions  relating  to  new  formulations  based  on  herbal  and  plant - relate products or processes, which fulfill the criteria of patentability viz., novelty, and industrial applicability, as stipulated in Section 2 (1) (j) of the Patents Act.

Contd……

( c)  & ( d) : The  criteria  of  patentability  i.e.  novelty,  inventive  step  and applicability are followed uniformly across all the patent offices in the world. Patents granted by any country for products/processes, if they are already in public domai not  fulfill  the  patentability  criteria.  All  countries  have  mechanism  for  chal wrongly granted patent and invalidation of the same.  Government of India ha s established a defensive mechanism of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) for preve grant of patents to inventions based on traditional medicinal knowledge. TKDL is database of traditional formulations & interventions taken from th e literature of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga and presented in international patent classification form international languages. This database breaks the language and format barriers a traditional  medicinal  knowledge  accessible  and  sea rchable  to  patent  examiners  for establishing prior art. TKDL has been made accessible under non - disclosure agreement to various International Patent Offices across the world for prevention of wrong and revocation of patents based on traditional I ndian medicine.

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