An Indian scientist Dr. Mehta, working in a private research laboratory in India, developed a new chemical process for manufacturing a pharmaceutical compound. Dr. Mehta directly filed a patent application for the invent

Section 39 of the of the Patents Act, 1970 provides that no person resident in India shall, except under the authority of a written permit sought in the prescribed manner and granted by or on behalf of the Controller, make or cause to be made any application outside India for the grant of a patent for an invention unless an application for a patent for the same invention has been made in India, not less than six weeks before the application outside India and either no direction has been given under of section 35(1) in relation to the application in India, or all such directions have been revoked. In the present case, Dr. Mehta neither filed a patent application for the same invention in India and waited for the expiry of six weeks, nor obtained prior permission from the Controller of Patents to file the application abroad. Therefore, his action is contrary to the requirements of Section 39 of the Patents Act, 1970. Therefore, Dr. Mehta cannot validly file a patent application outside India without first filing in India or obtaining prior permission from the Controller, and his action is in violation of Section 39 of the Patents Act, 1970.