X Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a renowned pharmaceutical company engaged in producing new pharmaceutical drugs have developed a new drug applying the process of making, combing drugs of a chemical materials and a micro-organism

An invention is patentable subject matter if it meets the following criteria: It should be novel. It should have an inventive step or it must be non-obvious. It should be capable of Industrial application. It should not attract the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Patents Act, 1970. According to Section 2(1)(j) of the Patents Act, 1970 , an invention means a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application. According to Section 2(1)(ja) of the Patents Act, 1970 , an inventive step means a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both that makes the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art. An invention relating either to a product or process that is new, involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application can be patented. Pursuant to Section 3(d) of the Act , the mere use of a known process, machine or apparatus unless such known process results in a new product or employs at least one new reactant cannot be patented. In the present case, the process of making combination drugs of a chemical material and a micro-organism is a well-accepted process. Hence, the same process which X Pharmaceuticals Ltd. claims to have developed after years of research and development is really in use since long and cannot be said to have evolved a new process hitherto unknown to the pharmaceutical world since Y Instra Lab Pvt Ltd has developed the drug by following the same process and had already entered the market for quite a few months. Therefore, the process developed by X Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is not new and innovative.