A patent is a statutory privilege granted by the government to inventors and other persons deriving their rights for a fixed period of time, to exclude other persons from manufacturing or using and selling a patented product or from utilizing a patented method or process.
At the expiry of time for which the privilege is granted, patented invention becomes available to the general public or, as it is sometimes put, falls into the public domain.
The grant of patents is justified on the basis of two concepts: first, confirmation of invention as being the private property of inventor and, second, as a special grant of monopoly to encourage invention and industrial development.
It is a fact that every novel idea useful to the society belongs primarily to the person who conceives it and it would be a violation of human rights if an industrial invention were not regarded as the property of its inventor. Thus the patent laws for protection of rights do not create rights but only regulate them.
The right of the monopoly of the inventor on its invention is granted by the government in the public interest so as to encourage invention and to promote the economic development of the country of origin.
That is the reason that the grant of patent rights to the inventors is restricted to a fixed period of time after which its use becomes open to the public. For this purpose most of the governments place qualifications on the patent owner's exclusive privilege by compelling unused patents to be worked or licensed in the public interest.
The public interest theory has been further elaborated in a United Kingdom report on patents as follows: "the opportunity of acquiring exclusive rights in an invention stimulates technical progress, mainly in four ways: first, that it encourages research and invention; secondly, that it induces an inventor to disclose his discoveries instead of keeping them as trade secret; third, it offers a reward for the expense of developing inventions to the stage at which they are commercially practicable and; fourth, that it provides an inducement to invest capitals in new lines of production which might not appear profitable if many competing producers embarked on them simultaneously. The history of industrial development seems on the whole to have justified this theory."
An official Indian Report on the Revision of the Patent Laws 1949, emphasizes the role of patents in the economy of a country like this: "Patent systems are not created in the interest of the inventor but in the interest of the national economy. The rules and regulations of the patent systems are not governed by the civil or the common law but by political economy."
Thus in short it can be seen that the patent system, while creating and delimiting inventors' rights, takes full account of the social interest of encouraging invention as well as the interest of the buying public to enjoy the fruit of the invention upon fair and reasonable terms and the interest of the national government to accelerate and promote the economic development of the country.
Till 2001, patents rights, granted by a government to an invention, remained limited to the borders of the country, governed by its patent laws. Till then, there did not exist an international patent conferring any protection to the rights beyond the borders of individual country.
Thus primarily, patents remained territorially limited to the country of origin and, hence, separate applications had to be filed for protection of inventions in separate countries, conforming to the respective domestic legal requirements of individual countries.
Patents play important role in development of societies. Developed countries like the USA, Germany, Japan and UK are testimony of this fact. In the context of Pakistan, recognizing the importance of scientific and industrial research in the technological development and prosperity of the country, the PCSIR was established as an autonomous body in 1953.
The functions of the Council cover a wide range of activities generally directed towards the promotion and fostering of scientific research having a bearing on the industrial development of the country through efficient utilization of its natural resources.
In developing countries like ours, research results remain futile unless applied for economic development of the country. Hence, to effectively cope with the application of research results to industry, PCSIR has adopted a two-way practical approach.
On one hand, pilot plant investigations and industrial feasibility studies of the developed processes are undertaken for assessing the economics and optimum working conditions.
On the other hand for giving impetus to inventors and attracting industrialists through proving the credibility of the developed process/product, the processes are patented not only in Pakistan but in other foreign countries.
So far the PCSIR has obtained 461 patent rights for 365 technologies developed by it.No. of Patents obtained by PCSIR during the last 50 years. The most important point to be noted in the context is that out of these processes, 29 processes were registered in 14 foreign and developed countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Iran, India, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA, besides Pakistan; some of the processes were patented individually in as many as 12 countries.
Thus until now the PCSIR has obtained 96 foreign patents. According to a report of the United Nations on the patents, during the period 1957 to 1961, a total of 5485 applications were filed for grant of patent rights in Pakistan.
The number of applications filed by the national agencies or individuals were only 233 thus the percentage of the foreign applicants was 95.75 in the total applications. Information is not available as to the number of patents granted.
The indifferent attitude of successive governments towards the development of science and technology in the country and the pathetic condition of S&T sector in the decade of 1970 and afterwards is no secret.
The conditions in which the Pakistani scientists particularly those of the PCSIR had been working till a few years hence was deplorable. Registration of patents in the foreign countries require huge amounts of foreign exchange.
The PCSIR, till recently, suffered from acute shortage of funds hence this expensive activity could not be continued. During the last few years, the broad vision of the present government, its realistic approach and proper funding lead to the revival of S&T sector in the country.
Performance of the PCSIR immediately reflected the munificence bestowed upon it. Thus, during the last five years, according to statistics, Pakistan Patent Office granted patent rights to 1358 technologies / products.
Out of these, 1280 technologies were developed in foreign countries whereas only 78 were Pakistani processes. It is heartening to report that in 78 local technologies, those of PCSIR numbered 34; in other words, it means that in the total technological development of the country, the share of PCSIR is 43.6 per cent.
For the information of the persons seeking legal rights for their inventions in foreign countries, it will be of interest to know that now it is possible to get patent protection for an invention simultaneously in several countries by filing an international patent application, instead of filing several separate and/or regional patent application.
This facility is the result of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), a multilateral treaty, concluded in Washington in 1970, last modified in 2001, and is administered by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), whose headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
The PCT saves effort-time, work, money-for any person or firm (the applicant) seeking protection for an invention in a number of countries; the applicant is required to file only one application-the international application-in a single place, in one language and pays one initial set of fees.
The application is generally filed at national Patent Office of the applicant's country or at a regional Patent Office acting for the applicant's country or direct with the International Bureau in its capacity as receiving office under the PCT.
By the end of 2001, the number of contracting states bound by the PCT were 115 including India and a number of African and Soviet states. However it is a pity that Pakistan was not one on the list.
