Question

What are the types of inventions which are no patentable in India?

• A. invention which is frivolous or which claims anything obviously contrary to well established natural laws;
• B. an invention the primary or intended use or commercial exploitation of which could be contrary to public order or morality or which causes serious prejudice to human, animal or plant life or health or to the environment;
• C. the mere discovery of scientific principle or the formulation of an abstract theory or discovery of any living thing or non-living substance occurring in nature
• D. All the above

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

The Correct Option is (D): All the above.

Answer 2

The question lists three separate categories of subject matter and asks which of them are not patentable in India. Each one needs to be checked against Section 3 of the Patents Act, 1970, which lists what does not count as an invention for patent purposes.

1. Frivolous inventions or those contrary to natural laws: Section 3(a) of the Patents Act expressly excludes an invention which is frivolous or which claims anything obviously contrary to well established natural laws. This is a real, correctly worded exclusion.
2. Inventions contrary to public order, morality, or seriously prejudicial to life, health or the environment: Section 3(b) excludes an invention whose primary or intended use or commercial exploitation would be contrary to public order or morality, or which causes serious prejudice to human, animal or plant life or health or to the environment. This too is a correctly worded exclusion.
3. Mere discovery of a scientific principle, an abstract theory, or a living or non-living substance occurring in nature: the Act separately excludes the mere discovery of a scientific principle or formulation of an abstract theory, and the mere discovery of any living thing or non-living substance occurring in nature. This is also a correctly worded exclusion drawn from the Act.
4. All the above: since all three of the preceding statements are genuine, separate exclusions found in Section 3 of the Patents Act, the only option that captures the full picture is this one.

Because each of the first three statements is an accurate, independently valid exclusion under Section 3, none of them can be picked alone without leaving out the other two equally correct exclusions.

So the correct answer is All the above.