Exploring the Possibilities of Utility Models Patent Regime for Grassroots Innovations in India (original) (raw)

Patents are considered to be the most authoritative rights which incentivise the knowledge producer. However, the current patent system is criticised by many scholars for favouring the formal sector industries of the economy having a large market and resources for commercialising their innovations. Today there are many innovations which emerge from the informal economies of the low-income nations like India which consists mostly of imitation and adaptation of the existing technologies. Many of these innovations fall short of the strict patentability and non-obviousness criteria. Further, the costs associated with applying for the patents discourage many innovators from the informal sector to make use of these rights. The ‘grassroots’ innovations in India represent the informal sector innovations which have been developed by poor people at grassroots to provide solutions for their own problems. With a view to promote and foster grassroots innovations, this paper studies the potential...