Section 24C of the Patents Act, 1970
Compulsory licences
An omitted provision that once allowed compulsory licences to be granted over exclusive marketing rights, in the same way as over patents.
Official legal text
When a provision is removed, the rest of the statute is not renumbered. The number stays in place, marked as omitted, so that everything after it keeps its familiar citation. That is why this number still appears, and why older files, textbooks and judgments continue to refer to it.
This explanation is written for clarity, not for citation. The official statutory text and any Gazette notification in force on your date govern, and they prevail over anything said here.
What this section says, in plain language
A right to be the only seller of a medicine raises an obvious public health question: what happens if the article is not available, or is priced out of reach? Indian law has never granted exclusivity without a safety valve, and this provision supplied one for exclusive marketing rights. It allowed compulsory licences in respect of an article covered by such a right, applying the compulsory licensing machinery of the Act to that temporary regime with the necessary changes.
The design mirrored the permanent scheme. A person could seek a licence where the reasonable requirements of the public were not being met, where the article was not available at a reasonably affordable price, or where it was not being worked in India, and the authority could set the terms on which the licence would operate. The provision fell along with the rest of the exclusive marketing rights chapter when the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005 removed it. The safety valve itself did not disappear; it now sits in the compulsory licensing chapter of the Act, which applies to granted patents.
Why this section matters
Public health researchers, generic manufacturers and anyone studying access-to-medicines policy in India.
Only historically, in relation to articles covered by exclusive marketing rights before 2005.
Nothing today. It formerly extended compulsory licensing to exclusive marketing rights.
The mistaken belief that exclusivity in India has ever been granted without a public interest override.
How it works in practice
The safety valve that moved house
A public health lawyer preparing a training module for medical students in Kochi wanted to explain why Indian law is often described as balanced. She used two provisions side by side. The first was this omitted one, which allowed a compulsory licence over an article covered by an exclusive marketing right, so that the temporary exclusivity of the transition years could still be overridden if supply or price failed the public. The second was the current compulsory licensing provision, which allows an application after three years from grant where the reasonable requirements of the public are not satisfied, the patented invention is not available at a reasonably affordable price, or it is not worked in India. Her point to the students was that the mechanism did not vanish in 2005. It moved from a temporary chapter to a permanent one, and it now attaches to patents rather than to exclusive marketing rights.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- The provision applied compulsory licensing principles to exclusive marketing rights.
- It existed so that temporary exclusivity could be overridden where supply, price or working failed the public.
- It was omitted with the rest of the chapter by the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005; compulsory licensing over patents continues under the permanent provisions.
Connected provisions
The rules connected to a section are listed on their own because they are subordinate legislation. They cannot go beyond the Act, but they can be changed by notification without a new statute, so seeing them separately makes it easier to check whether the current procedure is still what you remember.
Forms, deadlines and fees
Where a fee is payable under this provision, the figure comes from the First Schedule. Categories of applicant are charged at different rates, and electronic filing is treated differently from paper filing, so an accurate number can only come from the Schedule in force on the day you file. How Indian patent fees work.
Related judgments
Case law is added slowly and deliberately. A summary is drafted, checked against the reported judgment and then reviewed before publication, because a wrong case note can mislead a reader badly. No summary for this provision has reached publication yet. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Section 24C
Does India still allow compulsory licences?
Yes, but over granted patents, not over exclusive marketing rights. An application can be made after three years from the grant of a patent on the grounds that the reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the invention have not been satisfied, that the patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price, or that it is not worked in India. There are also special provisions for national emergencies and for export to countries with public health problems.
Why did this provision exist at all?
Because exclusive marketing rights gave a single company the sole right to sell an article in India for up to five years, at a time when no patent had been granted. Parliament was not willing to create that exclusivity without a public interest override. The provision made the compulsory licensing machinery available in respect of such articles, so that failures of supply, price or availability could be addressed.
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