Section 24D of the Patents Act, 1970
Special provision for selling or distribution
An omitted provision that once let the Central Government allow someone other than the exclusive rights holder to sell or distribute an article.
Official legal text
Removal by omission is the standard method in Indian legislation. The provision stops having effect, yet the number stays so that the rest of the instrument is undisturbed. Older correspondence and rulings that mention this number are still read today, which is why the entry is kept and explained.
This is a simplified explanation. Where it differs from the official text of the provision, or from an applicable Gazette notification, the official text and the notification prevail.
What this section says, in plain language
This was the second public interest control built into the exclusive marketing rights chapter, and it worked more directly than compulsory licensing. It empowered the Central Government to step in and permit the sale or distribution of an article by a person other than the holder of the exclusive right, in circumstances where the public interest required it. Price was central to the concern: the mechanism existed so that an article covered by exclusive rights could not be kept out of reach of Indian patients simply because one company controlled its sale.
In substance it recognised that a five-year selling monopoly, granted without any Indian examination of the invention, needed a fast government override rather than only a case-by-case licensing process. The provision was omitted along with the rest of the chapter by the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005. Its spirit survives in the Act's government use provisions and in the special compulsory licence powers exercisable on notification by the Central Government in circumstances of national emergency, extreme urgency or public non-commercial use.
Why this section matters
Health ministries, procurement bodies, generic manufacturers and researchers studying Indian pricing interventions.
Only in relation to articles that were covered by exclusive marketing rights during the transition years.
Nothing today. It formerly created a government power to permit sale or distribution by another person.
Underestimating how much public interest control Indian law has always retained over exclusive rights in medicines.
How it works in practice
A price question with a government answer
Consider a fictional reconstruction used in a policy seminar in Hyderabad. During the transition years a company holds exclusive marketing rights over an injectable treatment and sells it at a price that state health departments cannot afford in the volumes they need. Under the ordinary compulsory licensing route the matter would proceed through an application, evidence and a hearing, which takes time. This omitted provision offered a shorter path: the Central Government could permit the sale or distribution of the article by someone else where the public interest, including price, demanded it. The seminar used the example to make a single point about design. Where a right is temporary, broad in effect and granted without examination of the invention in India, the legislature paired it with a direct executive override. When the chapter went in 2005, that thinking did not go with it; it reappears in the government use and special compulsory licence provisions of the current Act.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- The provision let the Central Government permit sale or distribution of an article by a person other than the exclusive rights holder.
- It was aimed at public interest concerns, particularly affordability and availability.
- It was omitted by the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005; government use and special compulsory licence provisions now serve similar purposes.
Connected provisions
This page explains a section of the Patents Act, 1970. The working detail that goes with it lives in the Patents Rules, 2003. The connected rules appear in their own block so that the statutory duty and the procedural steps stay clearly distinguishable when you cite either one.
Forms, deadlines and fees
Any official fee connected with this provision is fixed by the First Schedule to the Patents Rules, not by the provision itself. The amount depends on who the applicant is and on whether the filing is made online or on paper, so no figures are reproduced here. How Indian patent fees work.
Related judgments
This part of the page is reserved for summaries of decided cases. They are added one at a time, after review by a person qualified to confirm that the summary matches the judgment. Nothing has been cleared for this provision so far, so there is nothing to show. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Section 24D
Can the Indian government still override patent exclusivity on price grounds?
Yes, through different provisions. The Act allows use of a patented invention for the purposes of government, and it allows the Central Government to notify circumstances of national emergency, extreme urgency or public non-commercial use, after which the Controller may grant a compulsory licence on application. Affordability is also an express ground for an ordinary compulsory licence. The tools have changed since 2005, but the underlying power has not disappeared.
How was this different from a compulsory licence?
A compulsory licence is granted by the Controller on an application by a person who wants to work the invention, after evidence and a hearing. This provision was an executive permission: the Central Government itself allowed sale or distribution by another person where the public interest required it. It was quicker and more direct, which suited a temporary right granted without any Indian examination of the invention.
Concerned about pricing and public interest exposure?
MYCrave Consultancy advises patentees and manufacturers on government use and compulsory licence risk in India.
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