Section 97 of the Patents Act, 1970
Provision relating to licences of right
A repealed provision from the licences of right group, concerning the consequences that followed once a patent carried that endorsement.
Official legal text
An omitted provision keeps its slot in the statute. The alternative, renumbering everything that follows, would make older judgments and office records hard to follow. The number therefore survives as a marker, and readers tracing historical documents still need an explanation of what once stood here.
Nothing here replaces the statute. The official wording of the provision, together with any Gazette notification that applies to it, governs. This page only explains that material in ordinary language.
What this section says, in plain language
The licences of right scheme changed the character of a patent that fell within it. Once the endorsement applied, the patent no longer gave the owner a practical power to keep competitors out. It became, in effect, a right to be paid rather than a right to exclude. That had knock-on consequences for existing licensees, who could ask to have their terms brought into line, and for the patentee's ability to control who worked the invention. The sections in this group dealt with those consequences so that the scheme worked coherently.
The group was omitted by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002, in force from 2003, when India adopted a compulsory licence system based on individual applications. Under the present law a patent keeps its exclusionary character unless and until the Controller makes an order in a particular case. The nearest modern equivalents to the consequences this group addressed are Section 88, which lets the Controller cancel or amend an existing licence when granting a compulsory licence, Section 90, which fixes the conditions of the new licence, and Section 93, which gives the Controller's order effect as a deed.
Why this section matters
Researchers and practitioners interpreting the pre-2003 regime, and anyone comparing the old scheme with the compulsory licence system now in force.
Only in historical analysis or when reading documents and decisions from before the 2002 amendment came into force.
Nothing today. It once dealt with the effects of an endorsement on the patentee and on existing licensees.
There is no current consequence, but treating a modern patent as if it were open to all would expose you to an infringement claim.
How it works in practice
Comparing the old regime with a modern order
A law student in Bengaluru is asked to compare how the two systems treated an existing licensee. Under the licences of right scheme, an endorsement changed the whole footing of the patent, and a licensee already working under it could seek to have its terms brought into line with the new position, because the patent had ceased to be an instrument of exclusion. Under the present Act, nothing changes automatically. If a competitor obtains a compulsory licence under Section 84, the patentee still holds an exclusive right against everyone else, and it is only where the applicant itself already holds a licence that Section 88 allows the Controller to cancel or amend that earlier licence. The student concludes that the modern system is narrower and case specific, which is exactly what the 2002 amendment set out to achieve.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Under the old scheme, endorsement turned the patent into a right to be paid rather than a right to exclude.
- The provision was omitted with the rest of the group by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002, effective 2003.
- Today a patent stays exclusive unless the Controller makes an order in a specific case under Chapter XVI.
Connected provisions
- ActSection 88Powers of Controller in granting compulsory licences
- ActSection 93Order for licence to operate as a deed between parties concerned
- ActSection 95Provision relating to licences of right Omitted
- ActSection 96Provision relating to licences of right Omitted
- ActSection 98Provision relating to licences of right Omitted
The Patents Act sets the requirement; the Patents Rules, 2003 set the procedure that carries it out. Parliament passes the Act and the Central Government makes the Rules, so the two are separate instruments. We list the connected rules here to take you from the principle to the paperwork.
Forms, deadlines and fees
The official fee for anything described on this page is set out in the First Schedule to the Patents Rules. It is not the same for every applicant, and it is not the same for online and physical filing, which is why no amount is stated here. How Indian patent fees work.
Related judgments
Case summaries are published only after a qualified reviewer has checked the judgment, the citation and the way the holding is described. Nothing has cleared that review for this provision yet, so nothing is listed here. We would rather show no case note than one that misstates what a court decided. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Section 97
Does any Indian patent today carry an automatic open licence?
No. No category of patent granted under the Act as it now stands is automatically open to licensing. The endorsement based scheme ended when the 2002 amendment came into force in 2003. Access without the owner's agreement now depends on an order of the Controller in a specific case, under Section 84, 91, 92 or 92A, or on the Government use provisions in Sections 99 to 103. Working a patented invention without one of those routes, or without the owner's licence, is infringement.
What replaced the effects this group of sections dealt with?
The nearest modern equivalents sit inside the compulsory licence machinery. Section 88 allows the Controller, when granting a compulsory licence, to cancel or amend a licence the applicant already holds, and to extend licences to the patentee's related patents. Section 90 sets the conditions of the compulsory licence, including royalty, non-exclusivity and duration. Section 93 makes the Controller's order operate as if it were a licence deed executed by the patentee. Together these deal case by case with what the old scheme handled by category.
Not sure which patent licensing route applies today?
MYCrave explains the current compulsory licence and Government use routes that replaced the old licences of right scheme.
You will be speaking with MYCrave Consultancy & Services, the firm that operates this platform. General questions are answered free; matter‑specific work is quoted before anything is done.