Limitations of Existing IPR Legislations in Managing Emerging Environmental Issues

Along with numerous mandatory conditions, current IPR legislations defined the criteria for granting right o f intellectual property including the criteria o f environmentally sound or damage proof invention (u/s 3(b), 3(c) and 3(j) o f Indian Patent Act, 1970) to the pioneer. But the criteria o f environmental wellbeing is being frequently overlooked considering novelty, non-obviousness and usefulness o f the inventions with respect to the socio-economic benefits by the competent authority meant for granting the approval. There are incidences where rights were granted to the intellectual property (IP) in the form o f patents, trade secrets etc. which created significant socio-economic improvement but caused irreversible environmental damages. The weak description o f environmental protection criteria in patent granting process is the biggest limitation of the present IPR legislations. Inventions for environmental protection, inventions without or minimum destruction and inventions for sound environmental management is the urgent need o f present world. The various environmental laws are secondary enforcement, while the intellectual property laws could be first enforcement to avoid the effect o f inventions having potential to cause significant threat to the environment. On this ground, it can be concluded that, the provisions under present IPR legislations are inadequate to overcome the forthcoming environmental issues arising from inventions escaped from environmental criteria for granting IP approval. Thus, incorporation o f stringent criteria regarding environmental protection, conservation and management in the present IPR legislations for granting intellectual property rights to the pioneer is needed for sustainable development o f mankind.