Question

Under the Patents Act, 1970, a patent is granted to an inventor in India. Which of the following correctly reflects a limitation on the patentee's rights under the law?

• A. The invention cannot be used by the Government without permission
• B. The Government may use the invention for its own purposes without the consent of the patentee
• C. The patent becomes void if used by a government authority
• D. The patentee loses all rights once the invention is used by the Government

Hint:

Remember: Patent rights are exclusive, but they are not absolute. The State always reserves the power to use patented inventions for "purposes of the Government" under Sections 100-103 of the Patents Act!

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Patent rights are exclusive, but they are not absolute; the Patents Act, 1970 balances the inventor's monopoly against the practical needs of the State to function without being held hostage by individual patent holders on matters of public importance. Chapter XVII of the Act is where this balance is struck for inventions the Government wants to use.

Section 100 permits the Central Government, or anyone it authorises in writing, to use or exercise a patented invention for the purposes of the Government, and it does this without needing the patentee's consent. This is a genuine limitation on the patentee's otherwise exclusive right to decide who may use the invention, since ordinarily the patentee alone controls that decision, but here the Government is carved out as an exception.

Importantly, this does not touch the validity of the patent itself, the patent is not voided by such use, nor does the patentee forfeit rights against everyone else; the patentee can still stop private parties from using the invention without a licence. What changes is narrowly confined to the Government's own use, and even that use typically comes with an obligation to pay compensation to the patentee, which further confirms that the patent survives and the patentee's rights are curtailed only in this specific respect, not eliminated.

So the genuine limitation on a patentee's rights under the Act is that the Government may use the patented invention for its own purposes without needing the patentee's consent.

Answer 2

Another way to check this is to ask what each statement implies about the patent's continued existence, since a true "limitation" on rights is different from the patent being destroyed altogether.

1. Cannot be used without permission: This implies no limitation exists at all, since the patentee's control would remain total even against the Government. That is inconsistent with there being any special government carve-out in the Act, so this cannot be the accurate description of a limitation.
2. Patent becomes void if used by government: This implies the patent disappears entirely the moment the Government exercises the invention, which would be a far more drastic consequence than a mere limitation on rights, and nothing in the Act supports the patent being destroyed by lawful government use.
3. Patentee loses all rights: This implies a total wipeout of the patentee's position against everyone, not just the Government, which again goes well beyond a "limitation" and misdescribes what actually happens, since rights against third parties are untouched.
4. Government may use without consent: This is the only description that keeps the patent alive and the patentee's rights against the rest of the world intact, while carving out one specific, narrow exception in favour of government use. That is exactly what a "limitation" on rights, rather than a destruction of the patent, looks like.

Distinguishing a genuine limitation from an outright loss of the patent shows that only one option correctly describes Section 100 as narrowing, rather than destroying, the patentee's rights.

Therefore, the correct answer is The Government may use the invention for its own purposes without the consent of the patentee.