Trade Secrets vs. Patents in Biotech Industry: The Indian Scenario

Praveen K. R. Singh & Shweta Dubey

Being a knowledge-based industry, the biotech industry needs a strong intellectual property (IP) regime. However, as the industry pushes the horizons of knowledge, the present IP regime seems to be falling behind for various reasons including ordre public and morality. This is the harsh reality, especially in the case of patent protection. As such, it has been argued that trade secrets can be used as an alternative to patent protection. With the everlasting monopoly that the trade secrets offer, there are many perils in the trade secret protection, such as reverse engineering and economic espionage. The situation in India is even graver, as there is no specific legislation for trade secret protection and they are covered under the law of contract. However, the biotech industry can be benefited if the trade secrets are used in tandem with the patent protection. Another alternative can be sui generic protection for biotech inventions which focuses on the specific issues in the industry and is an amalgamation of the best of patent and trade secret protection, keeping in mind the need to balance the community's interests with inventor's rights.