Preamble
The mission of the Wellcome Trust–DBT India Alliance (the 'Alliance') is to establish and nurture talent of the highest international standards, in cutting-edge biomedical research in India, resulting in important scientific breakthroughs and applications to society. This is the driving force behind all of the Alliance’s charitable funding activities, and the basis for its policy on the protection and use of intellectual property rights. The aim of this policy is to provide a clear statement for Alliance grantholders of the Alliance’s position on the protection and use of intellectual property through patents.
In developing this policy, the Alliance has considered a wide range of issues, in particular the role of intellectual property rights in creating the best conditions for research and in translating that research into tangible healthcare benefits. The Alliance supports the appropriate protection and use of intellectual property where this will maximise healthcare benefits and enable biomedical research to flourish.
In order for research advances to qualify for intellectual property protection, the legal criteria for patent protection must be fulfilled. This means that, to be patentable, the results of research must describe an invention that is:
- novel, i.e. not described elsewhere before
- non-obvious, i.e. involving a step sufficiently inventive that most people working in that field could not have predicted it
- capable of industrial application, i.e. described in such a way that it can be made or used.
Patents, including those covering genes and their products, are no exception, and the Alliance is supportive of these if there is sufficient information to indicate that the DNA sequences in question can be used to develop healthcare benefits. The Alliance does not support the patenting of raw DNA sequences in the absence of such information.
The Alliance is particularly concerned about patents and patent applications that are unreasonably broad and opportunistic, e.g. when there is limited functional data available to support those patent claims. The Alliance may challenge such speculative patents if it believes that they are being applied for or used in ways that could be detrimental to research or limiting to the development of healthcare benefits.
Policy on intellectual property and patenting
- The Alliance supports the appropriate protection and use of intellectual property rights (IPR) to maximise healthcare benefits and to enable fundamental biomedical research to flourish.
- As such, the Alliance supports the protection of research findings that meet the legal criteria for the filing of patents -that is, that findings should be novel, non-obvious (i.e. inventive) and capable of industrial application.
- The Alliance believes that the basic DNA sequence of humans and other organisms should be placed in the public domain as soon as is practical, without any fees, patents, licences or limitations on use, giving free and equal access to all. Subject to this, the Alliance is supportive of patents encompassing genes and their products when there is research data or information indicating that a particular DNA sequence has a utility such that the legal criteria for patenting can be met.
- All Alliance grantholders and their host organisations are required to work with the Alliance in relation to IPR arising from this funding in accordance with paragraph 7 of the Award Conditions
- The Alliance may challenge the inappropriate use of patents that it considers to be detrimental to scientific endeavour or to advances in healthcare.
- Founding scientists may also receive fixed amounts of cash or equity (or both) in consideration of the transfer of intellectual property to a commercial organisation, subject to compliance with paragraph 7 of the Grant Conditions and the policies of the institution.
