Investigating Cases on Plant Protection and Confidential Information under Intellectual Property Law in India

Document Type : Primary Research paper

Authors

1 Professor, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202001(U.P./India)

2 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Shariah & Law, Maldives National University, Male (Maldives)

3 Assistant Professor (Guest Faculty), (PhD DST-INSPIRE), Department of Geography, Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, Delhi (India)

Abstract

There is no legislation codifying the ideas of confidential information or trade secrecy, plant variety and intellectual property law in India. It is in contrast to the global trend of codifying common law trade secrecy concepts. In reality and usage, the court interpreted the common law approach to safeguard Plant varieties in patent law. The general patent law provides statutory protection to plant variety protection. It is still up in the air whether patents or plant variety regulations can protect plant components. They are probably covered under the trade secret legislation as well. The regulation of confidential information included in the Competition Act of 2002. The Indian Penal Code, 1860, includes prohibitions on the misappropriation of trade secret, including plant varieties. The Companies Act, 2013 incorporate measures on confidentiality in its principal corporate statute. The Delhi High Court's decision in Emergent Genetics India Pvt. Ltd. v. Shailendra Shivam created new law using trade secret to protect plant varieties. It will have far-reaching implications for the intellectual property paradigm. The Delhi High Court further held in Sungro Seeds Ltd v. S.K. Tripathi that the assertion of common law rights in trade secrets as secret knowledge could not be established. The paper briefly discusses the evolving laws in India regarding the application of trade secret legislation to plant variety management.

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Int. J. of Aquatic Science
Volume 12, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
June 2021
Pages 2332-2337

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