{"id":8777,"date":"2025-09-17T06:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T06:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/?p=8777"},"modified":"2025-09-17T06:48:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T06:48:28","slug":"are-business-model-patentable-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/are-business-model-patentable-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Are business model patentable in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Patentability_of_Business_Methods_in_India\"><\/span>Patentability of Business Methods in India<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>India, being a fastest-growing major economy, is maintaining its strong position in the global economic arena. The growth in the business sector involving start-ups and unicorns brings innovation in business methods, especially in technology, fintech, and e-commerce. The business methods are defined as a way of operating any component of an economic enterprise. However, under Indian Law, the patentability of business methods is limited as stipulated in the <strong>Patents Act, 1970<\/strong>. <em> <a href=\"\/legal\/article-14609-business-method-and-bar-of-section-3-k-of-the-patent-act-1970.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Section 3(k) of the Patents Act, 1970<\/a><\/em> does not allow patenting inventions that involve business methods, mathematical methods, computer programs, or algorithms.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/are-business-model-patentable-in-india\/#Patentability_of_Business_Methods_in_India\" >Patentability of Business Methods in India<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/are-business-model-patentable-in-india\/#Judicial_Perspectives\" >Judicial Perspectives<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/are-business-model-patentable-in-india\/#References\" >References<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Judicial_Perspectives\"><\/span>Judicial Perspectives<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Recent judicial decisions in India have sparked debates about the patentability of business methods as there is an increase in emerging technologies taking new dimensions.<\/p>\n<p>In the case <strong> <a href=\"\/legal\/article-19842-due-diligence-requirements-for-e-marketing-websites.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OpenTV vs. Controller of Patents &amp; Design<\/a><\/strong><sup>[1]<\/sup>, the Hon\u2019ble Delhi HC held that mere implementation of a business method on a computer does not make it patentable. Further, the court stated that since <q>a large number of inventions emerging from SME, start-ups, and educational institutions could be in the field of business methods or application of computing &amp; digital technologies, therefore, there was a need to have a re-look at the exclusions in Section 3(k) of the Act, in view of the growing innovations<\/q>.<\/p>\n<p>In another case <strong> <a href=\"\/legal\/article-14609-business-method-and-bar-of-section-3-k-of-the-patent-act-1970.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Priya Randolph Vs Deputy Controller of Patent and Design<\/a><\/strong><sup>[2]<\/sup>, the Hon\u2019ble Madras HC, with reference to the CRI Guideline (2017), clarified that mere involvement of a business method in the invention doesn\u2019t make it non-patentable under Section 3(k), as the invention involves deploying hardware, software, and firmware for the purpose of data privacy &amp; protection.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, both the judicial decisions conclude that a business method cannot be patented under the <strong>Patents Act, 1970<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"References\"><\/span>References<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>2023:DHC:3305<\/li>\n<li>2023:MHC:5450<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patentability of Business Methods in India India, being a fastest-growing major economy, is maintaining its strong position in the global economic arena. The growth in the business sector involving start-ups and unicorns brings innovation in business methods, especially in technology, fintech, and e-commerce. The business methods are defined as a way of operating any component<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[24],"class_list":{"0":"post-8777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-intellectual-property","7":"tag-just-in"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}