The patentability of methods of treatment and diagnosis is a contentious issue worldwide. Article 27 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement gives Member states the power to decide the patentability of “diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals.” Only three Member states -the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand, allow such subject matter to be patentable. In India, s 3(i) of the Patents Act 1970 bars the patentability of “any process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic [diagnostic, therapeutic] or other treatment of human beings or any process for a similar treatment of animals [***] to render them free of disease or to increase their economic value or that of their products.”It has been held that three things are needed to be satisfied for the bar under s 3(i), Patent Act 1970, to apply:
