Consider the following statements:
- 1.According to the Indian Patents Act, a biological process to create a seed can be patented in India.
- 2.In India, there is no Intellectual Property Appellate Board.
- 3.Plant varieties are not eligible to be patented in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) 3 only
Only statement 3 is correct. Section 3(j) of the Patents Act, 1970 rules out plants, seeds, varieties and essentially biological processes as patentable inventions. An Intellectual Property Appellate Board did exist when the question was set in 2019.
- ✗ 1. Section 3(j) treats seeds, varieties and species, and processes that are essentially biological, as non-inventions, so a biological method of making a seed cannot be patented.
- ✗ 2. In 2019 the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) was still in existence, so the statement was wrong at the time.
- ✓ 3. Section 3(j) excludes plant varieties from patenting. New plant varieties are protected under the separate Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001.
- • Since then The Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 (13 August 2021) lists the IPAB among the bodies it wound up, with pending cases transferred to the courts. Statement 2 would now read differently, but the answer for the 2019 paper stands.
Remember · Patents Act, section 3(j): plants, seeds, varieties and essentially biological processes are not patentable; plant varieties go to the PPV&FR Act, 2001.
Sources
- The Patents Act, 1970, section 3(j) (as amended up to 1 August 2024), Indian Patent Office ↗ “plants and animals in whole or any part thereof other than micro-organisms but including seeds, varieties and species and essentially biological processes for production or propagation of plants and animals”
- The Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, Second Schedule, Department of Revenue ↗ “Intellectual Property Appellate Board under Trade Marks Act, 1999 (47 of 1999). … Any appeal, application or proceeding pending before the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal or other Authorities specified in the Second Schedule”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·