Intellectual property rights are critical to the success of the pharmaceutical industry in India. This is because IP or international property laws are considered to be business as well as legal assets for pharmaceutical drug manufacturers. Intellectual property is a legal concept which recognizes exclusive rights for creations of the human mind. Intellectual property rights can assign exclusive rights to the owners of various intangible assets. These may include musical and literary works, inventions and discoveries and words, symbols or designs. Commonly applicable categories of intellectual property rights are trademarks, patents, copyrights, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some regions. Although the pharmaceutical industry in India is one of the biggest in the world in terms of value, a large number of multinational companies had exited the scenario due to the lack of patent protection laws. This again provided a good incentive for domestic players to carve out a major presence in the market. However, patent protection laws are now recognized within the country following the amendments to India’s patent laws in 2005. Hide this