Compulsory licensing is defined generally as the granting of a license by a government to use a patent without the patent-holder's permission. As applied to international intellectual property rights, it allows governments to grant licenses for patent use in situations where the patent-holder is either not using the patent within the country or is not using it adequately. Most of the drugs for which compulsory licenses have been granted in India are used for treatment of life-threatening diseases. The pharmaceutical companies however object on the ground of violation of their patent rights. This chapter discusses the provisions for compulsory licensing in TRIPs and the India patent system.

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The 21st century has seen the emergence of global economy where world has moved from information to knowledge. Innovation and Creativity indeed has become the necessity for organizations to gain competitive advantage. The sustenance of this competitive advantage requires the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) which an individual or an organization possesses. In order to protect their Intellectual Property, Innovators needs to apply for patents. A patent which is an exclusive right granted for an invention needs to be novel. Hence, one of the important steps in patent filing process is “searching”, which is very much required to see whether the concept or product has been already patented and publicly made available before claiming the originality. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application. This information is available from both free and fee-based sources across globe. This chapter attempts to presents different databases and tools available in India for Patent Search.