The Intellectual Property Appellate Board upheld the decision of the Controller of Patents to grant India’s first compulsory license and elaborated when the grounds and conditions for compulsory licenses are satisfied.

On 1 April 2013, the Supreme Court of India confirmed the rejection by the Indian Patent Office of a patent application filed by Swiss drug maker Novartis on the anti-cancer medicament “Glivec”. The Supreme Court considered that Glivec did not qualify as a patentable “invention” under Section 3 (d) of the Indian Patents Act.