Balancing the see‐saw of morality and law—An approach to analyze the contours of morality exclusion of patenting under the Indian Patent Law

ABSTRACT Law and morality govern society, although legal systems often conflict with morality. The TRIPs provision under article 27.2 empowers members to prohibit patent protection for subject matter that conflicts with “morality” or “ordre public”. The concepts of “ ordre public ” and “ morality ” as enshrined under the agreement, are inherently ambiguous when it comes to determining the patentability of subject matter as the same are difficult to define. Given the inherent dependence of “ ordre public ” and “ morality ” on the socio‐cultural and religious norms specific to each member of the TRIPs agreement, it becomes impractical to construct an objective definition for these words.