IP Intelligence › Real Scenarios › The launch that infringed
Real-life scenario · fictionalised
The launch that infringed
A medical device company obtains an Indian patent on its improved sensor housing. Eighteen months of tooling and regulatory work follow. Two weeks before launch, a distributor mentions that a multinational holds an Indian patent on the electrode coating chemistry the device relies on - a chemistry the company buys in from a supplier.
How can they hold a patent and still be blocked?
Two different questions
Their patent covers the housing. It gives them the right to stop others using that housing. It gives them no right to practise anything else.
The multinational's patent covers the coating chemistry. If the device falls within those claims, selling it in India infringes - regardless of the company's own patent, and regardless of the fact that they buy the coating rather than make it.
The timing is the real damage
At the design stage, a coating change would have cost a few weeks. Two weeks before launch, with tooling committed, regulatory files submitted and a distributor contract signed, the options narrow to: license it, challenge its validity, buy it, delay the launch, or proceed and price the risk.
The supplier indemnity turns out to cover defects, not patent infringement - which is the normal position unless it was specifically negotiated.
What should have happened
- Run a freedom-to-operate study on the whole device, including bought-in components, before tooling.
- Read claims of in-force Indian rights, not disclosures - a different exercise from the patentability search done at filing.
- Negotiated an IP indemnity with the coating supplier, or at least established what they warranted.
- Repeated the FTO check when the design changed during regulatory work.
Your patent answers what others may not do. It never answers what you may do.
This scenario is a composite teaching example written by Ragulika IP. It does not describe any real client, application or matter, and any resemblance to a specific case is coincidental.
Sources & further reading
- The Patents Act, 1970 (consolidated to 1 August 2024) — Official IP India text
Related
A granted patent does not mean you are free to sell
A patent is a right to stop other people. It is not a licence to practise your own invention. Your product can be simultaneously protected by your patent and blocked…
My patent was granted, so I can sell my product safely.
A patent is a right to stop others. It says nothing about whether you are free to sell. Somebody else may hold a broader right your product falls inside.
Before launching a product
Your own patent tells you what others may not do. It never tells you what you may do. This checklist is about the second question.
Freedom to operate before you commercialise
Because a patent is a right to exclude others, not a licence to practise your own invention. FTO is the only exercise that answers whether you can sell.
Getting ready to launch?
A patent of your own says nothing about whether you are free to sell. Those are two different questions and they need two different searches.
Educational guidance, not legal advice. This material is published by Ragulika IP for general education and information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a professional-client relationship, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Patentability, infringement, prosecution strategy and every other IP outcome turn on the specific facts and on the law and Patent Office practice as they stand at the time you act. Please take professional advice before making a decision, and read the underlying provision or judgment before relying on any point stated here.
Last reviewed by Ragulika IP on 2026-08-23. Indian patent law and Patent Office practice change; check the position before you rely on it.