Indian engineer objects to US patent grant

Monday, 15 January 2007, 18:30 IST
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BHUBANESWAR: An Indian engineer claims the US has granted patent rights of a technology developed by him to another inventor. Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan, managing director of Chennai-based Hydrodrive Systems and Controls, claims to have developed a special fuel synthesiser for which he says he has secured patent rights in India and Britain. The pre-engine device can control exhaust emissions of all four-stroke internal combustion engines using diesel, leaded and unleaded petrol and gas fuels, said the 55-year-old mechanical engineering graduate. "I converted my patent application in 2002 as a patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application to cover all signatory countries as soon as India signed the treaty," Gopalakrishnan told IANS over telephone from Chennai. Britain and India granted patents in 2006 while the rights were recorded and were being processed in the US, Canada, Japan, the Philippines, China and a few other countries, he said. "However, the US Patent and Trademark Office had granted patent to a US inventor on Aug 22, 2006 though I filed for a PCT national phase patent in the US on April 30, 2004," he said. This, he said, infringes on his own patent rights. "I have moved the Indian Innovators' Association," added Gopalakrishnan. The device - a foot in length, an inch in diameter, weighing one kilogram and costing 8,500 ($190) - can be fit without modification to an engine within a few hours, he said.
Source: IANS