A set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to a patentee in lieu of the public disclosure for a certain period are patents. But, when the sovereign state authorizes a third party to make, use, or sell a patented product without obtaining the consent of the patentee, marks the advent of compulsory licensing.

Patents are monopoly rights and intangible by nature. Section 48 of the Indian patents act, 1970 deals exclusively with the rights of patentees which prevents the third parties, who do not have the consent of the patentee, from the act of making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing for those purposes the patented product in India.

According to a recent Reuters report, two Indian generic drug manufacturers - BDR Pharma and Lee Pharma have decided to give up on pursuing their compulsory license applications rejected by the Indian patent office “blaming a lack of government support for cheap generics and pressure from Big Pharma”.