DeepTech Pushes Patent Laws to the Limit
India's DeepTech surge in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and clean energy is exposing a global problem: patent systems designed for the industrial age cannot keep pace with modern innovation. As emerging economies like Namibia look to build their own innovation ecosystems, the gaps in intellectual property frameworks demand urgent reform.
Why DeepTech Changes the Value of Patents
For years, India's technology story was tied to software services and IT outsourcing. That picture is now shifting. A growing number of Indian startups and research-driven companies are working in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics, biotechnology, clean energy, electric vehicles, advanced materials, and space technology. These sectors fall under the broad label of DeepTech, and what unites them is their reliance on intensive research, engineering, and long development cycles. Unlike traditional tech businesses, DeepTech companies usually spend years developing technology before commercial scaling even begins.
This shift has quietly changed the importance of patents. A decade ago, many startups viewed patents as optional or defensive filings. Today, patents are increasingly tied to fundraising, licensing discussions, collaborations, and investor confidence. In sectors like semiconductors or biotech, companies are often valued not only for their products, but for the technology they can protect.
How Outdated Patent Laws Fail Modern Innovation
Patent laws were framed during a period when inventions were mostly mechanical, industrial, or pharmaceutical in nature. Innovation cycles were slower, and technologies remained commercially useful for longer periods. DeepTech innovation moves differently. Products evolve quickly, systems are updated continuously, and many inventions combine multiple disciplines at once.
The semiconductor sector illustrates this clearly. Modern semiconductor innovation is no longer limited to chip design alone. It can involve fabrication processes, embedded systems, cooling techniques, materials engineering, and software integration working together within the same product ecosystem.
The clean energy sector presents a similar picture. Companies are filing patents around battery chemistry, hydrogen fuel systems, energy storage technologies, and smart infrastructure solutions. In many cases, businesses build entire portfolios around different layers of the same technology rather than relying on a single patent. This layered approach to intellectual property is something Namibia's emerging green hydrogen and renewable energy sectors should note carefully as they scale.
Can AI Be an Inventor Under Current Patent Law?
Artificial intelligence has added another dimension to this discussion. AI systems are now being used in predictive analytics, industrial automation, drug discovery, design optimisation, and manufacturing processes. Human involvement remains central, but machines are increasingly contributing to the innovation process itself.
That naturally raises difficult questions. If an AI system plays a significant role in developing an invention, who should be considered the inventor? Existing patent laws were drafted around the concept of human inventorship, and many jurisdictions are still struggling with how to address AI-assisted innovation.
India has already seen early signs of this debate. The Indian Patent Office refused Dr Stephen Thaler a patent application related to an AI system called Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience, or DABUS. The office maintained the position that only natural persons can be recognised as inventors under the Patents Act. Legally, the position aligns with the present framework. Still, the case highlighted a broader concern: technology is evolving much faster than the laws interpreting it.
What Challenges Do Biotechnology and Software Patents Raise?
Biotechnology has created its own set of challenges. Innovations involving biologics, genetic engineering, diagnostics, and bioinformatics often raise questions around disclosure standards, enablement, and patent eligibility. In practice, scientific advancement frequently moves ahead of legal interpretation, which can create uncertainty for both innovators and investors.
Software-related inventions continue to remain another major issue in India. Most modern DeepTech products, whether robotics platforms, connected medical devices, autonomous systems, or advanced manufacturing technologies, rely heavily on software-driven operations.
Under Section 3(k) of India's Patents Act, 1970,