Patent

According to the PATENT ACT, 1970 - The first person or enterprise to file a patent for an invention will have the right to the patent. This may in fact mean that, if you do not patent your inventions or inventions made the employees of your company, somebody else – who may have developed the same or an equivalent invention later – may do so.

Novelty is a requirement for a patent claim to be patentable. In case an invention is not new and therefore not patentable if it was known to the public before the filing date of the patent application or even before its date of priority.

If such an applicant claims priority of an earlier patent application. The purpose of the novelty requirement is to prevent prior art from being patented again.

According to the Patents Act, an invention cannot be constituted if :-
• A discovery, scientific theory or mathematical method,
• An aesthetic creation,
• A scheme, rule or method for performing a mental act, playing a game or doing business, or a computer program,
• A presentation of information,
• A procedure for surgical or therapeutic treatment, or diagnosis, to be practised on humans or animals.

So ask your friend to collect data regarding the invention and inquire if such an invention has already been patented or not.