Patent Registration

Patents in India are regulated by the Patents Act, 1970.

A patent is a right granted for a device, substance, method, or process that you have invented that is new, inventive and useful when compared with what is already known.

Where to File Patent Application:

Application for Patent shall be filed with the Patent Office having the appropriate jurisdiction. The territorial jurisdiction of a patent office is decided based on the following:

1. Place of residence, domicile or business of the applicant (first mentioned applicant in the case of joint applicants).
2. Place from where the invention originated.
3. Address for service in India given by the applicant, when the Applicant has no place of business or domicile in India (Foreign applicants).

To facilitate the registration of patents, the Indian Patent Office functions from four locations viz. Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.

Process for Registration:

Documents can be filed online or in the patent office having Jurisdiction.

1. An application for Grant of Patent is to be filed with complete specification comprising description, claims, drawings (if any), abstract, Declaration of inventorship, along with requisite statutory fees.
2. A patent application is published automatically in the official journal after the expiry of 18 months from the date of filing or date of priority of the application containing title, abstract, application no. and name of applicant(s) and inventor(s).
3. To expedite the process of grant of a patent, a request for publication can be made any time after filing the application. Upon such request, the application is published in one month from the date of such request.
4. Upon publication but before the grant of a patent, any person may file a pre-grant opposition, in writing. However, the opposition will be taken by the patent office only after filing of Request for examination. After considering the representation of the opponent and the response of the applicant and their supporting evidence (if any) and after hearing both the parties (if a hearing is requested), the Controller shall proceed further simultaneously either rejecting the representation or granting the patent or accepting the representation and refusing to grant the patent. An applicant can go for an appeal against the decision of the Controller.
5. Upon grant of a patent, any interested person may file a grant post-grant opposition to the Controller against the grant of patent.
6. After hearing a party or parties desirous of being heard or if neither party desires to be heard, then without a hearing, and after taking into consideration the recommendation of the opposition board, the controller decides and notifies his decision to the parties giving reasons. An applicant can go for an appeal against the decision of the controller.
7. Application is examined on request. Request for the examination can be made either by the applicant or by a third party.
8. After proper examination of a patent application on the criteria of novelty, inventiveness and industrial application, the patent examiner will issue a First Examination Report (FER) and will send along with the application and specification to the applicant or authorized agent.
9. The issued FER allows the applicant to file a response and overcome the objections raised by the Examiner.

The controller will grant the application upon overcoming all the objections raised in the FER. On the grant of a patent, the application will be accorded a number, called the serial number in the series of numbers accorded to patents. To keep a patent in force, renewal fees are payable every year.