A Patent is an exclusive monopoly rights granted by the Government to an inventor over his invention for a limited period of time. Patent is recognition to the form of intellectual property manifested in invention. Intepat provides patent services, patent search in India, patent filing in India, patent registration in India by Intepat patent agents, patent attorneys and patent consultants. Visit https://www.intepat.com

1. THE INDIAN PATENT REGIME
A GUIDE TO THE INDIAN PATENTS
ACT
Angela Dsouza
contact@intepat.com
www.intepat.com

2. WHAT IS A PATENT?
A Patent is an exclusive
monopoly rights granted by
the Government to an
inventor over his invention for
a limited period of time.
Patent is recognition to the
form of intellectual property
manifested in invention.
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3. WHAT CAN BE PATENTED?
Any invention can be patented. However,
there are certain criteria that such invention
should fulfil, including:
• It should be novel.
• It should be non obvious.
• It should possess an inventive step.
• It should have industrial application.
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4. WHAT IS MEANT BY ‘NOVELTY’?
Novelty simply means that the
invention comprising of a product or
a process should not have been
anticipated by publication in any
document or should not have been
used in the country or anywhere in
the world before the filing of the
patent application.
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5. WHAT IS MEANT BY INDUSTRIAL
APPLICABILITY?
Industrial applicability means the
invention should be capable of being
made or used in any kind of industry.
Inventions which lack industrial
applicability are known as utility
models. They are, unfortunately, not
protected in India.
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6. WHAT CANNOT BE PATENTED
Inventions that fall under S 3 and
4 of the Patents Act cannot be
patented. These include
inventions with regard to atomic
energy, inventions against public
morality and decency, agricultural
and horticultural methods,
medical and surgical processes
etc. www.intepat.com

7. WHOO CAN FILE A PATENT
APPLICATION?
Essentially, the first and true
inventor of the patent can apply for
a patent protection. In the event of
his/her death, the legal
representatives can file a patent
application.
Further, if the patent is assigned to
someone, then the assignee can
make such application.

8. WHERE SHOULD THE PATENT
APPLICATION BE FILED?
There are four Patent Offices
in India- Mumbai, Chennai,
New Delhi and Kolkata. The
Kolkata office is the head
office. The territorial
jurisdiction between the
four offices is divided as
follows:

9. Kolkata Patent Office (Head Office): West Bengal, Bihar,
Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,
Nagaland, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Mumbai Patent Office: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Goa, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Chennai Patent Office: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Lakshadweep
New Delhi Patent Office: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Chandigarh and Delhi

10. HOW DOES ONE DETERMINE THE
APPROPRIATE OFFICE?
The appropriate office for filing the patent application
can be identified by:
• Place of residence, domicile or business of the
applicant.
• Place where the invention actually originated.
• Address for service in India given by the applicant. (This
is applicable only in the case of foreign applications.)
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11. WHAT SHOULD THE APPLICATION
CONTAIN?
Your application for filing a patent should
contain the following documents:
• Application for grant of patent in Form 1.
• Proof of right to file the application from
the inventor. This is applicable if the
invention has been assigned to someone
else.
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12. WHAT SHOULD THE APPLICATION
CONTAIN?
• Provisional or complete
specification in Form 2.
• Power of authority in Form 26 if
filed through a patent agent.
• Application should bear the
signature of the application or
authorized person/ patent agent
along with the name and date.
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13. WHAT IS MEANT BY A SPECIFICATION?
In order to obtain a patent, an applicant must
fully and particularly describe the invention for
which the protection is claimed. It can be either
provisional or complete in nature. A complete
specification is given when the invention is
complete i.e. ready to use. On the other hand, a
provisional specification is given when the
invention has reached a stage wherein it can be
disclosed on paper, but has not attained the final
stage.
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14. WHAT IS MEANT BY A SPECIFICATION?
The disclosure of the invention in a complete
specification must be such that a person skilled in the art
may be able to perform the invention. This is possible
only when an applicant discloses the invention fully and
particularly including the best method of performing the
invention. However, this will not lead to misappropriation
of your invention. Any person who comes up with a
similar invention after you have filed for a patent will be
barred from doing so.
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15. WHAT IS MEANT BY ‘PRIORITY DATE’?
Priority date is the date on
which the first application is
filed for the invention. A
priority date is very important
as this gives precedence to
your invention over all other
similar inventions that may
come up in the future.
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16. HOW SHOULD THE APPLICATION BE
SUBMITTED?
There are two modes of filing an application- manual and online. For the manual filing, the
documents will have to be submitted at the appropriate patent office.
The E-filing of a patent application requires adherence to the following procedure:
• First, the applicant or agent should possess a digital signature.
• The applicant or agent should register as a new user and create a login ID on the Patent Office
Portal (http://ipindia.nic.in)
• The Client Software on the portal should be downloaded and installed. It will generate an XML
file wherein the soft copies of the documents can be uploaded.
• On successful uploading, the application number and CBR receipt along with the date and
time of submission is generated.
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17. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE
APPLICATION IS SUBMITTED?
Once the Patent office receives your application, a date and serial
number is allotted to it. The application is digitized, verified,
classified and uploaded to the internal server of the office. Next is
the screening of the application. The application is screened for any
international patent classification, technical field of invention for
allocation to an examiner in the respective field. The application is
also screened to see whether it bears any relevance to defence or
atomic energy and whether the abstract requires any correction or
completion.
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18. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE
APPLICATION IS SUBMITTED?
Next, comes the scrutiny. The
application is scrutinized for
appropriate jurisdiction, proof of
right to file and whether all the
relevant documents have been
submitted. The invention is then
examined by the examiner and a
report is prepared for the
approval of the Controller
General.
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19. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE
APPLICATION IS SUBMITTED?
After 18 months of the date of filing or the priority date
(whichever is earlier), the application for patent is
published in the official journal. Now comes the part
where the invention is open for pre-grant opposition.
Though the Patent Office scrutinizes the applications, in
order to be absolutely sure, a chance is given to the public
to file an opposition under the grounds listed under S 25
(1) of the Patents Act. This opposition has to be filed
within 6 months from the date of publication.
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20. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE
APPLICATION IS SUBMITTED?
In the event of
absence of an
opposition, the patent
is granted and it is
published in the
official journal.
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21. WHAT ARE THE RIGHTS SECURED
THROUGH A PATENT?
With the grant of a patent, the inventor gets the exclusive
right to prevent any third party from making, using, offering
for sale, selling or importing for such purposes that product
in India.
Also, in the case of a process patent, the inventor gets the
exclusive right to prevent any third party from using,
offering for sale, selling or importing for such purposes the
product obtained directly by such process in India.
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22. Intepat IP Services Private Limited
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Bangalore – 560078, India
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