This document provides an overview of the patent filing process in India. It begins by defining what a patent is and noting that it provides exclusive rights for 20 years. It then outlines the key steps and requirements for filing a patent application in India, including which documents are needed, who can file, where to file, and how to file. The document explains the timeline for publication, request for examination, and potential hearing. It also describes what is not patentable under Indian law and the criteria the examiner evaluates like novelty, non-obviousness, and industrial applicability. The review and response process is summarized, concluding with the potential outcomes of acceptance, rejection, or partial acceptance of claims.

1. Patent filing
procedure in India
Kaustav Dey
M. Pharm Pharmacognosy (1st Sem)
University Institute of
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Panjab University, Chandigarh

2. contents
 Document Required for
Filing a Patent
 Essential Parts of a
Complete Specification
 Basic Criteria of
Patentability
 What is Not Patentable ?
 What is a Patent ?
 Steps before Process of
Patenting
 Who can file a patent
application ?
 Where to file a patent
application ?
 How to file a patent
application?
 FLOWCHART : General

3. What is a patent ?
 It is a statutory right
to the inventor or the
applicant by the
government for his
invention which is
either a new process or
product
 It is for the limited
period of time (20
years)

4. Steps before Process of patenting
 Be curious but do not disclose your invention
 Keep a bound notebook to prove when you got the
idea
 Develop the idea and produce a model
 Write why your invention is needed,
• what the existing products are in the market
• your new product
• and what is unique about your product

5. Steps
 To get a patent grant, the first most step is to
file a patent application.
 Who can file a patent application?
 Where to file a patent application?
 How to file a patent application?

6. Who can file a patent application ?
 The application can be filed either alone or
jointly:
 By any person claiming to be true and first
inventor(s)
 By any person being the assignee of person
claiming to be true and first inventor(s) ( proof
of assignment has to be submitted along with the
application )
 By the legal representative of any deceased
person or assignee

7. Where to file ?
 The appropriate office of
the patent office shall be
the head office of the
patent office or the branch
office as the case may be
within whose territorial
limits …
 Residence of applicant or
Domicile;
 or His the place of
business;
 or The place where the
invention actually
originated.
Patent Office
Branch, Chennai
Patent Office
Branch Mumbai
Patent Office
Branch, New
Delhi
Patent Office,
Head office
Kolkata

8. How to file a patent application?
Physical filing at the
patent office Electronic Filing
Documents can be filed in the
patent office
through online( e-filing) at
www.ipindiaonline.gov.in/online
Or through post

9. Flowchart :
GENERAL PROCEDURE
FOR OBTAINING A
PATENT
Provisional
Specification
Complete
Specification
Publication
Request for
examination
Issuanceof First
examination
report
Filing
Response
Acceptance &
Advertisement
Post-Grant
Opposition
NO
Sealing & Issue of
Patent letter
YES
Upheld
No Patent
Partially Upheld
Amendment
Opposition
Dismissed
Pre-Grant
Opposition
Review
Decision
Refused
18 Months
48 Months
Filing
Application

10. Filing application
So, the first step is applicant will create a document that
may be a provisional specification or it may be a complete
specification. This may be drafted by the patent attorney
or agent or the applicant himself. He or she will file this
specification in the respective patent office as per the
jurisdiction. There are two types of specification – one is
a complete specification and the other is a Provisional
specification. Here also applicant himself or herself can
visit the patent office and file the patent application.
The other way is he or she may take the help of a patent
agent or patent attorney and they can do the work on behalf
of the applicant. The other one is on behalf of the
applicant someone else can just submit the documents in the

11. Filing application
So, it is not necessary that the applicant or inventor
himself has to visit the office. The service can be done by
somebody else and you can just file or submit the
application. The document with all the forms duly signed
and the cheque or DD with the required fees has to be
submitted. We know in India there are four patent offices
and every patent office has some jurisdiction. So, if
anyone is filing the application physically kindly visit
the patent office as per the jurisdiction. The other way
that is an online filing in IP INDIA website where there is
a section named - comprehensive e filing . Here anyone can
file a patent in the online form given that they have a
digital signature. It is mandatory that you should have a

12. Document required for filing a
patent
 1. Covering letter- indicating the list of documents;
 2. Application for Grant of Patent in Form 1 [section 7, 54 & 135 and
Rule 20(1)] in duplicate;
 3. Complete/Provisional specification in Form 2 in duplicate [Section
10; Rule 13]
 4. Statement and Undertaking in Form 3 [Section 8; Rule 12];
 5. Power of Attorney in Form 26 (in original) (Rule 3.3 (a) (ii));
(if filed through attorney)
 6. Declaration of Inventor-ship in Form 5 (only in case of an Indian
Application; (Rule 4.17);
 7.Request for examination: F18
 8. Requisite Statutory fees (cheque / DD)

13. Essential parts of a complete
specification
 Title and Preamble
 Prior art
 Drawbacks in prior
art
 Efforts or Solution
to Drawbacks
 Summary Of the
Invention
 Statement of
invention
 Detail description of
invention
 Detail description
with reference to
drawings
 Examples
 Claims

14. publication
 After 18 months the patent application will be published
. It is automatic process, so based on the date of the
application you have filed, it may be a provisional or
complete specification. That zero time is considered and
from that 0 exactly at the end of 18 months your patent
application will be published.
 What Exactly is published ?
 The bibliographic information, abstract, number of
claims, number of drawings. This information will be
published
 Where it is it will be published ?
 It will be published in the official gazette

15. publication
So, in the IP INDIA there is a section named Publication if
you can click on that Publication then you can visit that
gazette. Every Friday in this gadget will be updated or it
will be published.
You and click on it and then you can just open that PDF and
you can go through the gazette. This Publication is
automatic and there is no requirement of any fee.
Publication is automatic after 18 months however if anyone
want to publish the patent earlier then he or she has to
give the requisite statutory fees. This may be known as the
express way of patent prosecution. For that you can give
the requisite fees and form and then your patent
publication will be published. This filing also anyone can

16. publication
Now again you have to follow the jurisdiction so wherever
you have filed the patent then there obviously in that
Patent Office only you have to give that request. Now
Again, either applicant himself or anyone on behalf of the
applicant can file this request by giving the requisite
forms & fees to the officer in the Patent Office or any
applicant can use an online mode, provided digital
signature is available. So, this is the publication step
which is the second step.

17. Request for examination
Now the next step is Request for examination. Whether this is an
automatic process like a publication ? Are you required to give
some fees for that ?
Yes. You have to give fees for that. It is not automatic.
You have to file the request for examination. So here the
applicant has to give the request for examination along with the
requisite fees. Unless & until this request is received by the
Patent Office, the application cannot be considered for the
patent examination. So here Please note that normal publication
it is automatic, but examination is not automatic. Applicant has
to file the request. Here again same rules. The applicant should
fill the requisite form & draw that cheque amount of the
statutory fees and then file the request for examination. On
behalf of applicant, anybody can just visit the Patent Office.

18. Timeline
So, the next question is, is there any timeline for the
Filing of this request?
Yes, there is a timeline is up to 48 months,
So, anyone who has filed a patent application. Then from
the priority date, the time for filing the request for
examination is 48 months. So that is the timeline. So, 0
you have filed the application & at the end of 18 months
publication and then you have a time up to 48 months for
filing the examination request. If that timeline is not
followed then the Applicant will lose the patent. So, if
somebody forgets to file the request for examination then
your patent after 48 months it will go into the public
domain. So again, remember it is mandatory to follow the

19. Timeline
So, what is the next step?
As per the workload of the Patent Office your patent
application will be queued up in the system. Now, your
patent application will now have some number and that will
be in queue for the examination. In due course it will be
allocated to the Examiner. Remember examiner is expert in
that field. So, if the patent application is related to
pharmaceutical, then your patent application will be
allocated to the Examiner who is expert in Pharmaceuticals.
If the patent application is related to chemistry, then the
patent application will be allocated to the patent examiner
who is expert in chemistry. In this way the allocation is
being done and the patent application is now under

20. • It means the newness of the information that is generally
unused or unknown and that gives its owner a competitive
advantage in a business field.
Novelty
• The invention shall not be obvious or apparent to a person
ordinary skilled in the field relating to the invention.
• Basically the invention shall contain an inventive step
over the prior art.
Non-
obviousness
• Patent can only be granted for an invention which is
susceptible of industrial application, i.e. for an
invention which can be made or used in some kind of
industry.
Industrial
Applicability
Basic criteria of patentability

21. Now what exactly does the examiner do?
First examiner will check if the patent follows the
criteria of patent or not. Now the examiner, will check the
patent database, other literature and check if your patent
application and the claims you have claimed in a document
are really novel which means first time in the world. He
will check the Non-obviousness aspect and then the
industrial applicability aspect of the patentability. So,
he will check all these three criteria for the
patentability. He will also check the document in a view of
other guidelines. So, what are these other guidelines?
There are many such guidelines.

22. What is not patentable ?
 Inventions falling within the scope of Sec. (3)
of Patents Act, 1970
 Inventions falling within the scope of Sec. (4)
of Patents Act, 1970 & Sec. (1) of Sub-sec. 20 of
Atomic Energy Act, 1962
 For Example : Inventions relating to Compounds of
–Uranium, Beryllium, Thorium, Plutonium, Radium,
Graphite, Lithium and more as notified by Central
Govt. from time to time

23. Section 3
• 3(a): frivolous or anything obviously contrary to well
established natural laws
• 3(b): contrary public order or morality serious
prejudice to human, animal or plant life or health or
to the environment
• 3(c): the mere discovery of a scientific principle or
the formulation of an abstract theory or discovery of
any living thing or non-living substances occurring in
nature
• 3(d): the mere discovery of a new form of a known
substance which does not result in the enhancement of
the known efficacy of that substance
• 3(e): a substance obtained by a mere admixture
resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of

24. Section 3
 3(i):any process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic,
diagnostic, therapeutic or other treatment of animals to render them
free of disease or to increase their economic value or that of their
products.
 3(j): plants & animals in whole or any part thereof other than
microorganisms but including seeds, varieties and species and
essentially biological processes for the production or propagation of
plants and animals;
 3(k): a mathematical or business method or a computer programme per
se or algorithms
 3(m):mere scheme or rule or method of performing mental act or method
of playing game
 3(l): a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any other
aesthetic creation

25. The other thing examiner will check if the invention is not
falling under the section four of the Indian Patent act.
Then the next check will be regarding the earlier use of
the patented information. So before filing the patent
application, if you have published that thing, or if you
have done the commercialisation of your invention, if any
such report is there, then patent will not be grant. The
meaning is that if your product is already in the market
and after that you have filed the patent, obviously you
will not get the grant for that, because novelty aspect is
not followed as the product is already in the public
domain.
So, what are the next thing examiner will cheque?
He or she will cheque them if there are any clerical

26. What is that size and. Size of the font used in the patent
document
What is the spacing there?
How the drawing number should be given?
How the name of the applicant should be written?
All these guidelines are there so he or she will cheque
that drawing sheet
he will check whether if you have followed the guidelines
while drawing the figures.

27. Request for examination
 After checking everything thoroughly and then he will
create the. First examination report
 Nowadays everything is online, so you will get email from
the Patent Office and if you have asked for the physical
communication, then the that first examination report will
be dispatched and you will receive it through the Indian
Postal Service.
 So, this is first examination report.

28. Filing response
 So now in your hand the examination report is there. Now
applicant has to go through the first examination report and
give the reply to the first examination. Therefore, it is
mandatory and it should be given in the six months. There is a
standard format in which you can prepare this and then you can
give the reply to them that first examination report. Here
applicant himself can draft that reply. Or again he can hire
attorney for this drafting. Then you have to send this reply
either online or by a physical filing.
 Now what next is?
 If Examiner is satisfied by your reply. So, if you have clear
whatever the questions are raised, whatever the queries are
raised if you have given the information correctly, then
examiner will accept the invention. However, if she or he

29. Hearing
Hearing the process where applicant have to visit the Patent Office and
answer the queries and explain the invention in much detail and clarify
all the queries raised by the Examiner. So nowadays there is no
necessity to visit the Patent Office because you can do this online
also. So, through the video conferencing, the hearing will be
conducted. So, the other important thing it is not necessary that the
same Patent Office where you have filed a patent will issue the
hearing. So now as the system is centralised, hearing will be issued by
any of the office and hearing may be at any of the four offices. So,
for example if you have filed application in Patent Office in Mumbai.
And due to the central system, there may be the possibilities that the
examiner from Delhi Patent Office will examine your patent and you will
get it from the Delhi Patent Office and then you can do the online
hearing. So, the system is centralised. So again, here applicant
himself or on behalf of him patent attorney Can present himself for
hearing, either physically or online. OK, after that, now there can be

30. Acceptance & advertisement
Second is that you may not able to establish the case and due
to any of the result like novelty issue or industrial
applicability issue or already commercialisation of that
invention. Then the patent will not be granted. The third
scenario in between these two extremes is that suppose your
patent document is 10 claims. So, the possibility is that you
are able to clarify the queries related to, say, three clips and
then whatever the remaining seven claims are there, you are not
able to clarify the query. In that case what will happen?
Examiner will say that these 3 claims are OK, but these seven
claims are not OK. So, what will happen here? Only three claims
will be accepted, and remaining seven will be rejected. So that
is a partial acceptance of the patent. Here you have to then
Amend application accordingly. So, you do remove that those

31. opposition
In India there are 2 stages where one file an opposition
Which are these two stages?
Pre grant opposition and a post grant opposition.
Pre-grant opposition
It is a stage where the patent is not still granted. But it
is a published, so you can imagine you have filed your
patent and now it is published. Okay, so after publication,
if anyone Feels that this application should not be
granted, then that anyone who is feeling that he can file
the request to the Patent Office by filing the requisite
form.

32. opposition
Two things can happen here either the opposition is refused
by the authority due to lack of substantial evidence and
document followed by acceptance of patent and advertisement
in the official gazette or else if the opposition is
succeeded with evidence and argument them the patent is
refused and you will not get your patent and that is called
pre grant opposition.
POST GRANT OPPOSITION
Post-Grant opposition is a process where a person skilled
in the art can only file this opposition. In a pre-grant
opposition - Anyone have the right to file them. So, for
example, the person who is skilled in the art. So, suppose

33. opposition
He can do this by filling the requisite fees and submitting
to the patent office. Now, obviously when you are doing
this opposition you have to substantiate thing with the
evidential documents. So, it is expected that when you say
that either you're filing a pre-grant opposition or post
grant opposition then you have to provide with strong
evidence to support your claims. For Post grant opposition.
The timeline is that after Grant, but before one year. So,
after Grant only one year is there to file them post grant
opposition. Okay so Pre Grant is after publication till the
grant.
It is a serious stage because you are opposing the given
grant as the examiner has done all the process and he is

34. opposition
Now if the opposition is dismissed, then the patent will be
granted, if opposition is upheld and it will not be
granted. So, depending on the opposition, either it will be
granted or it will not be or else it may be partially
upheld as some of your claims may be accepted while rest
may not be accepted. Here you can do amendment and then it
may be valid.
At last, there is sealing and issue of patent letter to the
applicant
It generally takes four to five years. in India.
So, this is the whole process of the getting your patent
right from that filing application up to the total grant.

35. references
 (NPTEL COURSE)Lecture 22:Roadmap for Patent Creation –
 Patent filing procedure in India by Prof. Gouri Gargate Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property law, IITKharagpur –
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClZEIQQjG6g&t=676s
 Patent Office Procedures - Intellectual Property India –
 http://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/images/pdf/oatent-office-procedures.pdf