Patents

The objective and purpose of patent law is to encourage scientific research, new technology and industrial projects. Grant of exclusive rights to own, use or sell the method or the product patented for a limited period stimulates new invention of commercial utility.

The fundamental principle of Patents Act, 1970 is that the patent is granted for that invention which is new and useful. It must have the novelty and utility. It is essential for the validity of the patent that it must be the investor’s own discovery as opposed to mere verification of what was already known before the date of patent.

Patents Act, 1970 was made to protect Indian drugs, pharmaceuticals, chemical industries and Indian agriculture from foreign competition. In some cases only process can be patented but product cannot be patented i.e., in cases where only process is patentable, manufacture of that product by different process by another person is not an offence under the Patents Act, 1970.

Meaning of Patent

Patent means a patent granted under the Patents Act, 1970.

Patents is a grant from Government which confers on the grantee, for limited period of time, the exclusive privileges of making, selling and using the invention for which patent has been granted and also of authorizing others to do so.

A patent is a contract between the society as a whole and individual inventor. The inventor gets the exclusive rights to prevent others from making, using selling a patented invention for a fixed period of time, in return for the investors disclosing the details of invention to the public. In this way, inventor is rewarded for his/her endeavours and he is encouraged to disclose the benefits arising out of his/her invention. Patent rights are granted only to new inventions capable of industrial application. The document in the prescribed form duly signed by the concerned authorities and seal is called the patent. A patent right is a property which can be bought, sold, hired or licensed.

Advantages of filing provisional patent

  • Legal Protection
  • Global patent protection
  • 20 years validity
  • Competitive edge
  • Creation of asset

Important points to be kept in mind

  1. Fees is mentioned in First schedule of the act and additional of 10% of fees is there for physical application. 
  2. The fees is to be paid to appropriate office via appropriate channels to the Controller of Patents. 
  3. The fee relating to the document shall be accompanied with the document. 
  4. In case of transfer of application the amount has to be paid by new applicant to the old one. 
  5. Fees is non-refundable. There are few exceptions.

Documents/Documents required

  • Form 1 ( Application for grant of patent)
  • Form 2 (Provisional Specifications)
  • Form 5 ( Declaration of Inventorship)
  •  Form 26 (Power of Attorney). If your patent is filed by a Patent Agent then this form is necessary.
  •  E-filing fees (Patent Statutory fee)
  • Form 3 (Corresponding foreign patent application statement and undertakings)
  •  Priority Document (This is used for convention applications if priority date is claimed).
  •  Illustrations/Drawings of the invention.

Types of patent applications in India

  • Ordinary application: This type of application is carried out when there are not any applications or references to any other application under process in the Indian Patent office. The priority date and filing date are the same for ordinary application.
  • Conventional application: If an inventor has already filed a patent in other country and now wishes to do the same, then this comes under conventional application. It is mandatory to file the application for Indian patent within 12 months of first filing it.
  • PCT International application: PCT International application lets you, file the patent application in multiple countries and you can file it in up to 142 countries. It could take between 30-31 months from the international filing date to enter and claim protection in each country.
  • PCT National phase application: You can file this application within 31 months from the international filing date.

FAQs

It is the search of the patent database to determine if there is any other patent application similar or identical to an invention that is to be patented.

New inventions refer to any technology or pertains to a specific product or service which has not been anticipated by publication in any document or has been used in the country or elsewhere in the world before the date of filing of the application with complete specification i.e. the subject matter has not fallen in the public domain or that it doesn’t form a part of the state of the art.

A Provisional Patent application is an interim step on the road to a patent. It is effective because by filing an appropriate provisional patent application a person can market the invention without fear of losing his patent rights, procuring cash to proceed with development and further patent operations.

A patent application can be filed with Indian Patent Office either with complete specification or with provisional specification along with fee as prescribed in schedule I. In case the application is filed with provisional specification, then one has to file complete specification within 12 months from the date of filing of the application.

A provisional patent application is unlike a non-provisional application since it will never be examined, but is used to establish a priority date. The provisional application is designed to buy the inventor more time to decide if he wants to pursue a non-provisional patent application, which requires more work and is typically more expensive. Basically, a provisional patent application is a simple description of an idea along with any applicable drawings. A non-provisional patent application requires a few more components than the provisional patent application. It requires a set of claims, a description of the invention, any applicable drawings of the invention, an abstract, a filing fee, and an oath or declaration.

An application filed with provisional specification is known as provisional application which is useful in establishing a priority date for your invention. Moreover, filing of a provisional application is useful as it gives sufficient time to the applicant to assess and evaluate the market potential of his invention before filing complete specification. However, it is not necessary to file an application with provisional specification and one can file application directly with complete specification.

Indian Patent Law follows first to file system. Provisional specification describes the nature of the invention to have the priority date of filing of the application in which the inventive idea has been disclosed. It must be followed by a complete specification describing the details of the invention along with a statement of claims within 12 months after filing of the provisional application. If the complete specification is not filed within the prescribed period, the application is treated as deemed to have been abandoned.