A Patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the Government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention for excluding others, from making, using, selling, importing the patented product or process for producing that product for those purposes without his consent.

The term of every patent granted is 20 years from the date of filing of application. However, for application filed under national phase under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the term of patent will be 20 years from the international filing date accorded under PCT.

No. Patent protection is a territorial right and therefore it is effective only within the territory of India. There is no concept of global patent. However, filing an application in India enables the applicant to file a corresponding application for same invention in convention countries or under PCT, within or before expiry of twelve months from the filing date in India. Patents should be obtained in each country where the applicant requires protection of his invention.

An invention relating either to a product or process that is new, involving inventive step and capable of industrial application can be patented. However, it must not fall into the categories of inventions that are non- patentable under sections 3 and 4 of the Act.

An invention is patentable subject matter if it meets the following criteria –

i) It should be novel.

ii) It should have inventive step or it must be non-obvious

iii) It should be capable of Industrial application.

iv) It should not attract the provisions of section 3 and 4 of the Patents Act 1970.

An idea is not patentable by itself. However, you can refer answer of question 4 above to get more insight.

A patent application can be filed either by true and first inventor or his assignee, either alone or jointly with any other person. However, legal representative of any deceased person can also make an application for patent.

A complete specification is filed when the invention has taken the final shape and is ready to be filed in a complete manner. A complete application will contain claims which define the scope of your invention.

A patent application can be filed with Indian Patent Office either with provisional specification or with complete 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 provisional application. There is no further extension of time to file complete specification after expiry of said period

A Provisional patent application is generally filed when the invention has been conceived but more work needs to be done on the invention to perfect it. This is also known as ‘idea patenting’. Once a provisional application is filed, the applicant has a time period of 12 months to perfect his/her invention and file the complete application.

Option 1. File PCT Application

An Indian applicant can file a PCT application in the following manner:

a) Filing at Indian Patent Office [IPO]

In case filing at Indian Patent Office, the application should be accompanied by permission for foreign filing license under section 39. Such consent will be allowed or may be deferred after scrutinizing the invention details.

An international patent application can be filed in IPO as a receiving office in the PCT request form using PCT-SAFE. After the grant of such permission, the Patent Office India shall transmit the application to the IB. The applicant has to pay the prescribed transmittal fee in addition to the International Application fee and search fee.

b) Filing directly at WIPO

An international application can be directly filed in IB along with the prescribed fee in the PCT request form. Permission u/s 39 is required before submitting directly in IB. Such an application may also be filed ePCT.

c) Filing after a patent application in India

A PCT application can be filed anytime before the expiry of 12 months from the date of filing. File an international PCT application in IB of WIPO or an IPO as a receiving office. However, if the international filing is within six weeks from the date of filing in India, such filing shall be made after taking permission u/s 39 from the IPO.

An applicant has another option to file an International Application within twelve months from the filing date of the patent in India, directly in IB, claiming the priority of the previously submitted Indian patent application along with the prescribed application fee. A certified copy of the Indian application needs to be forwarded to IB within sixteen months from the date of priority.

In Option 1, the applicants need to file national phase applications in foreign countries within 30 or 31 months from the PCT filing date. To learn more about PCT filing, you may read the PCT Application in India.

Option 2: File patent applications in foreign countries without filing patent applications in India

When the second option is adopted, patent applicants have to complete a formality with the IPO before proceeding with patent application filing outside India. This formality has to be completed if one or more inventors in the patent application are residents of India. The formality requires the patent applicant to request the IPO to grant permission to apply for a patent outside India. The IPO generally gives the consent within 21 days from the date of making the request mentioned above.

Option 3: File patent applications in India, and soon after, file patent applications in foreign countries

When the third option is adopted, patent applicants should not, immediately after filing the Indian patent application, apply for a patent outside India. If the patent applicant wishes to submit patent applications as soon as possible, then permission shall be sought from the IPO.

On the other hand, patent applicants can wait for six weeks from the date of filing the Indian patent application. And after that, proceed with foreign patent applications filing, if the IPO has not issued a notification in those six weeks to the contrary. This formality has to be completed if one or more inventors in the patent application are residents of India.

Once the IPO grants permission or six weeks have passed since the filing date, patent applications can be filed in one or more countries outside India.

First Step for Patent Registration in India: True & First inventor of the Invention" "Assignee of the person claiming to be the true & first inventor" "legal representative of any deceased person who immediately before his death was entitled to make Patent application by filing the respective forms.

Second Step for the Patent Registration Process : Once the Patent Application is filed, it will be published by the IPO after Eighteen (18) months in the Official Gazette of the IPO for the Public. Publication of Patent Application is an automatic process; it does not require any request from the Patent Office.

Third Step for the Patent Registration : The application is then examined by the authorities. The Controller examines the Patent Application, only after receiving of the request for examination. Upon receiving the request for examination, the Patent application is examined by the Patent Registration Office, India.

Fourth Step for the Patent Registration: Once the process of examination is done, the Controller either grants the Patent registration or issues an examination report. The report may include certain subject matter objection or procedural objection. Normally, the Applicant gets six months’ time for submitting the reply of the Examination report. As a next step, if Controller gets satisfied, grants the Patent else give a hearing option to the Applicant.

Fifth Step for the Patent Registration: Patent grant:

If the Patent application fulfils the prescribed criteria for a Patent Registration, it will be granted by the Controller, published in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office India and issue a Certificate for the Patent Registration to the Applicant.