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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Trademark distinguishes the product of any company from the similar products of all other companies in the concerned jurisdictional marketplace.

An Internet domain name can be registered as a trademark but only when it is used to identify and distinguish goods or services. Simply having a URL is not enough to register a trademark.

Use a monitoring service that will alert you when someone seeks to register your trademark or a confusingly similar trademark. Policing your mark is not only prudent; it is your obligation as a registrant

You can stop someone from using your trademark if you can show that you are the first user of the trademark and that their use of the trademark is likely to cause confusion among consumers.

Only a protected trademark offers the trademark owner the legitimate rights within the concerned jurisdiction regarding the exclusive authority over the trademark, commercial utilization of the trademark, taking rigorous legal action against trademark infringements by other people and entities, and hiring or sale of his trademark. This trademark protection is achievable through proper registration of the trademark in the desired jurisdictions.

FIRST STEP First and foremost, to register for a trademark internationally, you must apply to a national trademark office pertaining to a Contracting State. SECOND STEP Once approved by the national office, the WIPO will then take their turn to examine your application. This examination is mainly to ensure that there are no defects in the application and that you are a legitimate applicant that fulfills the requirements. Upon approval, it will be published in the WIPO’s International Trademark Gazette, and the application will then be forwarded to the national offices of every requested country. THIRD STEP The international trademark registration procedure essentially has the same effect as if you were to apply to register a national trademark in all of the countries’ requested. Therefore, at this stage, the relevant national trademark offices will examine your application for any faults and, importantly, any potential IP conflicts with already registered trademarks in that country. Usually, an important part of the national procedure is to publish the application in their national gazette or bulletin and allow a time period for other trademark holders to voice their concerns. If there are any conflicts with pre-registered trademarks, the national office has one year to communicate a notification of provisional refusal – this time period can occasionally be extended to 18 months or longer. If there is no notification of such a provisional refusal, the trademark is granted and your brand is now officially protected in that country.

A trademark application can be filed for a single class or multi class. Application claiming priority from a convention country can also be filed in India within six months from the priority date. Issuance of Examination Report After an application is filed the same is then examined by the Registrar in accordance to the provisions of Trademark Act. If an objection to registration of the mark is raised, an official examination report will normally be issued by the Registrar within 3 months to 6 months. The reply to trademark examination report is known as trademark examination reply. This reply has to be filed within 30 days from the receipt of the trademark examination report, failing which the trademark application may be treated as abandoned by the Trademark Registry. Publication After examination and upon acceptance of the response by the Registrar, the application is ordered for advertisement /publication in the Trademarks Journal. An application is advertised in the Trademarks Journal and open to the public for filing opposition against the registration of a mark. Thus, once a mark is accepted, the Registrar advertises the mark in the official Trade Marks Journal, which is published and is available on the Registry's website every Monday. Opposition Once the trademark is published in the Trademarks Journal, any aggrieved person can oppose its registration by filing a notice of opposition with the Registry. The notice of opposition is required to be filed within the prescribed period of four months from the date on which the mark was published in the Trade Marks Journal. Registration The last step in the process of trademark prosecution is registration and thereafter renewal. The application shall proceed to registration where no notice of opposition is filed against the mark. The mark is then registered for a period of 10 years from the date of filing of the application and the registration certificate is issued.

According to the International Classification of Nice Agreement, there are 34 broad classes for products, and 11 specific classes for services, thus forming a total of 45 classes for trademarks. The majority of countries of the world have adopted this classification of trademarks and service marks, including India.

You can legally use the ® symbol once your trademark is registered; simply filing an application is not sufficient. If it is not registered, it is advisable to accompany uses of a mark with a ™ symbol, for the trademark of a product, or SM symbol, for a service mark.

The length of time for the examination process varies; but it is generally six months to one year, although it can take longer if complexities arise, such as a legal opposition.

Usually, a conventional trademark and service mark comprised anyone or more of the following distinguishing indicators: Word or Wordmark Name Symbol Sign or Signature Graphic Mark or Design (Logo) Slogan or Phrase Sounds A Combination of certain Letters, Numbers, or Colors Today, in addition to these most popular conventional trademarks, the following can also be registered in India and countries worldwide: Three-dimensional Shape of Product, or the Packaging of the same Any Distinct Sound Any Specific Smell Any Specific Color or Color Combination And, any other indication that satisfies the requirement of being a trademark.

Copyright ensures certain minimum safeguards of the rights of authors over their creations, thereby protecting and rewarding creativity. Creativity being the keystone of progress, no civilized society can afford to ignore the basic requirement of encouraging the same. Economic and social development of a society is dependent on creativity. The protection provided by copyright to the efforts of writers, artists, designers, dramatists, musicians, architects and producers of sound recordings, cinematograph films and computer software, creates an atmosphere conducive to creativity, which induces them to create more and motivates others to create.

The procedure for registration is as follows: a) Application for registration is to be made on Form XIV (Including Statement of Particulars and Statement of Further Particulars) as prescribed in the first schedule to the Rules b) Separate applications should be made for registration of each work; c) Each application should be accompanied by the requisite fee prescribed in the second schedule to the Rules d) The applications should be signed by the applicant. The Power of Attorney signed by the party and accepted by the advocate should also be enclosed, if applicable. e) The fee is to be paid either in the form of Demand Draft or Indian Postal Order favouring "Registrar Of Copyrights Payable At New Delhi" or through E payment Each and every column of the Statement of Particulars and Statement of Further Particulars should be replied specifically. f) The fee is either in the form of Demand Draft,Indian Postal Order favoring "Registrar Of Copyright Payable At New Delhi" or through E payment Each and every column of the Statement of Particulars and Statement of Further Particulars should be replied specifically.

The general rule is that copyright lasts for 60 years. In the case of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the 60-year period is counted from the year following the death of the author.

Computer programs and other types of software are considered as literary works for copyright purposes. Therefore, they receive automatic protection without the need for registration. In some countries, the process of voluntary registration for software may differ from that for other types of work

The Copyright Office has been set up to provide registration facilities to all types of works and is headed by a Registrar of Copyrights. The applications are also accepted by post. On-line registration through “E-filing facility “has also been provided which facilitates the applicants to file applications at the time and place chosen by them.

Copyright (or author’s right) is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.

After you file your application, you will receive a diary number you have to wait for a mandatory period of 30 days so that no objection is filed in the Copyright office against your claim. In case any objection is filed, the Registrar of Copyrights after giving an opportunity of hearing to both the parties, may decide to register the work or otherwise. If no objection is filed the application is examined by the examiners. If any discrepancy is found the applicant is given ordinarily 45 days time to remove the same. Therefore, it may take around 2 to 3 months time for registration of any work in the normal course. The cooperation of the applicant in providing necessary information is the key for speedy disposal the matter.

Firstly, copyright protection is automatic in all states party to the Berne Convention. Whilst there may be nuances to the particular national laws applicable in these states, in general there is a high degree of harmony.

Copyright does not ordinarily protect titles by themselves or names, short word combinations, slogans, short phrases, methods, plots or factual information. Copyright does not protect ideas or concepts. To get the protection of copyright a work must be original.

The Copyright Act, 1957 protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and cinematograph films and sound recordings from unauthorized uses.

A design which :- (a) is not new or original; or (b) has been disclosed to the public any where in India or in any other country by publication in tangible form or by use in any other way prior to the filing date, or where applicable, the priority date of the application for registration; or (c) is not significantly distinguishable from known designs or combination of known designs; or (d) comprises or contains scandalous or obscene matter, shall not be registered.

Piracy of a design means the application of a design or its imitation to any article belonging to class of articles in which the design has been registered for the purpose of sale or importation of such articles without the written consent of the registered proprietor. Publishing such articles or exposing terms for sale with knowledge of the unauthorized application of the design to them also involves piracy of the design.

The term of a registered design is 15 years. Initially the right is granted for a period of 10 years, which can be extended, by another 5 years by making an application and paying a fee of Rs. 2000/- to the Controller before the expiry of initial 10 years period. The proprietor of design may make application for such extension as soon as the design is registered.

No. A registered design, the copyright of which has expired cannot be re-registered.

An application for design registration can be filed by any person claiming to be the proprietor of any new or original design. The designer or his assignee either alone or jointly with any other person or through a legal representative can also apply for design. However, for applicants who are not residents of India applications are to be filed through an agent residing in India.

Designs Act, 2000 lays down the following procedure for the registration of designs and the following steps are involved : STEP 1. Application for registration of designs (Section 5) STEP 2. Substitution of application (Section 8) STEP 3. Registration to be in respect of particular article (Section 6) STEP 4. Publication of particulars of registered design (Section 7) STEP 5. Certificate of Registration (Section 9)

'Design' means the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colors applied to any article whether in two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical or chemical, separate or combined.

It takes a turnaround time of about 3-6 months for a design to be registered with the Patent Office.