What is a Patent?
A patent is a statutory right provided by the government to the patentee for a set length of time in return for full disclosure of his invention and the prohibition of others from creating, using, selling, or importing the patented product or method for those purposes without his approval.
What are the rules to be kept in mind before filing the patent application?
- When the Patent is filed physically, an additional fee of 10% is payable when the applications for patent and other documents.
- The fees payable under the Act or rules may be paid at the appropriate office either in cash, or through electronic means, or maybe sent by bank draft or banker‘s cheque. The amount is payable to the Controller of Patents and drawn on a scheduled bank at the place where the appropriate office is situated. If the draft or banker‘s cheque is sent by post, the fees shall be deemed to have been paid on the date on which the draft or banker‘s cheque has actually reached the Controller.
- The fees payable with respect to the grant of patents and applications, therefore, and in respect of other matters for which fees are required to be payable are specified in the First Schedule.
- Where a fee is payable with respect to a document, the entire fee shall accompany the document.
- In case of transfer of application from a natural person to other than a natural person, the difference, if any between the fee shall be paid by the new applicant with the request for transfer.
Who is eligible to file for a patent?
A patent application can be submitted by the real and original inventor or his assignee, alone or in collaboration with others. A legal representative of a deceased individual, on the other hand, can file a patent application.
What are the patentability criteria?
If an invention fits the following conditions, it is the patentable subject matter:
i) It must be new.
ii) It must be non-obvious or contain an imaginative step.
iii) It should be suitable for industrial use.
iv) It should not be subject to the Patents Act 1970’s sections 3 and 4.
What categories of innovations are not patentable?
- An invention may meet the criteria for novelty, creativity, and utility, yet it may not be eligible for a patent under the following circumstances:\
- a frivolous innovation or one that asserts anything that is manifestly opposed to well-established natural rules;
- an innovation whose primary or planned use or commercial exploitation may be in violation of public order or morals, or may cause substantial harm to human, animal, or plant life, health, or the environment;
- any method for the medical, surgical, curative, prophylactic (diagnostic, therapeutic) or other treatment of humans or animals to render them disease-free or to raise their economic value or the value of their products;
- other than microbes, plants, and animals in whole or in part, including seeds, varieties, and species, and fundamentally biological processes for the development or propagation of plants and animals;
- a mathematical or business process, as well as a computer program or algorithms in general;
- a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work, as well as any other aesthetic creation, including films and television shows;
- a simple plan, rule, or procedure for completing a mental task or for playing a game;
- the discovery of a scientific concept, the development of an abstract theory, or the discovery of any living or non-living substance in nature;
- the mere discovery of a new form of a known substance that does not result in an increase in the substance’s known efficacy, or the mere discovery of any new property or new use for a known substance, or the mere use of a known process, machine, or apparatus unless it produces a new product or uses at least one new reactant;
- a material or a procedure for making such a substance acquired by simple mixing resulting merely in the aggregate of the qualities of its constituents;
- the simple assembly, re-arrangement, or replication of existing devices, each of which functions independently and in a predictable manner;
How to Publish the patent application
Patent applications filed with the Indian patent office will be published in the official patent journal. This is generally done after 18 months of filing the application. In case one wants to get it published earlier, he can make a request in form 9 for early publication. When a restriction is placed by the Indian patent act with regards to the publishing of the patent, the same will not be published in the journal.
Examination of patent application
Every application filed for protection will be examined before a patent is finally granted. The application has to be made for examination in form 18. The earlier one makes a request, the earlier the application will be examined by the examiner. Once the application is filed, it is transferred to the patent officer who will examine the application to ensure the same is in accordance with the patent act and rules. A thorough search is conducted by the office where he/she analyses the relevant technology in-depth and the objections, if any, will be communicated. The report issued in this case is called the First Examination Report(FER).
Grant of patent
The patent is granted once all the objections raised by the officer are resolved.
- Rules to keep in mind while filing the patent application
- The fees payable with respect to the grant of patents and applications, therefore, and in respect of other matters for which fees are required to be payable are specified in the First Schedule.
- An additional fee of 10% is payable when the applications for patent and other documents are filed physically.
- The fees payable under the Act or rules may be paid at the appropriate office either in cash, or through electronic means, or maybe sent by bank draft or banker‘s cheque. The amount is payable to the Controller of Patents and drawn on a scheduled bank at the place where the appropriate office is situated. If the draft or banker‘s cheque is sent by post, the fees shall be deemed to have been paid on the date on which the draft or banker‘s cheque has actually reached the Controller.
- Where a fee is payable with respect to a document, the entire fee shall accompany the document.
- In case of transfer of application from a natural person to other than a natural person, the difference, if any between the fee shall be paid by the new applicant with the request for transfer.
- Integrated circuit topography;
- an innovation that is essentially traditional knowledge or aggregation or duplicate of recognized features of traditionally known component(s);
- innovations in the field of atomic energy
