A patent is a statutory privilege granted by the Government to an inventor, and to other persons deriving their rights from the inventor (Eg: Assignee) for a fixed period of years, to exclude other persons from manufacturing, using or selling a patented product, or from utilizing a patented method or process. At the expiration of the period of the patent, the patented invention is available to the general public or can be said it falls into the public domain.

Prosecuting an Indian Patent Application

An application for a patent in the prescribed form along with the prescribed fee has to be filed in the appropriate patent office. Examiners of patents scrutinize the application accompanied by a specification so that it satisfies the requirements. After examination, the Patent Office will raise objections and once the applicant convinces the Controller Of Patents will put the specification in the Official Gazette and on its acceptance without any controversy, a patent shall be granted.

A patent grant gives the patentee the exclusive right to make or use the patented article or use the patented process by preventing all others from making or using the patented article or using the patented process. The patentee can assign, grant licenses or deal for consideration.

With the growing awareness of importance and benefits of  getting a patent on one’s own innovation  there has been upsurge on number of patent application being filed at the Indian Patent Office.

The following article is an effort to bring out common misconceptions faced by the  Indian patent applicant  regarding the filing and prosecuting of Indian Patent application .

Common Myths on Indian  Patent Filing

Myth 1:
All inventions which are novel , has inventive step  and has industrial application  are liable to get patented under Indian Patent Act , 1970.

Myth 2:
Provisional specification is a rough draft or skeleton of complete specification.The complete specification  which follows provisional specification can replace the latter .

Myth 3:
A complete specification can not be filed directly. It is mandatory to file  a Provisional Specification  before filing complete specification .

Myth 4:
An application accompanying a provisional specification is deemed to be abandoned if no complete specification is filed within twelve months from the date of filing of the provisional specification. However, the  Indian Patent applicant has an option to post-date the provisional specification . Such request for post-dating  can be made any time after 12 months from  the date of application.

Myth 5:
An  Indian Patent applicant cannot withdraw his  patent application once  the complete specification has been filed .

Myth 6:
An Indian Patent  applicant can file a non – publication request  so as not to bring his patent application in to public domain.

Myth 7:
An Indian  patent applicant can keep his invention secret  with himself and the controller.

Myth 8:
Request for examination can only be filed by the   patent  applicant and not by anybody else.

Myth 9:
For filing request for examination , a Patent applicant  has to wait for his patent application  to get published  and only after that he can file   a request for examination .

Myth 10:
Claims are deemed to be a part of complete specification and  cannot  be filed  along with the provisional specification .

Myth 11:
If the patent applicant forgets to file any claim he/she  can always amend his patent application or granted patent  to include those claims.

Myth 12:
Detailed description of invention  requires sufficient detail  of  invention in question , but it does not require  to describe nature of improvements/ or modification  effected with respect to  prior art .

Myth 13:
Inventor’s name can be included  in the title of specification  as inventor has done all the research and hard work  so it is permissible to include his name in the title.

Myth 14:
A model or sample of invention can not be submitted as a part of complete specification .

Myth 15:
The invention  disclosed in complete specification can  be commercialized  only after the grant of patent.

Myth 16:
An opposition can be filed by anybody who is interested  to oppose the patent application/ granted patent.

Myth 17:
In case of any infringement which has occurred in between the period of publication and grant of patent , damages of the infringement cannot be claimed by the patentee.

Myth 18:
After the grant of patent  , the patent office will help  in commercialization of patent  i.e it will help in  finding the potential licensees / or users for  the patent.

Myth 19:
An Indian Patent applicant is free to file  an application  abroad .Indian  Patent office is not concerned with  the information on  foreign filing of same or substantially invention.

Myth 20:
Patent office  helps to select the patent attorney/ agent to make  patent search  ,to prepare  & prosecute   the patent application .

Inference

With the advent of increase in patent filing by  big companies like Nokia  , Samsung etc it  is now well accepted that  IP Rights is an asset for the company . Google’s planned $ 125 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings , payment of $4.5 billion for 6,000 patents of bankrupt Nortel Networks by firms including  Apple , Research In Motion Ltd and Ericsson’s paid $4.5 billion for 6,000 patents of bankrupt Nortel Networks  underlined the value of Intellectual Property in the fast changing telecoms world where established players are seeking to keep out newer rivals.

Hence, to get  a patent granted by the Indian Patent Office  as expeditiously as possible it is important file  an Indian Patent application in accordance with the  Indian Patent Act .

Part 2 – of the article will  bring out the sections  & explanations to clarify above myths on Indian Patent filing  , so stay tuned !