The application for a patent alone does not restrict others from copying your product/process. However, you can inform the infringer that your patent is pending and you intend to take action against them after grant. A granted patent will give you the right to stop others who are copying your product/process.

A value of a company increases by having patents since the patent owner now has exclusive rights over their patented product/process. These rights create a barrier to entry for the competitors, thereby creating a larger market share for the patent owner.

Obtaining patent rights give a competitive edge to the patent owner since it creates a barrier to entry for the competitors to create the patented product.

The best thing about patents are that even if a company does not do well, they will still retain their patent portfolio which will prove to be a valuable asset. Irrespective of the profit or loss of a business, obtaining a patent is always valuable.

The provisional application can be filed if the inventors feel that there is enough progress in the invention to warrant filing of a patent application, but more progress is necessary. By taking such an approach, a priority date can be secured for the parts of the invention which have progressed. However, if the invention is at a stage wherein complete progress has been achieved, it is advisable to file a complete application.

Once the patent application is filed, the following sequence of events happen:

• The patent office will review the application to determine if the application is related to national security or atomic energy. If it is so, secrecy directions are issued, and if not, no such directions are issued. Such directions are issued within 6 weeks of the filing.
• The complete application is published after 18 months from the priority date.
• The application is examined
• An examination report is issued
• A response to examination has to be filed

The patent office may issue a final grant or rejection

Yes, the patent office may raise objections to the grant of patent based on the various requirements of patentability.

Yes, any person can raise objections to the grant of patent by providing the cause for the opposition.

If objections are raised by the patent office, response to the examination report has to be filed.

InvnTree places foremost importance on the quality of its services. To ensure quality, some of the steps taken are:

• Hire and train the best talent
• Projects are worked on by employees having educational background related to the domain of the invention.

All projects go through rigorous review process – legal review – technical review – discussion about how to cover possible workaround and peer review.

InvnTree always strives to ensure that its clients have a higher chance of patent grant. In that direction, InvnTree has created OptiResponse, an intelligent patent prosecution tool developed by InvnTree for exclusive use by employees at InvnTree.

InvnTree advises its clients to get a patentability study done before initiating the patent specification drafting and filing, so that the specification is drafted keeping in mind the prior art. This ensures that such patent applications have a higher chance of grant.

InvnTree ensures that responses to examination reports issued by the patent office are backed by comprehensive research and solid arguments, so that the chances of a grant are higher.

InvnTree has clients from all over the world. Technology has enabled us to communicate efficiently and effectively with clients all over the world.

We use various methods to understand the inventions from inventors.

A comprehensive invention disclosure form is used to get a preliminary understanding about the invention. This involves filling up of the invention disclosure form by the inventor. However, many a times, we have noticed that inventors are not able to spare their time in filling the invention disclosure form. In such cases, we fix a video conference with the inventor, where the inventors are also able to share and show their documentation with us.

We interview the inventor about the invention and get through with the invention. The inventor also shares follow-up documents through email.

InvnTree uses video conferencing with filing sharing, emails and phone calls to communicate effectively and efficiently with their clients all over the world.

The process followed by InvnTree in filing for patents is as below:

• InvnTree advises its clients to get a patentability study done as a preliminary step, so that they can take an informed decision regarding filing a patent application.
• Upon receiving the patentability study report along with our opinion, the client can take an informed decision regarding filing the application.
• If the client takes a decision to go ahead with the filing of the patent application, a patent specification is drafted by our team member who has domain knowledge and adequate educational background in the subject matter.
• The specification is sent to the client for review and is finalized upon taking inputs from the client.

The application is filed after going through various reviews within InvnTree.

The Indian patent office has very strict deadlines and non-adherence of some deadlines may lead to abandonment of such patent applications.

To ensure that no deadlines are missed, we docket all Indian patent applications in our custom docketing software. The docketing software is designed as per the Indian Patent Act and Rules. Docketing of the applications ensures that the client receives multiple reminders for every action which is pending.

InvnTree provides end to end patent services. Some of our services are listed below:

• Conducting patentability studies to determine patentability of inventions.
• Preparation of patent specification drafts.
• Filing of patent applications.
• Prosecution of patent applications.
• Maintaining of patents.
• Conducting freedom to operate studies.
• Conducting competitor monitoring studies.
• Conducting infringement analysis studies.
• Conducting landscape studies.

Filing of pre-grant and post-grant opposition of patents

After applying for a patent you may incur the below expenses:

• Professional fee for prosecuting the patent application by responding to examination reports (if issued) by the patent office.
• Professional fee for prosecuting the patent application by attending hearing, if the application goes to the hearing stage
• Professional for filing yearly statement relating to working of patent for granted patent

Patent  office and professional fee for annuity fee for keeping the patent in force. The annuity fee has to be paid from the 3^rd year till the 20^th year of the patent term.

There are 4 types are applications considered by the Indian Patent office:

• Natural person – when the applicant(s) are all individuals
• Startup – An entity who can be considered as a startup as per Indian Patent laws
• Small Entity – An entity who can be considered as a small entity as per Indian Patent laws
• Other than small entity – An entity who neither qualifies as a startup nor as a small entity

The patent office fee is least for natural persons and startups. The fee for a small entity is 2.5 times the fee for a natural person and the fee for an entity other than small entity is 5 times the fee for a natural person.

• The Indian Patent office encourages filing of patents by individuals, startups and small entities by according them various benefits such as:
• Reduced fee for individuals, startups and small entities

Opportunity for availing expedited examination for startups

The costs associated with maintaining granted patents pertain to payment of annuity fee after grant of the patent. The annuity fee is applicable from the 3^rd year till the 20^th year of the patent term. The term of the patent is 20 years.

It is not advisable to publicly disclose the invention before filing a patent application. If the invention is publicly disclosed before filing a patent application, the public disclosure will be considered as prior art during examination of the patent application.

Building a prototype is not necessary for filing a patent application. Only detailed description pertaining to the invention is necessary.

There is no need to provide any proof relating to the working of the invention to the patent office.

It is advisable to file patent application before submitting the Ph.D thesis.

Steps need to be taken within 12 months of filing the priority application to enable filing of the patent application in other jurisdictions. Convention applications can be filed within 12 months of filing the priority application. PCT application can be filed within 12 months of filing the application in India. Filing of PCT application will give 30/31 months from the priority date to file national phase applications in other jurisdictions.

By default, a complete application will be published upon 18 months from the priority date. However, if an early publication request is filed for a complete application, the application will be published within 21 days of filing such a request.

The deadline for filing an examination request is 48 months from the earliest priority date. However, it is advisable to file the request at the earliest, since the application is put in queue for examination only upon filing the request.

As per the Indian Patent Act, the application is put in queue for examination upon satisfying the criteria of being published and an examination request filed. Typically, at present, the patent office is issuing examination reports within 36 months of filing the patent application. However, the patent office is increasing its resources and has promised to issue examination reports within 18 months of filing the request for examination.

A response to examination has to be filed within 6 months of receiving the examination report. However, it is advisable to respond to the examination report at the earliest, to give the patent office time to issue any further examination requests if any.

It takes about 36 to 48 months at present to get a final decision on a patent application. However, the Indian patent office is hiring more resources to bring down this timeline.

The term of the patent is 20 years from the filing date.

An expired patent cannot be renewed.

Inventions which fall under Section 3 and 4 of the Indian Patent Act cannot be patented.

As per the Indian Patent Act, pure business methods will not be granted patents.

Patents are the only option to protect technological innovations.

By virtue of being the first importer of an existing product, a patent cannot be granted

Patent rights are jurisdiction specific. If a patent is not filed in India, you will not be able to obtain patent protection for the same in India.

Getting a patent grant for a new use of a known product is not possible under the Indian Patent Act.

There is no need to prepare a working model to get a patent grant. In rare cases, the patent office may request for a model. In such cases only, a model is to be provided.

At present, the patent office is issuing examination reports within 36 months of filing the patent application. However, the patent office is increasing its resources and has promised to issue examination reports within 18 months of filing the request for examination.

Typically the patent office raises objections relating to the below mentioned:

• Lack of novelty in the invention
• Invention is obvious in light of prior art
• Subject matter is not patentable
• Enablement requirement is not satisfied

The patent office will rely on all documents in the public domain including patent and non patent literature. Hence it will not restrict its search to only Indian databases.

The patent office may issue more than 1 examination report and also provide an opportunity to be heard.

The authorized agent can meet the examiner for a hearing to discuss the objections and overcome the same.

Expedition of patent examination can only happen under the below circumstances:

• The applicant is recognized as a startup
• There is a corresponding PCT application filed, in which India is chosen as the ISA.

Unless the inventor is also the applicant, the inventor will not have any commercial rights conferred by the patent.

The applicant can sell the rights to the patent. However, if there are multiple applicants, consent of all the applicants is required to sell the patent. If there is an agreement to the contrary, the agreement has to be registered with the patent office to be valid.

The applicant can license the patent to third parties. However, if there are multiple applicants, consent of all the applicants is required to license the patent. If there is an agreement to the contrary, the agreement has to be registered with the patent office to be valid.

If there are multiple applicants, all applicants will have equal and undivided share of the patent. Each of the applicant is free to commercialize the invention on their own. However, there can be an agreement which can specify the pattern of ownership. Such an agreement has to be registered with the patent office to have validity.

Patents cannot infringe on other patents. Only products or processes can infringe on other patents.

A suit for infringement can be filed by the applicant against the alleged infringer in a District court or high court.

It is very important to determine if by launching your product in the market, if you will infringe on others' patent rights. If you are infringing, an injunction against selling your products can be bought by the patent holder. In light of this, a freedom to operate study needs to be conducted to determine if you have freedom to launch your products in the jurisdiction of interest.

If you are infringing on others' patent rights, your options would be:

• To seek a license from the patent holder
• Try to invalidate the patent
• Reengineer your product to overcome infringement

In a suit for infringement, the patent owner can seek damages or an account of profits.

A patent application filed in India provides protection only in the Indian jurisdiction.

If you wish to file patent applications in other jurisdictions by claiming priority of the Indian application, you can either file convention applications or a PCT application.

Patents are jurisdiction specific. The rights granted are specific to the jurisdiction. You would not be able to stop the manufacturing of your patented product in a jurisdiction in which you do not have protection. However, you can stop the import of the patented product into a jurisdiction in which you have a patent.

The decision to file patent application in different jurisdictions will depend on your business interests in those jurisdictions. If you feel that you will be able to commercialize your innovation in that jurisdiction, you should file a patent to protect your innovation in that jurisdiction.