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Patent Application Filing in USPTO
What is Utility Model protection and does India offer utility model protection?
Utility Model
- As compared to patents, the requirements of obtaining a utility model differ. To obtain patent protection, patents are required to satisfy both novelty and non-obviousness requirements of patentability among other requirements. Utility models are supposed to satisfy the novelty requirement and the non-obviousness requirement for utility model is low or absent.
- The term of protection for utility model is usually between 7 to 10 years, based on the jurisdiction.
- In most jurisdictions offering utility model protection, the applications are not examined prior to registration. This significantly reduces the duration required for registration.
- As compared to patents, utility models are cheaper to obtain and maintain.
- In some jurisdictions, utility model protection can only be obtained for certain fields of technology and only for products but not for processes.
Primarily, utility model protection may be sought under the following circumstances:
- For inventions that do not reach the same level of inventiveness, which is required for patent protection.
- For inventions that require faster registration.
- For innovations which are of incremental nature and do not meet all the requirements of patentability.
- When the life cycle of the invention is short and/or if, the profits are not able to cover patenting costs.
- For minor improvements and adaptations of existing products.
- The innovation is tangible and/or mechanical in nature.
Can the details of my invention disclosed in the patent application be maintained as a secret?
Often innovators wish to have their innovation protected by a patent, and at the same time are concerned that, publication of their patent application will enable competitors to copy their innovation. A common question posed by innovators is, whether it is possible to protect their innovation by a patent and at the same time restrict details of the information disclosed in their patent application from public access. A simple and straight forward answer to the previous question is, NO, it is not possible to get patent protection and at the same time restrict details of the information disclosed in the patent application from public access.
How can I find out if my invention has already been invented?
This question may get asked when,
Researchers, before investing their time and money, would want to know, if it’s worthwhile to research on a product. They would want to find out, what kind of similar products exists in the market and what technological improvements can be made to those products.
For any new technological improvements/inventions, inventors may want to patent their invention. Before starting the process of patenting, inventors would want to access their chances of patentability of the invention. In order to access the patentability of an invention, a search to identify prior art is required.
When a product is to be launched into the market, to avoid infringement, it is advisable to determine freedom to operate for the product in question. In order to determine Freedom to operate, a search of patent documents of the jurisdiction in question is to be conducted. To know more about freedom to operate, you can go through our article about “Freedom to Operate”
A search for prior art can be conducted on the internet using search engines. This strategy may uncover some data, but will not always uncover very relevant data. This is owing to the fact that patent documents and publications may not have been indexed in search engines. Search strategies involved in searching of relevant patent and non patent data requires considerable skill and technique. To know more about search strategies and techniques to be adopted, you can read our article “How to conduct a patent search”
Another strategy to be adopted is to Search for non patent literature. Searching of non patent literature can aid in finding out if a similar invention exists. Searching of non patent literature be conducted using databases such as IEEE, Science Direct, IPmenu which hold enormous amount of data relating to non patent literature. Searching of such non patent literature data can uncover similar technology and would help in taking an informed decision regarding the invention. If a similar technology exists in non patent literature, it will affect the patentability of the invention, but it will have no bearing on the freedom to operate for a product, as non patent literature does not provide rights to the owner of that publication from stopping others from making and selling of those products.Note that if a publication about an invention exists in non patent literature, it does not mean that the owners would not have sought patent protection as well. It is advisable to cross check patent data as well before taking a decision about Freedom to operate.
Another strategy to be adopted is to search patent literature. Searching of patent literature can be conducted using various free and paid patent databases. It is important to know a few facts about patents.
Patents are jurisdiction specific. It means that to obtain patent protection, one has to file for patents in all the jurisdictions one wishes to obtain protection.
While determining freedom to operate for a specific country, only patent documents from that jurisdiction are to be considered.
To determine the patentability of an invention, one needs to consider relevant patent documents from all jurisdictions.
I hope you find this article helpful. Check our patent services page to find out if we can cater to your patent requirements. Also feel free to contact us or ask us a question and have it answered within 24 hours.
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Are patents always the best way to protect inventions?
To answer this question, let us first look at the bright side of patent. If you have a patent granted from your invention, it gives you the rights to exclude others from commercializing your patented technology for 20 years in the country in which it is granted. In other words, it means, you enjoy monopoly over the patented technology for 20 years in the country in which it is granted.
- On an average, it takes ~47 months (identified using a sample of 3191 US patents granted in the year 2011) from the date of filing a patent application to get a patent granted. Patenting is a time consuming process.
- Patents are territorial. This means, you will have to file patent applications in each country in which you want to protect your invention.
- You will have to pay a statutory fee to the patent office in each country you file a patent application. Additionally, you will also have to pay the patent consultant who helps you with filing the patent application in the respective country (we once received a quote of $2000 from a Japanese attorney for filing a patent application in Japan). In a nutshell, patenting is an expensive process.
Irrespective of all these hurdles, individuals and companies file for patents. In certain circumstances, it makes perfect sense to protect your inventions using patents. However, in my opinion, you should ask yourself some questions before you decide to protect your invention using patents.
- How easily can my invention be reverse engineered?
- How easy is it for someone to work around the invention and achieve the advantages provided by the invention?
- Is the invention attractive enough for someone to copy it?
- For how many years will this invention be relevant to the industry?
What can be patented and what cannot be patented
Some time back I was asked by one of the readers of my article, if I can tell him what can be patented and what cannot be; hence this article.
1. an invention which is frivolous or which claims anything obviously contrary to well – established natural laws: (Ex:
How much does it cost to get a patent in India?
How much does it cost to get a patent in India?
Understanding the cost structure corresponding to applying for a patent can help in making some important decisions. Hence, instead of having a generic idea about the overall cost, it helps if you are aware of the breakdown of the cost structure and the time of incurring such expenses.
- Should an inventor take professional help to draft and file patent applications?
- Why should patent specifications be drafted by patent professionals?
- Natural person
- Startup(s)
- Other than natural person – Small Entity
- Other than natural person – Others except small Entity
Any individual(s) applying for a patent is considered as a natural person. On the other hand, all other entities that do not fall under the first category, fall under the remaining three categories of :
- Other than natural person – Startup
- Other than natural person – Small Entity
- Other than natural person – Others except small Entity
- Other than natural person – Startup
- Other than natural person – Small Entity
- Other than natural person – Others except small Entity
No | Description | Patent office Fee (INR) 1$ = ~ 60 INR(E-Filing only) | Comments | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other than Natural person | Natural Person/Startup | ||||
Small Entity | Other than small entity | ||||
1 | Application for grant of patent | 4000 | 8000 | 1600 | Mandatory |
2 | Early publication fee | 6250 | 12500 | 2500 | Optional |
3 | Request for examination of patent application | 10000 | 20000 | 4000 | Mandatory |
4 | For every Extra sheet over 30 sheets | 400/sheet | 800/sheet | 160/sheet | Mandatory |
5 | For every Extra claim over 10 claims | 800/claim | 1600/claim | 320/claim | Mandatory |
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No. of pages in the specification
- The Indian Patent office charges an additional fee for each additional page over 30.
- The total number of pages includes description, claims, drawings and sequence listing if any.
- The margins requirements are 4 Cms at top, 4 Cms on left, 3 Cms at bottom and 3 Cms on right. Line spacing is 1.5.
No. of claims
- The Indian Patent office charges an additional fee for each additional claim over 10 claims.
- There is no restriction on the type of claims. The claims can be independent,dependent or multi-dependent. Only additional fee per claim is charged for each additional claim above 10 claims.
No. of priorities claimed
- The Indian Patent office charges an additional fee for each additional priority document over 1 priority.
- While calculating the number of priorities, PCT application is not considered a priority. If the PCT application itself is the priority application, then it is considered as a priority application.
Request for examination:
- The deadline to file an examination request in the Indian Patent office is 48 months from the earliest priority date.
- It is however, recommended to file the examination request along with the application, since the application is queued for examination, only upon filing the examination request.
- The fee mentioned in this calculator is for the normal examination request. It is recommended to file an express examination request, if the national phase application is filed much earlier than the 31 month deadline. By filing an express examination request, the application is put in queue immediately upon filing the application. If a normal examination request is filed, the application is put in queue for examination only after 31 months from the priority date.
Applicant type
- Any individual(s) applying for a patent is considered as a natural person. To be considered as natural persons, all the applicant(s) should be individuals.
- Applicants wishing to claim Start-up Status, need to provide proof of being a Start-up. To know more about this, you can read our article
- Applicants wishing to claim Small Entity Status, need to provide proof of being a small entity. To know more about this, you can read our article.
- Entities who do not qualify as either individuals or start-ups or small entity, will be considered as large entity
- What are the different patent filing options?
- Indian Patenting Process Timeline
- Patent Application Filing Procedure/Process in India
- At Which Stage Should I Apply for a Patent?
- Should I apply for a patent before publishing my invention?
I hope you found this article helpful. Please feel free to contact us to know more about how our patent services can help you in your business.