Patent Office India – Published Patent and Design registration Information – July 12th, 2013

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

Indian Patent Office publishes patent information on a weekly basis (on Friday each week). This is a public notification, enabling you to take appropriate action if desired.

Data sourced from Indian Patent Office by Team InvnTree. 

The attached Pdf can be downloaded here  and can also be accessed  below.

If you would like to get weekly email updates of  Indian Patent office's published patent information, Subscribe to this service free of cost 

The publication includes published patent applications, design registration and granted patents, among other information, for the week of  July 12th, 2013

You may go through this publication, and if you find patent information that has an impact on your business, then you may take appropriate actions, such as: 

1.    File pre-grant opposition on filed patents 

2.    File post-grant opposition on granted patents
 
I hope you find this data helpful. Check our patent services  page to find out if we cater to your needs.
 
In addition to providing other India specific patent services, InvnTree provides patent services such as, PCT National Phase filing in India
 
Also, feel free to contact us or ask us  a question and have it answered within 24 hours.

This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

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Precautions to be taken before filing a foreign patent application by Indian residents

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

Many companies operating from India cater to foreign markets, especially US. Hence, such companies are keen on filing patent applications outside India. Such companies generally contemplate adopting two options:

1.      File patent applications in foreign countries without filing a patent application in India

2.      File a patent application in India, and soon after, file patent applications in foreign countries  

1. File patent applications in foreign countries without filing a patent application in India

When the first option is adopted, patent applicants have to complete a formality with the Indian Patent Office (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 (we are not referring to citizenship) of India. The formality requires the patent applicant to request the IPO to grant permission to apply for patent outside India. The IPO grants the permission within 21 days from the date of making the aforementioned request. Permission may be rejected by the IPO if the subject matter is relevant for defence purposes and atomic energy.

Section 39 of the Indian Patent Act and Rule 71(2) of The Patent Rules shall be considered in the above scenario. Relevant portions of Section 39 and Rule 71(2) are reproduced below: 

39. Residents not to apply for patents outside India without prior permission 

(1) No person resident in India shall, except under the authority of a written permit sought in the manner prescribed and granted by or on behalf of the Controller, make or cause to be made any application outside India for the grant of a patent for an invention …  

 

(2) The Controller shall dispose of every such application within such period as may be prescribed:

PROVIDED that if the invention is relevant for defence purpose or atomic energy, the Controller shall not grant permit without the prior consent of the Central Government. 

 

71. Permission for making patent application outside India under section 39

(2) The time within which the Controller disposes of the request made under subrule (1), except in case of inventions relating to defence and atomic energy applications, shall ordinarily be within a period of twenty-one days from the date of filing of such request. 

Once the IPO grants permission to apply for patent outside India, patent applications can be filed in one or more countries outside India.  


2. File a patent application in India, and soon after, file patent applications in foreign countries 
When the second option is adopted, patent applicants should not, immediately after filing the Indian patent application, apply for patent outside India. If the patent applicant wishes to file patent applications as soon as possible, then permission shall be sought from the IPO, as discussed under the previous option. On the other hand, patent applicants can wait for six weeks from the date of filing the Indian patent application, and thereafter proceed with foreign patent applications filing, if a notification has not been issued by the IPO in those 6 weeks to the contrary. This formality has to be completed, if one or more inventors in the patent application are residents (we are not referring to citizenship here) of India.
In this option, Section 39 and 40 of the Indian Patent Act shall be considered. Relevant portions of Section 39 and 40 are reproduced below:  

39. Residents not to apply for patents outside India without prior permission 

(1) No person resident in India shall, except under the authority of a written permit sought in the manner prescribed and granted by or on behalf of the Controller, make or cause to be made any application outside India for the grant of a patent for an invention unless— 

(a) an application for a patent for the same invention has been made in India, not less than six weeks before the application outside India; and 

(b) either no direction has been given under sub-section (1) of section 35 in relation to the application in India, or all such directions have been revoked. 

40. Liability for contravention of section 35 or section 39 

Without prejudice to the provisions contained in Chapter XX, if in respect of an application for a patent any person contravenes any direction as to secrecy given by the Controller under section 35, or makes or causes to be made an application for grant of a patent outside India in contravention of section 39 the application for patent under this Act shall be deemed to have been abandoned and the patent granted, if any, shall be liable to be revoked under section 64. 
Once the IPO grants permission or 6 weeks have passed since the filing of the Indian patent application, patent applications can be filed in one or more countries outside India. 
We hope you found this article useful. You may be interested in reading our article "Significance of Seeking Permission To File Patent Applications Outside India"   
 
Feel free to write to us at [email protected] if you have any comments, queries or want to avail our services.
Please feel free check our patent services page to find out if we can cater to your patent requirements. You can also contact us to explore the option of working together. 
Best regards – Team InvnTree    
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US – Patent Cases – Weekly Update – July 2nd – July 9th, 2013

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

In an endeavour to keep patent enthusiasts abreast with the latest patent related activities in leading geographies, we provide a weekly update of patent cases filed in the US.

Go ahead, download the compilation for free!
 
 
Feel free to check whether any of our patent support services can address your requirements.
You can also contact or ask us  a question and have it answered within 24 hours.
We specialize in offering patent support services to patent practitioners across the world.
 
Best regards – Team InvnTree   

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Can the details of my invention disclosed in the patent application be maintained as a secret?

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

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.

In order to understand the reason behind why such a provision is not extended to inventors, one will have to look at some of the fundamentals of the patent system.
 
First of all, the patent system enables a patent owner to stop third party from commercializing his patented technology. In other words, third party should know what technology is patent protected, so that they do not infringe on existing patents. Hence, details of the technology that is protected by patents have to be made public information.
 
Secondly, the patent system in essence is designed to encourage improvement in science and technology. In order to encourage such improvement, innovators are given an incentive, i.e. patent rights for 20 years, in exchange for disclosure of their technology. By making these disclosures available to the public, the system enables public at large to understand state of the art and bring about further improvements. Therefore, the fundamentals of the patent system do not permit grant of patent rights while preventing public access to details disclosed in the patent.
 
Having said that, some countries, such as US, will withhold publication of the patent application, subject to certain conditions, only till a patent is granted. However, once a patent is granted, the granted patent will be eventually published.
 
In India however, the patent application will be published after 18 months from the filing date (priority date) of the patent application. In case the patent applicant does not wish to have the patent application published, then the only option is to withdraw the patent application. The withdrawal of the patent application has to happen 3 months before the date the publication of patent application is supposed to happen. In case of withdrawal, the patent application will not be available for public access, and at the same time, the applicant looses the opportunity of a potential patent grant corresponding to the withdrawn patent application. In certain scenarios, such as change in the business environment, applicants explore the above option.
 
We hope you found this article useful.
Feel free to write to us at [email protected] if you have any comments, queries or want to avail our services.
 
Please feel free check our patent services page to find out if we can cater to your patent requirements. You can also contact us to explore the option of working together.
 
Best regards – Team InvnTree   
 
   
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Patent Office India – Published Patent and Design registration Information – July 5th, 2013

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

Indian Patent Office publishes patent information on a weekly basis (on Friday each week). This is a public notification, enabling you to take appropriate action if desired.

Data sourced from Indian Patent Office by Team InvnTree. 

The attached Pdf can be downloaded here  and can also be accessed  below.

If you would like to get weekly email updates of  Indian Patent office's published patent information, Subscribe to this service free of cost 

The publication includes published patent applications, design registration and granted patents, among other information, for the week of  July 5th, 2013

 
You may go through this publication, and if you find patent information that has an impact on your business, then you may take appropriate actions, such as:

 
1.    File pre-grant opposition on filed patents 

2.    File post-grant opposition on granted patents
 
I hope you find this data helpful. Check our patent services  page to find out if we cater to your needs.
 
In addition to providing other India specific patent services, InvnTree provides patent services such as, PCT National Phase filing in India
 
Also, feel free to contact us or ask us  a question and have it answered within 24 hours.

This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

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Should I apply for a patent before publishing my invention?

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     2 Comments

We come across several individuals who publish their work, and thereafter explore the option of patenting. Hence, we have penned down our thoughts on effects of publication on patenting.

Even before we delve into the topic, we would like to state the fact that, patent laws are jurisdiction specific, and varies from one country to another. The law in the US gives an inventor a period of 12 months from the date of such publication to apply for a patent. However, the law governing the patent system in India is significantly different.
 
In India, when the patent office examines a patent application, it tries to determine whether the subject matter intended to be protected in the patent application is anticipated or not. To determine anticipation, publications in India or elsewhere, which exist before the date of filing of the Indian patent application, are considered. In a scenario wherein the inventor himself has made a publication before filing the patent application, will still be considered as “prior art”. The inventors own publication would result in anticipation of the subject matter sought to be patented by his patent application, and a patent will be rejected.
 
Hence, it is advisable to apply for a patent before considering publication elsewhere, especially if you wish to seek patent protection in India and European countries.
 
We hope you found this article useful. You may also be interested in reading our related article about "Can publicly disclosed inventions be patented in India?"    
 
Feel free to write to us at [email protected] if you have any comments, queries or want to avail our services.
 
Best regards,
Team InvnTree

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

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Can a lapsed patent be restored in India?

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

Once an Indian patent is granted for your invention, it has to be maintained subsequent to the grant. Maintaining a patent includes the task of paying patent renewal fee each year. Failure to pay the renewal fee will result in the patent ceasing to have effect.

The patent renewal fee in India is collected from the 3rd year onwards. Once the patent is granted, the pending renewal fee calculated from the 3rd year has to be paid. Further, the renewal fee for the subsequent years shall be paid before the expiration of the previous year of the patent. For example, renewal fee for the 8th year shall be paid before the expiration of the 7th year of the patent. The renewal fee details are provided below:

Renewal fee – Year

Patent Owner – Natural Person

Patent Owner – Other than natural person

Small Entity

Other than small entity

3 to 6

800

2000

4000

7 to 10

2400

6000

12000

11 to 15

4800

12000

24000

16 to 20

8000

20000

40000

 
As mentioned earlier, failure to pay the renewal fee will result in the patent ceasing to have effect. At a time when the patent ceases to have effect, the patent owner will not be able to enforce the patent. Further, even if the patent is restored, one cannot be held liable for infringement during the period in which the patent had ceased to have effect.
 
If a patent has ceased to have effect as a result of failure to pay the renewal fee within the prescribed time, i.e. before the expiration of the previous year, then the patent owner can request an extension of time to pay the renewal fee. The extended period is not more than 6 months from the date on which the patent ceased to have effect. The Indian Patent Office (IPO) fee for such an extension is INR 480/1200/2400 per month if the patent owner is a natural person or a small entity or other than small entity respectively.
 
In case a patent has ceased to have effect, it is advisable to reinstate it within the above stated 6 months. However, if the patent owner fails to reinstate the patent in this extended period of six months, then the patent owner can take an alternative approach to reinstate the patent. This alternative approach to reinstate is available till 18 months from the date the patent ceased to have effect. In the instant approach, the patent owner will have to mention, in detail, the circumstances which led to the failure to pay the fee, and the IPO may require further evidence. This approach however, is relatively difficult, time consuming and expensive.  
 
In short, we can summarize this article by stating that a patent that has ceased to have effect can be restored by either paying the renewal fee within 6 months from the date on which the patent ceased to have effect, using a first approach, or by paying the renewal fee within 18 months from the date on which the patent ceased to have effect, using a second, more difficult and expensive, approach.
 
We hope you found this article useful.
 
Feel free to write to us at [email protected] if you have any comments, queries or want to avail our services.
 
Best regards,
Team InvnTree
 
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US – Patent Cases – Weekly Update – June 25th – July 02nd, 2013

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

In an endeavour to keep patent enthusiasts abreast with the latest patent related activities in leading geographies, we provide a weekly update of patent cases filed in the US.

Go ahead, download the compilation for free!
 
Feel free to check whether any of our patent support services can address your requirements.
You can also contact or ask us  a question and have it answered within 24 hours.
We specialize in offering patent support services to patent practitioners across the world.
 
Best regards – Team InvnTree   

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How soon after filing a patent application in India, will it be examined?

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

It has been a common misconception that, a patent application is queued for examination after it is filed at the Indian Patent Office (IPO). In India, filing a patent application does not essentially mean that an Applicant for the patent is requesting the IPO to examine his patent application. In fact, the Applicant can refrain from filing a request for examining his application up to 48 months from the filing date of the Indian patent application. It shall be noted that, if the Indian patent application is claiming priority from a corresponding patent application filed in a convention country or a PCT application, then the 48 month duration is calculated from the priority date of the Indian patent application.

In light of the above discussion, it is certain that, unless a request for examination is filed, the patent application will not be queued for examination. Having said that, by no means are we saying that just because an examination request has been filed, the patent application will be queued for examination. A second criterion has to be satisfied as well for the application to be queued for examination, and the second criterion is publication of the patent application. The patent application is published after 18 months from the date of filing the Indian patent application, unless an early publication request is filed. In case an early publication request is filed, then the patent application is normally published within 1 month from the date of filing such a request.
We can summarize the above content by mentioning that, a patent application will be queued for examination after both the below listed criteria are satisfied:
  • A request for examination of the patent application has been made
  • The patent application has been published
In case the Indian patent application is a national phase application, than the Indian patent application will be queued for examination after all the three below listed criteria are satisfied:
  • A request for examination of the patent application has been made
  • The patent application has been published
  • 31 months has passed from the priority date of the Indian patent application, unless “express” request for examination is filed       
The Indian patent office has introduced a expedited examination of patent applications, which is applicable if certain criteria is met. You can read more about this in our article.
 
The above mentioned are the criteria for the patent application to be queued for examination. Once queued, it can take a considerable amount of time, at least 2 years, to receive an examination report from the IPO. The current lot of patent applications, as per the year it was queued for examination, which are being issued examination reports, can be found here 
 
In order to expedite the patenting process in India, it is advisable to satisfy the above listed criteria as soon as possible.
 
I hope you found this article useful. If you have any queries, feel free to write to us at [email protected]
Best regards,

Team InvnTree

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

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Patent Office India – Published Patent and Design registration Information – June 28th, 2013

Author: invntreepatent
May 15, 2013     No comments

Indian Patent Office publishes patent information on a weekly basis (on Friday each week). This is a public notification, enabling you to take appropriate action if desired.

Data sourced from Indian Patent Office by Team InvnTree. 

The attached Pdf can be downloaded here  and can also be accessed  below.

If you would like to get weekly email updates of  Indian Patent office's published patent information, Subscribe to this service free of cost 

The publication includes published patent applications, design registration and granted patents, among other information, for the week of  June 28th, 2013

 
You may go through this publication, and if you find patent information that has an impact on your business, then you may take appropriate actions, such as: 

 
1.    File pre-grant opposition on filed patents 

2.    File post-grant opposition on granted patents
 
I hope you find this data helpful. Check our patent services  page to find out if we cater to your needs.
 
In addition to providing other India specific patent services, InvnTree provides patent services such as, PCT National Phase filing in India
 
Also, feel free to contact us or ask us  a question and have it answered within 24 hours.

This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

Read More