Tag Archives: patent Bangalore
Using Patents as a Marketing Tool – Good, Bad and the Ugly!
Marketing is one of the core functions in any business. This core function is carried out by working in conjunction with other functional units of companies. Working in conjunction with other functional units has known to help marketing teams in capitalizing on various aspects of the company to build brands and facilitate sales.
One of the aspects that is being used increasingly over the past few years is patents. Using patents in marketing helps in sending across a wide range of messages.
We recently conducted a survey to understand consumer perception when they recognize that a product is protected by a patent, be it through an advertisement or through information provided with the product itself.
Largely, consumers seem to derive the below listed perceptions when they recognize that a product is protected by a patent:
- When a message about a product being protected by a patent is conveyed, the company as a whole is perceived to be innovative
- The patented product is perceived to be superior
- The patented product is perceived to be unique, as no one else can copy the patented product
I agree with the first perception to a large extent. The fact that a company has a patent granted, illustrates that the company has, at least to some extent, invested in innovation. Further, the company has long term (it generally take around 3.5 to 4 years to have a patent granted) vision in protecting their innovation. Hence, a perception that a company is innovative can be agreed upon.
Further, as pointed out earlier, consumers perceive that a patented product is superior; this perception appears to be rather strong. However, while some patented products may be superior compared to other products in the market, it may not always be true. In over simplified terms, one can say that a patent was granted to a product or a process because the product has a feature or the process has a step that was not known to the public, prior to inventing the product or the process. However, it does not necessarily mean that the new feature or the process step is superior than the existing features or processes. Hence, a sweeping statement that a patented product is superior may not be accurate.
While I have some objections with the second perception, I completely agree with the third perception. The patented product would be unique, at least to some extent, as compared to other products in the market. However, having an opinion that a patented product has some breakthrough innovation in it, may not be correct, considering that most innovations are incremental in nature and not breakthrough. The innovation in the product, be it incremental or breakthrough, the fact remains that the product is unique, as the product cannot be copied, since the product is protected by a patent. The common understanding among consumers that a patented product cannot be copied by other, and hence the product remains unique, appears to be greatly abused by marketers.
Consumers to a large extent are not aware that patents are jurisdiction specific. In other words, a patent granted in US and not in India, cannot be enforced in India. Which means, if a patent for a product is not granted in India, and is granted only in the US, then anyone in India can copy the patented product without being liable for infringing on the rights of the US patent holder.
I recently came across one such advertisement, which I think was trying to take advantage of incomplete understanding among the consumers about the patent system. The advertisement appeared in Times of India (TOI), Bangalore edition and was also found in TOI Mumbai edition. Image of the advertisement in the Mumbai edition is provided below. The advertisement is from a company called Advanced Hair Studio, and endorsed by Shane Warne!
Image source: Times of India
The advertisement stresses a lot on patents, with the word “patented” appearing 4 times in the advertisement, out of which, twice the company has used the word “patented”. Since, they have stressed substantially on patents, we wanted to find out the patent portfolio covering their technology. Surprisingly, while they have a few patents outside India, they don’t seem to have a single granted patent in India!
The advertisement gives an impression that their technology is protected by patents in India. However, considering that one of the most important aspects of patents, which is the jurisdiction in which it is granted, the advertisement should have mentioned that the technology is not protected by patents in India.
Such usage of the word “patented”, commonly known as “false marking” may be interpreted as an effort to deceive the public. False marking is punishable in most countries, and in India (Indian Patent Act – Section 120), a fine extending up to INR 100000 (~$2200) may be imposed for such an offence. While, the extent of fine may not deter most companies from adopting false marking strategy for marketing, at least the knowledge that such practice is considered unethical, should stop them from adopting such strategies.
To sum it up, using patents as a marketing tool has a lot of positive effects on consumers. Hence, while marketers might use this strategy, ethical or not, to their advantage, consumers should absorb such messages with a pinch of salt.
I hope this article helps in increasing knowledge about the patent system among consumers in general, and markets in specific.
Feel free to contact us ([email protected]) or ask us a question and have it answered within 24 hours. Check our patent services page to find out if we cater to your patent requirements.
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Team InvnTree
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License
Patent Application Filing Procedure-Process in India
Patent Application Filing Procedure-Process in India
Filing a patent application in the Indian Patent Office is the first step towards securing a patent to your invention in India. To file a patent application, a set of forms has to be submitted to the patent office. The forms can be submitted online (http://ipindiaonline.gov.in/epatentfiling/goForLogin/doLogin) if you have a class 3 digital certificate. Alternatively, you can send true copies (hard copies) to the patent office. The patent office charges 10% additional fee if applications are filed offline.
Office | Address | Territorial Jurisdiction |
---|---|---|
Mumbai |
Intellectual Property Office, Boudhik Sampada Bhawan, Near Antop Hill Post Office, S.M.Road,Antop Hill, MumbaiI – 400 037. Phone: 24137701, 24141026, 24150381, 24148165, 24171457 FAX : 24130387 EMAIL: [email protected] |
The States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, Goa and Chhattisgarh and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu & Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
Chennai |
Intellectual Property Office, Intellectual Property Office Building, G.S.T. Road, Guindy, Chennai-600032, Phone: 044-22502081-84 FAX: 044-22502066, Email: [email protected] |
The States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep |
New Delhi |
Intellectual Property Office, Intellectual Property Office Building, Plot No. 32, Sector 14, Dwarka, New Delhi-110075, Phone : 011-28034304, 28034305 28034306 FAX:011- 28034301,02 Email: [email protected] |
The States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. |
Kolkata |
Intellectual Property Office, Intellectual Property Office Building, CP-2 Sector V, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700091, Phone : 23671945, 1946, 1987, FAX-033-2367-1988, Email:- [email protected] |
The rest of India. |
Form |
Title |
Patent office Fee (INR) 1$ = ~ 60 INR E-Filing only |
Comment |
||
Applicant-Natural person/ Startup |
Applicant –
other than natural person |
||||
Small Entity | Others except small entity | ||||
1 | Application for Grant of Patent | 1600 | 4000 | 8000 | Mandatory |
2 | Provisional/Complete Specification | No fee* | No fee* | No fee* | Mandatory |
3 | Statement and Undertaking Under Section 8 | No fee | No fee | No fee | Mandatory |
5 | Declaration as to Inventorship | No fee | No fee | No fee | Mandatory |
9 | Request for Publication | 2500 | 6250 | 12500 | Optional |
18 | Request for Examination of Application for Patent | 4000 | 10000 | 20000 | Mandatory |
* – A fee of 160/400/800/sheet, based on the type of applicant, is applicable for each sheet exceeding 30 sheets in a patent specification. Further, a fee of INR 320/800/1600/Claim, based on the type of applicant, is applicable for each claim exceeding 10 claims in the patent specification.
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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
The following specification describes the invention
On the other hand, if you are filing a complete patent application, then use the following preamble in the first page of Form 2:
Note that, if you are filing offline, 2 copies of the patent specification has to be sent to the patent office. Additionally, count the number of sheets and claims (extra fee for more than 30 sheets and more than 10 claims) and calculate the appropriate fee. While counting the sheets, even the drawing sheets will have to be taken into account.
Form 3 is used to furnish information/actions relating to patent applications filed in other countries for the current invention. Additionally, any information relating to the rights corresponding to the present patent application has to be furnished. Further, you would be using form 3 to undertake that you will be keeping the patent office informed in writing the details regarding corresponding applications for patents filed outside India. You can read more about this in ourarticle.
- How much does it cost to get a patent in India?
- What can be patented and what cannot be patented
- What are the different patent filing options?
- Indian Patenting Process Timeline
- At Which Stage Should I Apply for a Patent?
- Can I apply for a patent before creating a prototype?
- Should I apply for a patent before publishing my invention?
- Can publicly disclosed inventions be patented in India?