If the owner of the invention thinks that his invention is novel, involves an inventive step and has an industrial application then he must register his invention under the Patents Act, 1970. It is important to register a patent as it gives an exclusive right to the patent owner to prevent his invention from the misuse by any third party. Additionally, an invention owner spends a considerable amount of time and efforts in developing such patent, if the economic utility of the patent is high, then the patentee can earn a high return on his investments.
Who can register a Patent?
As per section 6 of the Patent Act, 1970, following persons can register a patent either alone or jointly:
By any person claiming to be true and first inventor(s);
By any person being the assignee of person claiming to be true and first inventor(s) (proof of assignment has to be submitted along with the application); and
By the legal representative of any deceased person or assignee.
Procedure for filing the Patent
An application for patent shall be filed with the Patent Office having appropriate jurisdiction. Territorial jurisdiction of patent office in respect of a patent application is decided based on any of the following:
- Place of residence, domicile or business of the applicant (first mentioned applicant in case of joint applicants); or
- Place from where an invention actually originated; or
- Address for service in India given by the applicant, when the Applicant has no place of business or domicile in India (Foreign applicants).
Territorial Jurisdiction
| Patent Office | Territorial Jurisdiction |
| Mumbai | The States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh, the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. |
| Delhi | The States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. |
| Chennai | The States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the Union Territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep. |
| Kolkata | Rest of India (States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands). |
Filing of Application- Provisional/Complete:
The first step is to file a patent application. The Patent Application should be filed in the appropriate patent office in form 1 along either provisional or complete specification in form 2 accompanied with a prescribed fee. A priority date is secured upon filing of either provisional or complete application.
If a provisional application is filed then the applicant gets 12 months of time to come up with the complete specification. If upon expiry of 12 months the complete specification is not filed then the patent application will be abandoned.
Publication of Application:
After the complete specification is filed along with the patent application the publication of the application is made after the expiry of 18 months from the priority date and no fees is required to be paid by the inventor.
Request for Examination (REF):
After the application is submitted it is examined on the request of the applicant. Up on receiving this request the controller gives the patent application to a patent examiner who examinees the patent application with different patentability criteria like Novelty, Inventive step, Industrial application etc. The examiner creates a first examination report of the patent application upon reviewing it for above terms. The first examination report is then submitted to the controller by examiner. The request for examination to examine the patent application is made in form 18 (including fee) within 48 months from the filing date by the applicant.
Respond to objections:
Majority of patent applicants will receive some type of objections based on examination report. The applicant has to submit a response to the objections raised in the examination report. Any objection raised regarding the patentability requirements during examining the patent application has to be complied within 12 months.
Grant of Patent:
Once the application meets all the requirements of patentability, the patent is granted to the inventor with the seal form patent office and is notified in the journal from time to time.