Patent

A patent application can be filed either alone or jointly, by any person claiming to be the true and first inventor of the invention, or by the assignee of such person, or the legal representative of a deceased person who immediately before their death was entitled to make such an application. ......

Reference signs are used to improve the intelligibility of claims. Sometimes also known as “reference numerals”, they help understand claims in light of the specification and drawings on record. If a patent application contains drawings, the claims can be clarified by establishing a connection between the features mentioned in the claims, corresponding to reference signs in the drawings. ......

Patents are granted for inventions that are novel and involve an inventive step. Any information or material that is publicly available or published before the filing of a patent application is known as “prior art” and this forms the basis on which novelty and inventive step is determined. ......

The Indian Patent Office is responsible for administering the Indian law of patents, and its roles include patent administration, patent duration, and patent renewal, among other things. There are four patent offices in India, located in different cities, i.e., Chennai (in southern India), Delhi (in northern India), Kolkata (in eastern India), and Mumbai (in western India). In geographical terms, these four offices cover the length and breadth of the entire country. ......

From filing a patent to its eventual grant, there are various stages that a patent application goes through in India. Patent filing is the primary step an inventor must initiate to protect their invention from being misused. Before a patent is granted, the Indian Patent Office (IPO) meticulously examines it, to ensure that the innovation sought to be patented is novel and involves an inventive step based on specific criteria. ......

Imagine you’ve started a business in your industry. You’ve identified and adopted the latest and most up-to-date technology, optimized it, and re-configured it to suit your business and to your advantage. You’ve innovated and built new processes and systems on top of existing solutions to create your unique offering. ......

There are several ways in which evidence can be gathered in intellectual property (IP) suits, including through discoveries and cross examinations. Discovery takes place pre-trial, where parties can exchange information regarding the evidence and witnesses to be presented to the court. ......

Applying for a patent is a race against time to secure the earliest priority date (i.e., the date of the first filing of a patent application). As a result, patent applications are often filed with accompanying data that do not always capture all the facets of the invention. In such cases, using post-filing data to support the applications is often the only course available. ......

Can “any person” oppose a patent application before it is granted? Or must persons now provide their credentials before filing oppositions? Are there circumstances when such oppositions cannot be entertained? The Bombay High Court was faced with questions like these in the recent case of Dhaval Diyora vs. Union of India (WP(L) 3718/2020; 05 November 2020). ......