Patent

When filing a patent application in India, several documents and information are required to be submitted before the Indian Patent Office (IPO). To begin with, a provisional or complete specification in either English or Hindi must be filed along with the application. ......

This is the second part of a discussion on synergism and the patentability of compositions in India, which details the manner in which patent applications for compositions have been prosecuted by the Indian Patent Office (“IPO”) over the years. The first part describing the ways in which synergistic effect may be demonstrated can be. ......

The patentability of compositions is governed by two key provisions in the Indian Patents Act, 1970 (“the Act”), i.e., the requirement that in order to be patentable, an invention must be novel, include an inventive step, and have some industrial applicability (Section 2(1)(j)), and the requirement that a substance obtained by a mere admixture resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of its components or a process for producing such substance is not patentable (Section 3(e)). ......

Under Indian patent law, various types of patent applications may be filed at the Indian Patent Office (“IPO”). This note discusses the different types of applications accepted at the IPO, and specific considerations relating to each type. ......

Patent applicants are sometimes unsure of whether working models or invention samples must be submitted when filing for an Indian patent; or, if a model or a sample is indeed required, the form and manner of such submissions. Under Indian law, there is no requirement to either mandatorily or voluntarily submit models or samples along with an application; such submissions are necessary only upon a request made by the Controller. ......

The official fee for a patent application in India is calculated on the basis of the following factors: • the type of applicant, • number of priorities (additional fee for each priority above 1), • the total number of pages (additional fee for each page above 30) and • the number of claims in the application (additional fee for each claim above 10). ... ...

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. ......