Patent

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). ......

In patent law, there is a constant tug of war between the importance of incentivizing innovators and the need to ensure that consumers have access to innovations. The law reflects this tussle as well. But this constant striving to balance the rights between patentees and consumers is essential for the patent system to function and be meaningful to society. ......

The phrase “at least one of” is commonly used in patent claims, but its interpretation is subjective and has led to some controversy. The issue that arises is this: when the phrase in its entirety is “at least one of A, B and C”, should it be understood as at least one of A AND at least one of B AND at least one of C, or should it be understood as at least one of A OR B OR C. ......

India’s latest series of amendments to its Patent Rules are likely to hugely benefit startups and small entities seeking patent protection for their inventions. With these amendments, overall filing and prosecution fees for startups and small entities have been significantly reduced. ......