Tag: IPO

Patent prosecution is the centerpiece of the process of obtaining a patent. The proceedings during prosecution serve as important legal guidance on the patentability of the invention, and successful prosecution is key to ensuring that patent rights are protected. ......

Patents, like other forms of intellectual property, are jurisdiction specific. In other words, you obtain protection only in those jurisdictions where you have sought protection. The application process is long, and can stretch for months, or even years on end. While the end result, if successful, can be immensely satisfying and rewarding, the prospect of having to repeat this process in other countries can be quite overwhelming. ......

One of the three universal requirements for the grant of a patent is that the patent must be for a new invention. The Indian Patents Act, 1970 (the Act) defines a ‘new invention’ in Section 2(l) as ‘any invention or technology which has not been anticipated by publication in any document or used in the country or elsewhere in the world before the date of filing of patent application with complete specification. ......

Tissue or organ replacement is a medical phenomenon that has saved human lives over the decades. With 3D bioprinting, where functional living human tissues and organs can be fabricated using 3D printing technology, the field has charted a new path, acquired more relevance, and provokes many questions, ethical, medical, legal and beyond. ......

At the heart of a patent application lies its claims. A claim is a signifier of the scope of protection that is sought under the patent. Claims are the first and most important aspect to be examined during prosecution, infringement, and litigation. Every patent application must be accompanied by at least one claim, and usually, an application contains several more. ......

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. ......

Inventions that fall within, or overlap with, disclosures in the prior art are called “selection inventions”. Generally, selection inventions involve the selection of one or more specific embodiments, such as individual elements, subsets, or sub-ranges, within a larger known set or range disclosed in the prior art. This raises critical questions around how the novelty and inventive step of selection patents should be judged. ......

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. ......

India has recently notified amendments to its patent rules which are likely to speed up, and significantly reduce the cost of, patent filing for applicants claiming priority from international applications. ......