What is a Patent?
A Patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the Government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention for excluding others, from making, using, selling, importing the patented product or process for producing that product for those purposes without his consent.
What can be patented?
An invention relating either to a product or process that is new, involving inventive step and capable of industrial application can be patented. However, it must not fall into the categories of inventions that are non- patentable under section 3 and 4 of the Act.
What are the criteria of patentability?
An invention to become patentable subject matter must meet the following criteria –
- It should be novel.
- It should have inventive step or it must be non-obvious
- It should be capable of Industrial application
- It should not fall within the provisions of section 3 and 4 of the Patents Act 1970.
When an application for patent is published?
Every application for patent is published after 18 months from the date of its filing or priority date whichever is earlier. However, following applications are not published.
- Application in which secrecy direction is imposed
- Application which has been abandoned u/s 9(1) and
- Application which has been withdrawn 3 months prior to 18 months
What are the various stages involved in the grant of patent?
After filing the application for the grant of patent, a request for examination is required to be made by the applicant or by third party and thereafter it is taken up for examination by the Patent office. Usually, the First Examination Report is issued and the applicant is given an opportunity to correct the deficiencies in order to meet the objections raised in the said report. The applicant must comply with the requirements within the prescribed time otherwise his application would be treated as deemed to have been abandoned. When all the requirements are met, the patent is granted and notified in the Patent office Journal. However before the grant of patent and after the publication of application, any person can make a representation for pre-grant opposition
Can one use the words “Patent Pending” or “Patent Applied For”?
These words are normally used by the patent applicant to their products after filing his application for patent so that the public is made aware that a patent application has been filed in respect of that invention. Use of these words where no application has been made is prohibited under the Patent law. However, use of such words by the patent applicant does not prohibit the third party to plead as innocent unless the patent number is indicated.
What is the term of patent?
Term of every patent in India is 20 years from the date of filing of patent application, irrespective of whether it is filed with provisional or complete specification. However, in case of applications filed under PCT the term of 20 years begins from International filing date.