The Product Patent Rule in India

The product patent rule was amended on May 11, 2006 and as a result the newly formulated rule brings in much more transparency and decentralization of the functioning of patent office India. As per the changes patent applications have to be published within a period of one month after the expiry of official 18 months. In case if the party involved requests for an early publication such application should be published before one month starting from the date of request.

India patent in order to make the process more transparent and a time bound one has introduced timeframes for activities of patent office India. Thus, now a patent application drafting first has to be referred to an examiner within period of a month while the controller will be taking decision regarding the submission within one month followed by submission of examination report within six months from the date of request of examination.

Patent filing process can be carried on different patent offices located at Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. The services of patent agent and patent law firms India can be used for getting through the entire process. Resultantly, the permission of filing patents abroad has been reduced to 21 days. In order to make patent service India more effective and user friendly the time available for the applicants has also been extended. Similarly the time period for requesting an examination has been extended by almost a year while six months have been extended for filing a pre grant opposition. The applicants can also take help from patent consultancy India for information on newly amended product patent rule. The same has been done in respect of filing for a reply to pre grant opposition which has been extended by 1 to 3 months. The applicants will also be benefited by the extended time period for meeting the requirements of first examination report.

Harpreet Oberoi is author of Jotwani.com. It products for patents are patent writing, patent drafting, preparation of patent applications.