Explainer / Patent system in India

• For the first time in the last 11 years, the number of domestic patent filing has surpassed the number of international patent filing at the Indian Patent (IP) office in January-March 2022 quarter, the commerce and industry ministry said.

• Of the total 19,796 patent applications filed, 10,706 were filed by Indian applicants and 9,090 by non-Indian applicants.

• The number of patent filings increased from 42,763 in 2014-15 to 66,440 in 2021-22 due to steps taken by the government to strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR) regime of the country.

• India granted 30,074 patents in 2021-22 as compared to 5,978 in 2014-15.

• There has also been a reduction in the time of patent examination from 72 months in 2016 to 5-23 months at present.

Indian Patent System

What is a patent?

• A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. 

• It gives one the exclusive rights and bars others from making, using, selling and importing product or process, based on the patented invention without one’s prior permission.

• To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.

• India has seen a rapid increase in grant of patents in the last 5-6 years. The number of patents granted has gone up from 6,326 in 2015-16 to 28,391 in 2020-21.

Which Act governs the patent system in India?

• The patent system in India is governed by the Patents Act, 1970 as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 and the Patents Rules, 2003. The Patent Rules are regularly amended.

• India became a signatory to Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 1998.

• The office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM), a subordinate Office under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), is situated in Mumbai.

• CGPDTM carries out statutory functions related to grant of patents and registration of trademarks, designs and geographical indications. 

• The head office of the Patent Office is at Kolkata and its branch offices are located in Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai.

• The Patent Offices perform statutory functions relating to the grant of patents for inventions, renewal of patents, amendments, restoration of lapsed patents, grant of compulsory licenses, registration of patent agents, etc under the Patents Act 1970 (as amended) within their territorial jurisdictions.

What are the criteria of patentability?

For an invention to be patentable, the criteria of patentability are as follows:

1) It should be novel. Invention should not have been published or used anywhere in the world before the date of filing the patent application in the patent office.

2) It should involve an inventive step or must be non-obvious. A feature of invention should involve a technical advancement as compared to existing knowledge or having economic significance or both.

3) It should be capable of industrial application.

4) It should not fall under the categories of inventions that are excluded from patentability under the concerned jurisdiction.

What is the term of a patent?

The term of every patent granted is 20 years from the date of filing of application. However, for application filed under national phase under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the term of patent will be 20 years from the international filing date accorded under PCT.

Is a patent valid in every country?

Patents are territorial rights. In general, the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted, in accordance with the law of that country or region. Patents should be obtained in each country where the applicant requires protection of his invention.

How much time does it take for granting a patent?

According to the government, the time taken for examination of patents has come down from average five years to 12-30 months at present, depending upon technology fields. It is expected that the time for final disposal of patent applications, which has reduced to average 48 months at present, will be further reduced to average 24-30 months from filing.

Initiatives to promote patent filings

The government has taken several initiatives to strengthen Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ecosystem in the country, which includes:

• Modernisation of IPR offices.

• Adopting e-service delivery system

• Real-time public dissemination of dynamic intellectual property (IP) knowledge.

• Manpower augmentation.

• Setting up of feedback mechanism.

• Amendments in specific IP legislation for simplification of procedures — such as reduction of forms, incentivizing e-filing.

• Reducing compliance burden.

• The coordinated efforts by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) and IP office has led to increased awareness among all strata of the society. These efforts have on one hand led to increase in the number of IPR filings and on the other hand, reduced the pendency of patent applications. 

• The Patents Rules have been amended in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020 to achieve the objective of removing procedural inconsistencies and unnecessary steps in processing of applications thereby speed up grant/registration and final disposal. 

• By amending the Rules, the procedures are made more compact, time-bound, user-friendly and compatible for e-transactions.

• In September 2021, the central government notified Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2021 which reduced the fee for patent filing and prosecution for educational institutions by 80 per cent.

Some initiatives taken by the DPIIT include:

1) Augmentation of manpower by recruiting new examiners.

2) Making process of applying and granting patents completely online.

3) Hearing of cases in patents through video-conferencing for speedy and contact-less  proceedings.

4) Dynamic redesigning of website and real time based hassle free dissemination of IP information to stakeholders.

5) Encouraging the digital process for applying & granting patents.

6) Scheme for Facilitating Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) has been launched to provide facilitators to startups for filing and processing of their applications. Professional charges of such facilitators are reimbursed as per provisions under the SIPP scheme.

7) The mechanism to lodge feedback/suggestions/complaints in respect of issues related to functioning of the IP offices has been set up in the IPO website for the benefit of stakeholders. 

8) The DPIIT through Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) and in collaboration with the office of CGPDTM is regularly engaged in dissemination of information and  knowledge to IP stakeholders by way of participation in awareness activities in IPR, conducted for schools, universities, industries, legal and enforcement agencies and other  stakeholders in collaboration with industry associations.

9) An Expedited Examination System has been introduced wherein an application for grant of patent is being decided within one year of filing as compared to the period of few years required in case of normal examination route. The fastest granted patent is the one which was granted in 41 days after filing of such request. This facility of Expedited Examination System was initially provided for patent applications filed by startups. It has been now extended to 8 more categories of patent applicants by making necessary amendments in the Patents Rules.

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