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FAQs

Patents FAQs

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 without patent owners consent.

Filing of an application for a patent should be completed / done at the earliest possible date and should not be delayed. An application filed with Provisional Specification, disclosing the essence of the nature of the invention helps to register the priority by the applicant. Delay in filing an application may entail some risks like (i) other inventors might forestall the first inventor by applying for a patent for the said invention (ii) there may be either an inadvertent publication of the invention by the inventor himself/herself or by others independently of him/her.

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 Indian Patents Act.

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 (Patent Co-Operation Treaty) the term of 20 years begins from International filing date.
A patent application can be filed either by a true and first inventor or his assignee, either alone or jointly with any other person. However, legal representative of any deceased person can also make an application for patent.

An invention to become patentable, subject matter must meet the following criteria –
i) It should be novel.
ii) It should have inventive step or it must be non-obvious
iii) It should be capable of Industrial application.
iv) It should not fall within the provisions of section 3 and 4 of the Patents Act 1970.

Patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patent owner’s consent. These patent rights are usually enforced in a court, which, in most systems, holds the authority to stop patent infringement. Conversely, a court can also declare a patent invalid upon a successful challenge by a third party.

A. 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 within 31 months from the date of application failing which the application is deemed to have been abandoned.
B. Thereafter, the patent application is taken up for examination by the Patent office.
C. A First Examination Report is issued and the applicant is given an opportunity to correct the deficiencies in the patent application in order to meet the objections raised in the said examination report within 12 months from the date of Examination Report and no extension is allowed after that.
D. The applicant must comply with the requirements within the prescribed time otherwise his application would be treated as deemed to have been abandoned.
E. When all the requirements are met, a 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.

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. The patent owner may give permission to, or license, other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent. Once a patent expires, the protection ends, and an invention enters the public domain, that is, the owner no longer holds exclusive rights to the invention, which becomes available to commercial exploitation by others.
Generally, a patent application for the invention which has been either published or publicly displayed cannot be filed. However, the Patents Act provides a grace period of 12 months for filing of patent application from the date of its publication in a journal or its public display in an exhibition organized by the Government or disclosure before any learned society or published by applicant. The details of the conditions are provided under Chapter VI of the Act (Section 29-34).
Indian Patent Law follows first to file system. Provisional Specification describes the nature of the invention to have the priority date of filing of the application in which the inventive idea has been disclosed. It must be followed by a Complete Specification describing the details of the invention along with a statement of claims within 12 months after filing of the provisional application. If the Complete Specification is not filed within the prescribed period, the application is treated as deemed to have been abandoned.
Generally, an application filed with Provisional Specification is known as Provisional Application which is useful in establishing a priority date for your invention. Moreover, filing of a Provisional Application is useful as it gives sufficient time to the applicant to assess and evaluate the market potential of his invention before filing Complete Specification. However, it is not necessary to file an application with Provisional Specification and one can file application directly with Complete Specification.
Yes. All the patent applications are kept secret up to 18 months from the date of filing or priority date whichever is earlier and thereafter they are published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office which is published every week and also available on the IPO (Indian Patent Office) website.
These words are normally used by the patent applicant to his 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.
Patent is a territorial right and there is no “world patent” or “international patent”.
In general, an application for a patent must be filed, and a patent shall be granted and enforced, in each country in which you seek patent protection for your invention, in accordance with the law of that country. Further, any resident or national of a Contracting State of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) may file an international application under the PCT. A single international patent application has the same effect as national applications filed in each designated Contracting State of the PCT. However, under the PCT system, in order to obtain patent protection in the designated States, a patent shall be granted by each designated State to the claimed invention contained in the international application. Furthermore, if patent protection is required in one or two countries, the patent application in those countries can be filed under Paris Convention, which allows the Applicant to file the patent application of his country of interest within 12 months of his provisional filing date or priority date as the case may be.

Copyright FAQs

Patent law encourages and protects innovation and commercialization of technological advances.

Trademark is an identity of the business such as business name, logo, slogan, audio/musical tune which is capable of distinguishing the product or services of the one from that of other.

Copyright protects the expression of an idea and not the idea itself.

Copyright is a bundle of rights given to the owner / author of the original creative work to reproduce, communicate to the public, do adaptation and translation. They are mainly divided in four categories. i.e. Literary including software, artistic, audios and audio visual/ cinematographic work.

Copyright is a right given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. In fact, it is a bundle of rights including, inter alia, rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation of the work. There could be slight variations in the composition of the rights depending on the work.

A. Literary work includes novels, articles, research papers, journals script of theatre or movie, lyrics of song, source and object code of software and mobile applications.
B. Artistic work includes paintings, sculptures, drawings including engineering drawings, caricatures, photographs.
C. Audio work includes ring tone, musical piece, audio stories, songs, Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
D. Cinematograph firms includes movies, lectures, AV presentations, set of instructions etc

Yes, source and object codes of computer software/ programme or mobile applications be protected under copyright registration.
Copyright is an inherent right of the creator of the work and it subsist within. Therefore, registration of copyright is not mandatory. However, registration of copyright provides authorship and prima facie evidence of ownership of the work. Which is helpful in case of violation of copyright.
Yes, Copyright is an intangible asset which can be legally gifted or the author of the work can validly assign or license in exchange of consideration. It can be inherited or bestowed upon third party by will.
The general rule is that copyright lasts for 60 years. In the case of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the 60-year period is counted from the year following the death of the author. In the case of cinematograph films, sound recordings, photographs, posthumous publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, works of government and works of international organisations, the 60-year period is counted from the date of publication.
There are both civil and criminal remedies available for copyright infringement, depending on the facts and circumstances of the case.

Trademarks FAQs

A trademark is a distinctive symbol, word, phrase, design, or combination thereof that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods or services in the marketplace.
Registering a trademark provides legal protection for your brand identity and helps prevent others from using similar marks for similar goods or services. It also grants you exclusive rights to use the mark nationwide.
Any individual, company, or legal entity claiming to be the owner of a trademark can apply for registration in India.
Any mark that is capable of being represented graphically and is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others can be trademarked. This includes words, names, logos, labels, slogans, and even sounds.
The process typically takes around 1 to 2 years, provided there are no objections or oppositions from third parties.
A trademark registration in India is valid for 10 years from the date of filing, renewable indefinitely for successive periods of 10 years each.
Yes, the Trademark Registry of India allows for online filing of trademark applications through the official website.
The process includes searching for similar trademarks (if any) filing the application, examination by the Trademark Office, publication in the Trademark Journal, a period for opposition, and if there are no objections or oppositions, registration.
The filing fees vary depending on whether the application is filed online or offline, and the number of classes the trademark applies to. The Applicable classes can be found in the resources section. Fees vary from the nature of the Applicant.
Yes, slogans and domain names can be applied for as a trademark in India if they meet the criteria of being capable of being represented graphically and distinguishing goods or services.
Yes, non-conventional marks like sounds and smells can be trademarked in India if they can be graphically represented and fulfil the requirements of trademark distinctiveness.
Trademark owners have the right to take legal action against infringers, which may include seeking injunctions, damages, or other appropriate remedies through civil litigation.
Yes, India is a signatory to the Madrid Protocol, which allows trademark owners to file for international registration through a single application. They can be filed in different countries from

Industrial Design Law FAQs

‘Design’ means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament or composition of lines or colour or combination thereof applied to any article and judged solely by the eye
A design which (a) is not new or original; or (b) has been disclosed to the public anywhere in India or in any other country by publication in tangible form or by use in any other way prior to the filing date, or where applicable, the priority date of the application for registration; or (c) is not significantly distinguishable from known designs or combination of known designs; or (d) comprise or contains scandalous or obscene matter, shall not be registered.
a. The design should be new or original, not previously published or used in any country before the date of application for registration. b. The design should relate to features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation applied or applicable to an article. Thus, designs of industrial plans, layouts and installations are not registrable under the Designs Act. c. The design should be applied or applicable to any article by any industrial process. Normally, designs of artistic nature like painting, sculptures and the like which are not produced in bulk by any industrial process are excluded from registration under the Act. d. The features of the design in the finished article should appeal to and are judged solely by the eye. e. Any mode or principle of construction or operation or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device, would not be registrable design.
The registration of a design confers upon the registered proprietor ‘Copyright’ in the design for the period of registration. ‘Copyright’ means the exclusive right to apply a design to the article belonging to the class in which it is registered.
The term is 15 years from the date of application of the Design.
All articles have been classified in the Indian Design Act into various classes for the convenience of both the applicants and the Design Office for the purpose of Design registration. Applications for Design registration have to be made in a particular class. One cannot apply for the same Design in more than one class. The Locarno Classification (LOC) is an international classification used for the purposes of the registration of industrial designs.
Yes, the same applicant can apply again since no publication of the abandoned application is made by the Patent Office, provided the applicant does not publish the said design in the meanwhile.
No. Because once the alleged design i.e., ornamentation is removed only a piece of paper, metal or like material remains and the article referred ceases to exist. Article must have its existence independent of the designs applied to it. So, the design as applied to an article should be integral with the article itself.
First to file rule is applicable for registrability of design. If two or more applications relating to an identical or a similar design are filed on different dates, the first application will be considered for registration of design.

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