What is the best time to File Patent Application in India? – Documenting a patent application is the top priority at all stages of the Research & Development (R&D). During the initial stages of the R&D of building up the invention, it is useful to read the guidelines of provisional patent application filing that could spare you the cost and initially help you with extra time to test the monetary worth of the innovation and test the market before proceeding further with the patent process.
A necessity of non-disclosure of the invention to the public is essential while filing the patent application form. However, there are occurrences of disclosing the development while discussing the initial analysis of market potential before patent filing or discussing with the patent experts, supervisors, partners, technical assistants etc. before applying for patent. In such cases to ensure the confidentiality, an agreement is signed between the parties called a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). The agreement helps to avoid and any form of publication or revelation of the invention and also assists in the process of lawsuit as a legal document (if required).
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Why and when to fill provisional patent application? What is the best time to File for Patent Protection in India?
A provisional patent application reveals the nature of the invention. The document assists in securing a date of application regardless of the possibility that you are not totally prepared with the development to be secured. This comes with an aid of a provision of 12 months to file complete specification and determine whether or not to proceed further with tedious and expensive process of patent.
What happens if the application is not documented on time or few steps are delayed?
- India follows the system of first to file. If you don’t file first, then inventors of same research field may file the application and you will lose the opportunity.
- While delaying the steps in the process, there are chances of information to be disclosed to public via research report or a technical blog, which can be used as prior art and cause trouble in receiving patent.
Thus, it is sensible to apply for provisional specification to secure the date for your invention. Despite that fact, it isn’t generally important to go for provisional specification, if your invention is fully developed, you can directly document the complete specification along with the patent application.
Different stages of development and filing application
In general, different inventors seek patent protection in India, at different time. Being too soon or too late has its own pros and cons.
- Some look for patent protection at introductory ideation stage. At this stage you might be in an ideation organize phase and can lose significant time, because you might be preparing the work plan and work is yet to start, so you may miss chances to suitably market the patent.
- Few inventors seek protection at later stages after disclosing information to the experts and consultants under NDA. On the off chance that you are late, odds are that you would lose the priority or even creation since another person files for the same patent application before you document one.
- Between the two phases of R&D, an intermediate research phase lies, where application can also be filed. The application form to be filled depends on the stage of the development.
Therefore, an application should be filled at the earliest possible date and must not be delayed. Also, it is important that the application is filled before any publication or disclosure to the public. Visit our service page, to know more about us.
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