How to File National Phase Patent Application in India? – Before going directly to the national phase application, let’s first understand what an “international application” is. The PCT (Patent Corporation Treaty), which is also known as an “international application”, is a treaty signed between more than 149 countries, that allows a patent applicant to file patent in the desired PCT member countries within 30 or 31 months from the priority date of the PCT application. When the patent applications are filed individually in any of the PCT member countries, then they are called as the “national phase applications”.
Let’s have a look at some of the important criteria for filing national phase applications in India, with the help of this table. [ How to File National Phase Patent Application in India? ]
| Criteria | Description |
| Time period | · The application has to be filed within 31 months after the priority date of the PCT application.
· There is no provision for any extension to this time period. |
| Language | · The application can be filed in either English or Hindi language as per the requirements of the applicant.
· A translated copy of priority document has to be filed in English within 31 months of the priority date, if the PCT application is not filed in English. |
| Examination | · The applicant is required to file request for the examination within 48 months of the priority date, otherwise, the application will automatically get rejected.
· Filing the examination request, will queue the application, which will get examined when its turns comes up, in a first-come-first-serve order. · When the applicant files a national phase application, the Indian Patent Officer will add the request only after 31 months from the filing date. · Once the application gets entry to the queue, then the examiner will have to verify and validate the application within 6 months from the queuing date. · The applicant will receive a First Examination Report (FER) after 6 months from the examiner side, to make the required amendments within 12 months of the issue date of the FER. |
| Fees | · The statutory fee depends upon the applicant category who is filing the patent application.
· The applicants have been classified into 4 major categories, such as: · Natural person – An individual filing the patent application · Startup – A small group of individuals working on startup projects · Small Entity – A small company filing the patent application · Others – Large companies filing patent application · Very minimum fees is charged for natural person and startups, whereas the fee charged for small entity group lies between average to maximum; and big companies are charged at least the twice amount as statutory fee. |
| Amendments | · In case, the applicant wants to make certain changes while filing the national phase application, then the initial application at the PCT stage has to be filed first.
· And, the changes in the first copy of application have to be submitted to the office after paying the desired amount as fee. |
Let’s have a look at the national phase application filing fee in detail, by the following table. [ How to File National Phase Patent Application in India? ]
| Step No. | Phase | Indian Patent Office Fee (E-filing) | |||
| Applicant – Individual/Startup | Applicant – Non Individuals | ||||
| Small Entity | Others | ||||
| 1 | National Phase application filing fee | USD 27 | USD 68 | USD 136 | |
| 2 | Each sheet fee (when exceeded 30 sheets) | USD 2.7/per sheet | USD 6.8/per sheet | USD 13.6/per sheet | |
| 3 | Each claim fee (when exceeded 10 claims) | USD 5.4/claim | USD 13.6/claim | USD 27.2/claim | |
| 4 | Examination request filing fee | USD 67 | USD 168 | USD 336 | |
| 5 | Filing statements and undertakings(Form 3) (Mandatory as per Indian Patent Act) | No fee | No fee | No fee | |
| 6 | Fee for each priority document above 1 priority document | USD 27/priority document | USD 68/priority document | USD 136/priority document | |
| Patent office fee may vary as per foreign exchange rates. 1 USD = ~ INR 60
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