Patent prosecution is the process of drafting, filing and processing to get the patent protection for the invention by the inventor. Patent is granted by the patent office to protect the invention from infringement and get the ownership of their invention.
Patent helps the inventor in a lot of ways and get the inventor at a position where he can even monetize his/her invention through licensing, selling or exploring more. Patent is beneficial to the inventor in a lot of ways but getting a patent is a lengthy and expensive process. It often requires working with the draftspersons to prepare a good patent application that has the ability to impress the patent examiner and explain the invention in the best possible way.
In this article we will study about how the patent prosecution process takes place in India and how the patent application is published and examined by the patent office for approval or rejection of the request.
Publication of Application
- As per Section 11A and Rule 24 of the Patents Act 1970, an application is published after completion of eighteen months from its earliest priority date.
- However as per Rule 24A, an early publication may be requested in Form 9 at any time before the end of the eighteen months period.
Examination of Application
- As per Section 11B, and Rules 24B and 24C, the application will be taken up for examination if the application has already been published as per Section 11A and a Request For Examination has been filed in form 18 or 18A.
- As per Section 11B and Rules 24B and 24C, after publication, the Controller will refer the application to an examiner in an order of filing of the Request for Examination in Form 18 or 18A, as the case may be.
- The examiner will conduct a formal and a substantive examination of the application as per relevant sections including Section 2, 3, 12, 13 of the Patents Act 1970.
- A first statement of objections, also called as a First Examination Report (FER) is mailed to the applicant within maximum of 5 months from the date on which the application was referred to the examiner. PATENT PROSECUTION PROCESS
- The applicant needs to comply with the requirements of the FER within a period of six months from the date of mailing of the FER. This period may be extended for another three months by way of request made in Form 4. PATENT PROSECUTION PROCESS
Overview
A patent application is issued after 18 months from the earliest priority date and a good, complete patent application will be worth all your efforts that you have done to make the invention and the patent application thereon. There is a set procedure for examination of patents by the patent examiner and that will help in making the approval or rejection of the patent application. The whole process of getting a patent is time-consuming and expensive which requires the help of professionals for various tasks involved in the patent.
Therefore, a careful preparation of the patent application is very important to improve the chances of getting a patent approval and avoiding the office action.
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