6. Detailed steps and procedure for Patent

Procedure for Obtaining a Patent in India

“The procedure for obtaining a patent in India has steps of capturing your idea for creating complete invention disclosure, conducting a patentability search, drafting a patent application, filing the application, publication of application, filing a request for examination, examination, responding to objections, and grant of the patent.”

Table of Contents

Step 1: Going from idea to complete invention disclosure

Every invention has its beginning in an Idea. In this phase, you capture your idea properly, get clarity on each element of the innovative idea, and fill in the blank spots with appropriate research and experiment.

Preliminary search: this search is for finding answers to questions that build a working disclosure or comprehensive invention disclosure.

  • What problem my invention is intended to solve? How does it work?
  • What are the elements or components of my invention?
  • Can I draw a block diagram or device or flowchart or sketch that explains my invention in a better way?
  • How the elements or components are interconnected
  • How each element is functioning in accordance with other elements
  • Can I search and collect information about all my invention’s elements, parts, or components so that there are no blank spots?

This is the most important phase for the inventor where we go from an idea stage to a working invention disclosure that can be discussed with a patent agent or attorney. we have a complete section about actions to take and worksheets Refer to the section Step 1: from idea to invention disclosure.

Include drawings, diagrams, or sketches explaining the working of the invention. they play an important role in understanding your invention. Once you have your innovative idea completely captured with all technical details, then you perform a preliminary search.

Visit our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Patentattorneyworldwide

The outcome: of this step is a complete invention disclosure that covers all aspects of your invention without any missing elements or blank spots.

for more details, you may watch the video on what is exact information needed to file a patent application: creating complete invention disclosure

Step 2: Patentability search (optional step)

In this step, the patent agent or attorney who is working on your invention helps you in finding out whether your invention meets all patentability criteria which are :

The patentability search is aimed towards finding out the novelty and non-obviousness of the invention, the search identifies the closes possible prior arts (known to the public) relating to your invention, and based on the results obtained an opinion about the patentability of your invention may be provided by a patent agent or attorney. The patentability opinion may be positive, negative, or neutral.

A positive patentability opinion indicates you stand a good chance to get your patent granted for your invention. This search (novelty or patentability) saves us from filing a patent for an invention for which 100% overlapping prior arts are readily available to the public. in such cases, the patentability search would give a negative opinion. The patentability report and opinion help you decide whether to go ahead with the filing of a patent or not, chances are what you thought as a novel might already have been patented or known to the public.

Novelty search or patentability search report saves lots of time, effort and cost for you preventing you from filing an invention that is not Novel. therefore although optional it is a recommended step in the patent procedure. Detailed article about this step “Patentability search or Novelty search”

Costs: the attorney fee for performing a patentability or novelty search is ₹ 15,000. or (USD 180)

Time: the time required is about 5-7 working days

Why patentability search or Novelty search is recommended (although optional step) ?

  • The novel aspect of the invention identified via patentability search can be leveraged while writing patent application and especially claims of patent such that our patent application stands a good chance going through the examination stage to a granted patent.
  • In case the patentability opinion is negative, then it saves a lot of cost and time which would have unnecessarily invested in proceeding with the patent filing process and eventually getting the patent application rejected. 
  • It helps you in taking decision whether to proceed with patent filing or not and estimating chances of getting patent for your invention.

Step 3 : Patent drafting/writing.

A patent is a techno-legal document, that means patent has technical as well as legal aspects to it. Patent drafting/writing is a specialized job, it requires years of practice and experience with patent law as well as an understanding of the field of the invention, along with general understanding of case-laws and overall rules and regulations in patent prosecution to be able to draft a good patent application.

There are many rules and care to be taken while drafting claims, writing detailed descriptions, writing different embodiments of the invention, describing inventive step etc… which a first-timer or inexperienced patent writer may miss and hence end up not getting proper protection for invention (or sometimes even rejection of patent). Writing patent as a project report or a technical thesis (on your own ) and submitting it to patent office would be a mistake that can cause loss of opportunity to patent your invention.

To get a quick understanding, you may quickly read some granted patents from your field (domain) and realize that it is a complex document and it completely defers from a thesis or a project report written with ordinary skills.

Writing a good patent application is one of the most important step in life cycle of a patent and a good patent application written by an experienced patent agent/attorney should survive not only through the examination phase till the grant of patent but also it should survive the commercialization phase where actual money is made by licensing or selling patent rights, where competitors should not be able to work around your patent. Writing such patent application is a skill and it is explained in detail in our section on Writing Patent application – Patent drafting

Costs: patent attorney fee for Patent drafting is ₹ 30,000. or (USD 360)

Time: the time required is about 8-15 working days

Step 4 : Filing patent application

Filing patent application in to the patent office:

Based on the readiness of your invention, the decision has to be made whether to go for a provisional patent application or a complete patent application. If you are not quite ready with a complete invention and require further research and development yet you don’t want to lose on priority date for filing a patent application then going for a provisional patent application is recommended. the details about patent filing are explained in the section “filing patent application”

Costs: there are no professional fees for patent filing patent application (provided fees is paid for patentability search and patent drafting )

Government fees are ₹ 1600 or (USD 19.23) or ₹ 8000 (based on the type of applicant) while submitting the patent application in the patent office. The relevant form for a patent application is Form 1

The official/government filing fees is ₹ 1600 if the applicant is a Natural person(s) or Startup(s) or Small entit(y)/(ies) or educational institution(s) 

Time: the time required is less than 1 day (if filed online)

Step 5: Publication of application

Generally, the application is automatically published after 18 months from the filing date. No fees or action is required by inventor. If you don’t want to wait till the expiry of 18 months, An early publication request can be made along with the prescribed fees.

The early publication request can be made (optional step) with form 9 and by paying the prescribed fees as per table below; in general, the patent application is published within a month form request for early publication. detailed information at Step 3 : Publication of application

Government forms and fees: Form 9. Remember, these is no fees for publication of application automatically after 18 months of filing date. The fees mentioned below is for optional step if you want to go for early publication request. fees is Rs 2500 or (USD 30) for Natural person or Startup or Small entity

Step 6: Request for examination (RFE)

The patent application is examined only after receiving a request for examination that is RFE. The inventor/applicant needs to file a request for examination (RFE) within 48 months of filing date or priority date. This RFE is made with Form 18 and the government fees for the same is mentioned in table below.

Up on receiving this request the controller gives your patent application to a patent examiner who performs searches for checking patentability of the invention (as per patentability criteria’s). and then the examiner creates a first examination report FER of the patent application.

Government forms and fees: Form 18. The fees for request for examination RFE is as below. fees is Rs. 4000 or ( USD 48 ) for Natural person or Startup or Small entity

Request for expedited examination

This request for expedited examination is an application filed by patent applicant in the Government patent office to Expedite the examination of the patent application. This request is made by using Form 18A

Request For Expedited Examination Of Application For PatentForm 18(A)  (71 KB)

Fees for expedited examination

 Individual inventors Natural person(s) or Startup(s) or Small entit(y)/(ies) or educational institution(s)Others
Request for expedited examination8,000 or (USD 96)60,000 or (USD 721)

detailed information at step 4 : Request for examination (RFE) and step 5 : Examination of application

The examination of a patent application is the process in which a patent office reviews the application to assess its compliance with patentability criteria which includes evaluating the invention’s novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability, and sufficiency of disclosure. The results of the examination are communicated in the examination report.

The first examination report submitted to controller by examiner generally contains prior arts (existing documents before the date of filing) which are similar to the claimed invention, and any objections raised regarding patentability requirements for the invention. Same examination report (with objections) is communicated to you (inventor) / patent applicant.

Step 7: Response to objections

The majority of patent applicants (inventors) will receive some type of objection based on the examination report. The best thing to do it analyze the examination report with patent agent/attorney and create a response to the objections raised in the examination report. This is a chance for an inventor to communicate his novelty and non-obviousness of the invention based on the kind of objections received.

You (as inventor) / applicant is supposed to answer the objection raised within 12 months from the date on which the First examination report is forwarded to you.

The inventor and patent agent create and send a response to the objections that tries to prove to controller that his invention is indeed patentable and satisfies all patentability criteria’s. Or optionally accepts the objections and amends the patent application as pointed out in First examination report.

If the controller is satisfied with the response to the objections or the amended patent application. Up on finding the patent application in order of grant, The patent is granted to you (inventor) / applicant as early as possible !!! with a seal of patent office and the date of grant is registered in register of patents. detailed information at step 6 : Response to objections or First Examination Report

Professional Fees: The patent agent /attorney’s professional fee to respond to objections is Rs. 15,000 or (USD 180).

Hearing with the patent office :

A hearing at the Indian Patent Office is typically held to resolve issues related to the examination of a patent application. It may involve addressing objections or rejections raised by the patent examiner, presenting arguments in favor of the patent application, or discussing any other matters related to the patent application’s prosecution.

Attorney fees: The attorney fee for attending the Hearing with the patent office is ₹ 15,000 or (USD 180)

Step 8: Grant of patent

The application would be placed in order for grant once it is found to be meeting all patentability requirements. The patent is granted to you (inventor) / applicant as soon as possible with the seal form patent office and The grant of patent is notified in the patent journal which is published time to time.

detailed information at Step 7 : Grant of patent

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Prasad Karhad
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