Patent Search: An Important, often neglected aspect of Patent Registration in India
What is Patent
The process of protecting of Invention via PCT route is a lengthy and time-consuming procedure when it comes to India. Let’s start with understanding what is a Patent. A patent is a form of intellectual property. A patent gives its owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing an invention for a limited period of time, usually twenty years. The patent rights are granted in exchange for an enabling public disclosure of the invention.
Patent Search
To begin with, it is significant although not mandatory, for an Inventor to consider getting a Patent Search done to assess the Patentability (is it patentable) of the invention. The Indian Patent Advanced Search System, InPASS, was introduced on 27.02.2015.
Prior to InPASS, IPAIRS [Indian Patent Information Retrieval System] was used to conduct patent search in India. It must be considered that Indian Patent search report may assist the Inventor in decision making to either move ahead with their Patent application or withdraw it.
This stage is supposed to be crucial because if the patent application does not conform to the standards of the Indian Patent Office, then it is advised to not move ahead as the Patent protection procedure in India or for that matter in any country, is a costly procedure and may not be financially viable for an Individual inventor.
Further, if the Patent application fulfils the Patentability aspect during the Patent search, the inventor(s) may consider moving ahead with the patent registration procedure at the Indian Patent Office.
Methods: Generic
To elaborate on Patent Search, it may be conducted in numerous ways. Some of the key parameters to be taken note of while performing Indian Patent Search are ensuring firsthand that whether an inventor would like to get the search conducted on Granted Patents or just the published patents, or maybe both.
After this, the inventor(s) can decide if they would like to move ahead with options such as Keyword search, Application search, search by Inventor name, etc. Also, the search may be performed considering the Patent Journal published every week on Friday to gain more information on granted patents.
Kindly note that these are just the generic options as Indian Patent search is intricate and has a variety of directions to choose from.
A standard Patent search would take approximately 3 – 4 working days excluding any complex aspect. Also, it may be presented in MS- Excel, PDF, or any other acceptable format at the Indian Patent Office.
The benefits associated with Patent search go a long way during the prosecution of a Patent application as the Examiner would consider the Indian Patent Search report at later stages as well and may raise objections on the very aspect of Patentability of the Invention if the search is not thoroughly considered.
Conclusion
To conclude, a Patent registration procedure is indeed time taking, however, the Patent search definitely contributes by providing strategic inputs to the inventor and helps shape the right course of action in the Patent registration procedure in India.
The inventor, thus, must seek the right guidance by way of consulting the appropriate Patent attorney, an expert in the specific domain of the invention. A thorough understanding of this aspect helps in planning out the future course of action with a Patent application.
Filing a Patent application at the Indian Patent Office
After finalizing whether the application in Patentable, the inventor has the option of filing the application. It can be done by way of either directly filing it with the Indian Patent Office or through Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) which in turn is administered by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization).
There are certain prerequisites which are important to be followed to ensure successful grant of a Patent application in India.
To start with, one must carefully put their ideas on Paper, ie., drafting the Patent application as per the standards and format acceptable at the India Patent Office. The Patent application must clearly define the ideas of the Inventor and purpose of invention.