Patent Registration in India

No. An idea on its own is not patentable anywhere. What is patentable is a specific technical solution, described in enough detail that someone skilled in the field could build it from your specification — structure, steps, materials, how the parts interact. You do not need a prototype, but you do need to know how it works, not only what it would do.

A provisional makes sense when the invention works but the design is still moving: it secures a priority date immediately and gives you twelve months to file the complete specification. A complete makes sense when the invention has settled and you want examination to start. The mistake to avoid is filing a thin provisional that does not actually support the claims you later want — the priority date only covers what was disclosed.

Up to twenty years from the date of filing, provided renewal fees are paid. It is not automatic: a granted patent lapses if a renewal is missed, and reviving one is not always possible. Renewal dates are tracked as part of every matter we file, and can be tracked for patents you filed elsewhere through IP management.

It depends on the factors set out above — complexity, whether you file provisional or complete, how much material you already have, how many countries, and how far prosecution runs. We quote in writing against your actual invention, with official Government fees shown separately from professional fees, and reduced official fees applied where you qualify as an individual, startup or small entity. The prior-art search that comes first is free. Send us the invention and we will put a quote together.

Not as a computer programme per se — that is excluded by Section 3(k). But software that produces a technical effect beyond the ordinary running of a computer can be patentable, and the boundary is where most of the argument happens in practice. Claim drafting is decisive here more than in almost any other field. Our guide on Section 3(k) explains the distinction.

Possibly, but not automatically — and it depends on facts you should tell us quickly. What matters is exactly what you showed, to whom, under what obligation of confidence, and on what date. A demonstration under NDA is not a public disclosure; a stall at a trade fair usually is. Certain narrow exceptions exist in Indian law, but they are narrower than people hope. Tell us the details and you will get a straight answer, including if the answer is no.

Yes, but only by filing there — patents are national and there is no worldwide patent. The usual routes are direct filings in each country within twelve months of your priority date, or a PCT application, which holds your date across more than 150 states for around thirty months while you decide. If you are resident in India, foreign filing permission under Section 39 has to be checked first.

Examination in India is not automatic. Unless a Request for Examination is filed within the prescribed period, the application is treated as abandoned — and this is one of the most common ways a perfectly good filing dies quietly. The RFE date is diarised at filing on every matter we handle, and the examination fee is quoted up front so it is never a surprise.

You get a First Examination Report, and almost everyone does — an FER is a normal part of the process, not a rejection. It raises objections on novelty, inventive step, clarity or form, and you have a statutory window to respond. Most objections are answerable by argument, by amending the claims, or both. Where they are not resolved on paper, the case is argued at a hearing before the Controller. We have filed over 2,400 FER replies.

Legally, yes — an applicant may file their own application. In practice the difficulty is not the form, it is the specification: a patent is only as wide as its claims, and claims that are too narrow are easy to design around while claims that are too broad get refused. Amendments after filing cannot add matter that was not disclosed, so drafting errors are largely permanent. That is the case for getting it drafted properly the first time.

Every matter we file is docketed with its application number and all its statutory dates, and you are told before a deadline rather than after it. Application status is also publicly searchable on the Indian Patent Office system. For a portfolio of any size — or for filings made through someone else — IP management and watchdog keeps status, renewals and third-party activity under continuous watch.

Three things, broadly: stop others from making, using or selling the claimed invention in India; license it, so somebody else builds it and you take a royalty; or assign it outright. All three are transactions, and all three need the patent to be alive and the ownership record to be clean. IP BANK India handles valuation, licensing and transfer as a brokered service — we look for the buyer rather than waiting for one to arrive.