Post on 12-Jul-2015
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by
sovereign state to an inventer or assignee for
a limited period of time in exchange for detailed
public discloser of an invention
Definition :
PATENT PROCEESSING :
A patent is an exclusive right of its owner to exclude others from making,
using, or selling the invention as defined in the claims of the patent for a
period of time, which in the United States is 20 years from the date of
filing the patent application. The typical process of obtaining a patent on
an invention is shown here
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS PATENT
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state (national
government) to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of
time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention.
The procedure for granting patents, the requirements placed on the
patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between
countries according to national laws and international agreements.
The word patent originates from the Latin patere, which means "to
lay open" (i.e., to make available for public inspection)
HISTORY OF INDIAN PATENT SYSTEM:
1856 -THE ACT VI OF 1856 ON PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS
BASED ON THE BRITISH PATENT LAW OF 1852. CERTAIN
EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO INVENTORS OF NEW
MANUFACTURERS FOR A PERIOD OF 14 YEARS.
1859 -THE ACT MODIFIED AS ACT XV; PATENT MONOPOLIES
CALLED EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES (MAKING. SELLING AND
USING INVENTIONS IN INDIA AND AUTHORIZING OTHERS
TO DO SO FOR 14 YEARS FROM DATE OF FILING
SPECIFICATION).
1872 - THE PATENTS & DESIGNS PROTECTION ACT.
1883 - THE PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS ACT.
1888 -
1911 -
1972 -
1999 -
2002 -
2005 -
CONSOLIDATED AS THE INVENTIONS & DESIGNS ACT.
THE INDIAN PATENTS & DESIGNS ACT.
THE PATENTS ACT (ACT 39 OF 1970) CAME INTO FORCE ON
20TH APRIL 1972.
ON MARCH 26, 1999 PATENTS (AMENDMENT) ACT, (1999)
CAME INTO FORCE FROM 01-01-1995.
THE PATENTS (AMENDMENT) ACT 2002 CAME INTO FORCE
FROM 2OTH MAY 2003
THE PATENTS (AMENDMENT) ACT 2005 EFFECTIVE FROM
Ist JANUARY 2005
1. The first legislation in India relating to patents was the Act VI of 1856. The
objective of this legislation was to encourage inventions of new and useful
manufactures and to induce inventors to disclose secret of their inventions.
The Act was subsequently repealed by Act IX of 1857 since it had been
enacted without the approval of the British Crown . Fresh legislation for
granting ‘exclusive privileges’ was introduced in 1 859 as Act XV of 1859.
This legislation contained certain modifications of the earlier legislation,
namely, grant of exclusive privileges to useful inventions only and extension
of priority period from 6 months to 12 months. This Act excluded importers
from the definition of inventor. This Act was based on the United Kingdom
Act of 1852 with certain departures which include allowing assignees to
make application in India and also taking prior public use or publication in
India or United Kingdom for the purpose of ascertaining novelty.
Brief about Indian Patent System
2. In 1872, the Act of 1859 was consolidated to provide protection relating
to designs. It was renamed as “The Patterns and Designs Protection
Act” under Act XIII of 1872. The Act of 1872 was further amended in
1883 (XVI of 1883) to introduce a provision to protect novelty of the
invention, which prior to making application for their protection were
disclosed in the Exhibition of India. A grace period of 6 months was
provided for filing such applications after the date of the opening of
such Exhibition.
3. The Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911, (Act II of 1911) replaced all the
previous Acts. This Act brought patent administration under the management
of Controller of Patents for the first time. This Act was further amended in 1920
to enter into reciprocal arrangements with UK and other countries for securing
priority. In 1930, further amendments were made to incorporate, inter-
alia, provisions relating to grant of secret patents, patent of addition, use of
invention by Government, powers of the Controller to rectify register of patent
and increase of term of the patent from 14 years to 16 years. In 1945, an
amendment was made to provide for filing of provisional specification and
submission of complete specification within nine months.
4. After Independence, it was felt that the Indian Patents & Designs Act,
1911 was not fulfilling its objective. It was found desirable to enact
comprehensive patent law owing to substantial changes in political and
economic conditions in the country. Accordingly, the Government of
India constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Justice (Dr.)
Bakshi Tek Chand, a retired Judge of Lahore High Court, in 1949 t o
review the patent law in India in order to ensure that the patent system
is conducive to the national interest. The terms of reference included
to survey and report on the working of the patent system in India;
to examine the existing patent legislation in India and to make
recommendations for improving it, particularly with reference to the
provisions concerned with the prevention of abuse of patent rights;
to consider whether any special restrictions should be imposed on
patent regarding food and medicine;
to suggest steps for ensuring effective publicity to the patent
system and to patent literature, particularly as regards patents
obtained by Indian inventors;
to consider the necessity and feasibility of setting up a National
Patents Trust;
to consider the desirability or otherwise of regulating the profession
of patent agents
to examine the working of the Patent Office and the services
rendered by it to the public and make suitable recommendations
for improvement; and
to report generally on any improvement that the Committee thinks
fit to recommend for enabling the Indian Patent System to be more
conducive to national interest by encouraging invention and the
commercial development and use of inventions.
PATENT LAW:
A patent is not a right to practice or use the invention. Rather, a
patent provides the right to exclude others[13] from making, using,
selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the
term of the patent, which is usually 20 years from the filing date [3]
subject to the payment of maintenance fees. A patent is, in effect, a
limited property right that the government offers to inventors in
exchange for their agreement to share the details of their inventions
with the public.
TYPES OF PATENTS:
Utility Patents - new, useful, or improved processes, machines,
apparatuses, articles of manufacture, or compositions
of matter
Design Patents - new, original, and ornamental designs for an article of
manufacture
Plant Patents - inventions, discoveries, or asexually reproduced
distinct and new varieties of plants; including cultivated
sports, mutants, hybrids, newly found seedlings, and
living organisms.
National applications :
National applications are generally filed at a national patent office,
such as the United Kingdom Patent Office, to obtain a patent in the
country of that office. The application may either be filed directly at
that office, or may result from a regional application or from an
international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT),
once it enters the national phase.
Regional applications :
A regional patent application is one which may have effect in a
range of countries. The European Patent Office (EPO) is an
example of a Regional patent office. The EPO grants patents
which can take effect in some or all countries contracting to the
European Patent Convention (EPC), following a single
application process.
International applications :(under the Patent Cooperation Treaty)
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is operated by World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and provides a
centralised application process, but patents are not granted under
the treaty. The PCT system enables an applicant to file a single
patent application in a single language. The application, called an
international application, can, at a later date, lead to the grant of a
patent in any of the states contracting to the PCT. WIPO, or more
precisely the International Bureau of WIPO, performs many of the
formalities of a patent application in a centralised manner, therefore
avoiding the need to repeat the steps in all countries in which a
patent may ultimately be granted. The main advantage of
proceeding via the PCT route is that the option of obtaining patents
in a wide range of countries is retained
Types of applications :
Patent offices may define a number of types of applications, each
offering different benefits and being useful in different situations. Each
office utilises different names for the types of applications, but the
general groups are detailed below. Within each group there are
specific type of applications, such as utility patents, plant patents,
and design patents, each of which can have their own substantive and
procedural rules.
1 . Standard application :
A standard patent application is a patent application containing all of
the necessary parts (e.g. a written description of the invention
and claims) that are required for the grant of a patent. A standard
patent may or may not result in the grant of a patent depending upon
the outcome of an examination by the patent office it is filed in. In the
U.S., a standard patent application is referred to as a "non-
provisional" application.
2 . Provisional application :
Provisional patent applications can be filed at many patent offices,
such as the USPTO in the U.S. A provisional application provides an
opportunity to place an application on file to obtain a filing date
(thereby securing a priority date), but without the expense and
complexity of a standard patent application. The disclosure in a
provisional application may, within a limited time (one year in the
U.S.), be incorporated into a standard patent application if a patent
is to be pursued. Otherwise, the provisional application expires. No
enforceable rights can be obtained solely through the filing of a
provisional application.
3. Continuation application :
In certain offices a patent application can be filed as a continuation
of a previous application. Such an application is a convenient
method of including material from a previous application in a new
application when the priority year has expired and further refinement
is needed. Various types of continuation application are possible,
such as continuation and continuation-in-part
4 .Divisional application :
A divisional application is one which has been "divided" from an
existing application. A divisional application can only contain
subject matter in the application from which it is divided
(its parent), but retains the filing and priority date of that parent. A
divisional application is useful if a unity of invention objection is
issued, in which case the second (and third, fourth, etc.)
inventions can be protected in divisional applications
Reference :
1. N.R Subbaram, what every one should know about patents, 2nd
Edition, pharma book syndicate, 17:104 (2005)
2.Guide to patent information for users in india, patent information
system, nagpur,7:27.
3. T.T Lang, intellectual property : patent procedure and
requirements of patentability, parlee Mclaws LLP Barristors and
soliscitors.
4. Mark J.Nuell, Are you protected? Some of patent., birch,
stewart,kolasch and birch, LLP., sep.2003.
5. Legislative frame work of IP Administration, D.P.S. Parmar, Deputy
controller of patent and designs.
6. S. Chandhrashekaran, Overview of IPR patent system and practice.