| A
Patent is a legal monopoly, which is granted for a limited time
by a country to the owner of an invention. A patent allows one
to prohibit others from making, using selling, offering for
sale or importing into India for the tenure of a period. Merely
to have a patent does not give the owner the rights to use or
exploit patented invention. That right may still be affected
by other laws such as health and safety regulation, or the food
and drugs regulation or even by other patents. |
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| The
patent, in the eyes of the law, is a property right and it can
be given away, inherited, sold, licensed and can even be abandoned
as it is conferred by the government, the government in certain
cases even after grant or even if it has been, in the meantime,
sold or licensed can revoke it. |
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| Object
of Patent Law |
| The
object of patent law is to encourage scientific research, new
technology and industrial progress. The patent is granted for
a limited period to the inventor. It stimulates new inventions
of commercial utility. After the period of expiry of the patent
the monopoly goes into public domain.
The
fundamental principle of patent law is that the patent is
granted only for an invention i.e. new and useful the said
invention must have novelty and utility. The grant of patent
becomes of industrial property and also called an intellectual
property.
The
purpose of getting registration of the patent is to establish
the business in the country or improvements of existing industry
and profitably employ the labour and capital of the country
in order to improve the national wealth.
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| Who
can file an application for grant of Patent |
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The
patent can be filed individually and jointly means two or more
persons work together to make an invention, to whom will the
patent be granted
If each had a share in the ideas forming the invention, then
they are the joint inventors and a patent will be issued to
them jointly on the basis of a proper patent application. If,
on the other hand, one of these persons has provided all of
the ideas of the invention, and the other has only followed
instructions in making it, the person who contributed the ideas
is the sole inventor and the patent application and patent shall
be in his/her name alone. A company can also file the patent
application under the Patent Act.
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| Types
of Applications |
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| Generally
following are the types of Patent Applications:- |
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Ordinary
Application
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A
simple application for patent with no priority claims. |
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Conventional
Application |
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This
is a type of Application filed by the applicant corresponding
to the application filed within twelve months from the
date of filing the in the conventional country. |
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National
Phase Application under PCT |
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The
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an affiliate treaty
of the Paris Convention implemented by the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO). PCT enables filing of patent
applications in different countries under common details.
About 127 countries are the signatories to PCT including
India. After filing the PCT Application, national phase
applications can be filed within 31 months in the designated
countries. If India is a designated country in the PCT
application by the applicant, then the applicant has to
enter into the national phase within 31 months from the
priority date. |
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| General
requirements and information to be provided in Patent Application
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| Any
person may apply for a patent either alone or jointly with any
other person. Such persons include the inventor, or his assignee
or legal representative in the case of an ordinary application
or, in the case of a priority application, the applicant in
the convention country or his assignee or his legal representative.
A corporate body cannot be named as an inventor. Priority can
be claimed viz single or multiple while filing the application
Application
has to be filed with specifications. In the application where
no priority is claim, applicants may file either a provisional
specification or a complete specification. Where a provisional
specification is filed in the first instance, a complete specification
must be filed within twelve months. But in case of conventional
and PCT application, complete Specifications is compulsorily
to be filed along with application.
If applicant and inventor are two different persons, both
names has to be given in the application. In case of priority
Applications, declaration of inventorship is necessary to
be filed alongwith application or within maximum period of
three months.
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| If
you need further information regarding Patent Law in India |
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