Indian Patent Office reiterates on biological material deposition before making patent application

In its notification on July 2, 2014, the Indian Patent Office (IPO) forewarns patent applicants the consequences of not depositing a sample of the biological material with an International Depository Authority (IDA).

Per the present position of law, a sample of the biological material for which patent is sought should be deposited with an IDA before the patent application is filed in India and a reference to such filing must be made within 3 months of filing the patent application.

The IPO observed that many patent applicants either do not make a reference to the deposit in their patent application or file the deposit with the IDA much after filing the patent application. This, the IPO says, is in contravention of the law.

The IPO therefore notifies that a patent applicants should ensure that they follow the present position of law or risk refusal of patent.

Thoughts

The notification appears to be addressed to the prospective patent applicants or patent applications which have been filed within 3 months of July 2, 2014.

I am not sure but judging from the way the notification is worded, I believe the IPO is willing to condone this lapse in applications filed before April 2, 2014 (since the 3 month statutory period for these applications would have already lapsed). Nonetheless, it is advisable to amend the specification of these applications as soon as possible to make a reference to the biological sample.

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