Patents
Perspectives on patents across India and the subcontinent.
Nikita · 8 October 2014
Magic and Intellectual Property: Very Tricky
How do you protect a magic trick without revealing it? A tour of the options in India — patents (unlikely), copyright as a dramatic work, performers' rights (a conjurer is a 'performer' since 2012), and trade secrets — and why secrecy usually wins.
Nikita · 30 September 2014
Form 3 and Section 8: Disclosing Foreign Patent Applications in India
Section 8 obliges a patent applicant to keep the Indian Patent Office informed of corresponding foreign applications via Form 3. What must be disclosed, the current filing timelines under the 2024 Rules, and why non-compliance can cost you the patent.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 20 June 2014
Patent Revocation in India: You Can't Take Two Roads at Once
A patent can be revoked in two forums — a petition to the tribunal, or a counter-claim in an infringement suit. The Supreme Court (Aloys Wobben v. Yogesh Mehra) held you must pick one: pursuing both simultaneously is barred. What it means, and the questions it leaves open.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 13 June 2014
Form 27 and Confidentiality: What Companies Actually Disclosed
Statements of working are published. So a survey of what multinationals filed for 2012 is revealing: patents 'not worked' for 'nothing in particular', portfolios too large to know, and offers to provide figures if the Patent Office ever asks.
Ratnavel Pandian · 9 June 2014
Compulsory Licensing in India: The Law and What Actually Happens
Sections 84 and 92 of the Patents Act let a third party work a patented invention without the owner's consent. In more than five decades, India has granted exactly one — Natco over Bayer's Nexavar. Here is the framework, and why the route stays theoretical.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 24 March 2014
The Right to Be Heard: A Patent Refused Without a Hearing
Abraxis filed its response a day before the deadline and asked for a hearing. The Assistant Controller refused, recording that the request came late — it hadn't — then refused the patent on a ground nobody had pleaded. The IPAB called it a flagrant violation of natural justice.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 3 March 2014
The 2014 Patent Fee Hike and the Birth of the 'Small Entity'
The 2014 Rules raised patent fees by 60% for individuals and 100% for large entities, while creating a middle 'small entity' tier for MSMEs. They also introduced the surcharge on paper filing that made electronic filing the default.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 15 November 2013
The Statement of Working (Form 27): What Patentees Must File
A patent is an exclusionary right, and India attaches a duty to it — declaring whether the invention has actually been worked here. Form 27 is now filed once every three financial years, and failing to file exposes you to a fine of up to ₹10 lakh.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 15 October 2013
Indian Patent Law Basics: The Patent Application Procedure
A plain walkthrough of how to file a patent application in India — who can file, the right office, application types, the forms (1, 2, 3, 5), publication at 18 months, request for examination, the FER, and pre- and post-grant opposition.
Raja Pannir Selvam · 10 September 2013
Section 8: Disclosing Your Foreign Patent Applications
Section 8 requires you to tell the Indian Patent Office about corresponding applications filed abroad, and keep it informed. Getting it wrong is a ground for opposition and for revocation — historically one of the most successfully argued grounds in Indian patent litigation.