Patent Registration

A patent is the single strongest IP right an Indian company can own — a 20-year statutory monopoly to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the claimed invention. Yet of the roughly 90,000 patent applications filed in India each year, less than half are eventually granted, and a meaningful fraction of those that are granted would not survive a serious post-grant opposition or revocation petition because the underlying drafting was thin, the prior-art landscape was not properly searched, or the patentability exclusions under Section 3 of the Patents Act 1970 were not engineered around. By 2026, with the Patents Rules 2003 amended in 2024 introducing the new patent agent CET, the e-DAS (electronic deposit and acknowledgement system), expanded divisional application rights under Section 16, and the Bayh-Dole-style framework for publicly-funded inventions, the procedural rigour required has only increased.

Patentability in India rests on three statutory tests — novelty (the invention must not be anticipated by any prior art anywhere in the world), inventive step (it must not be obvious to a person skilled in the art), and industrial applicability (it must be capable of being made or used in industry). On top of these, Section 3 excludes a long list of subject matter from patentability — most relevantly Section 3(d) for new forms of known substances without enhanced efficacy (the clause that defeated the Novartis Glivec case), Section 3(k) for computer programmes per se and mathematical methods, and Section 3(b), 3(c), 3(e), 3(f), 3(h), 3(i), 3(j), 3(p) for an array of other categories. A specification that ignores these exclusions gets a Section 3 objection at first examination report (FER) and either falls or has to be re-engineered with claims that cross the exclusion boundary cleanly.

We handle patent registration end-to-end — patentability search, invention disclosure capture, specification drafting, Form 1 / 2 / 3 / 5 filing, request for examination, FER response, pre-grant and post-grant opposition defence, grant, and the 20-year annuity calendar.

What's Inside a Real Patent Registration Engagement

• Patentability & Prior-Art Search:: Comprehensive search across WIPO PATENTSCOPE, Indian Patent Office (Inpass), USPTO, EPO, JPO and non-patent literature; novelty, inventive step and Section 3 exclusion analysis; written opinion before drafting begins.

• Invention Disclosure Capture:: Structured inventor interview to extract the actual technical contribution, embodiments, alternatives and best mode — the foundation for a strong specification.

Specification Drafting (Provisional & Complete):
Title, technical field, background, summary, brief description of drawings, detailed description, claims (independent + dependent), abstract — drafted to maximise enforceable scope while surviving Section 3 and prior-art objections.

• Form Filing:: Form 1 (application for grant), Form 2 (provisional / complete specification), Form 3 (statement and undertaking on foreign filings, with periodic updates), Form 5 (declaration of inventorship), Form 9 (early publication where strategic), Form 18 (request for examination), Form 26 (Power of Attorney where needed).

• Examination & FER Response:: First Examination Report typically issues within 12-30 months of RFE; written response with claim amendments, technical arguments, and inventor affidavits where required; hearing before Controller if called.

• Opposition Defence:: Pre-grant opposition under Section 25(1) (any person, post-publication and pre-grant) and post-grant opposition under Section 25(2) (interested person, within 12 months of grant) — both defended on grounds of anticipation, obviousness, Section 3 exclusion, insufficiency, and wrongful obtaining.

• Grant & Annuities:: Patent grant certificate; annuity payment calendar from year 3 to year 20; restoration where annuity lapsed within 18 months.

• PCT National Phase & Foreign-Filing Licence:: PCT international application from Indian priority; Section 39 foreign-filing licence where direct foreign filing is contemplated within 6 weeks of Indian filing; 30/31-month national-phase entry in designated states.

Why DIY Patent Filings Get Rejected or Defeated Later

Specifications drafted from templates fail the enablement and best-mode tests. Claims are either too narrow (no commercial value) or too broad (anticipated by prior art). Section 3(d) and 3(k) objections are not pre-empted, leaving software, business-method and pharma applications dead at FER. Form 3 foreign-filing updates are missed, attracting a Section 8 violation that can revoke even a granted patent. We engineer around every one of these failure modes from the disclosure-capture stage onwards.