Indian Patent Office Issues 100,000 Grants in One Year for the First Time: A Comprehensive Explanation of the Latest Amendments

In 2023-2024, the Indian Patent Office (IPO) significantly accelerated its examination of patent applications. The IPO granted over 100,000 patents for the first time. The average grant time for an Indian invention patent application is 2-3 years.

Following the recent revision of the Patent Rules, which adjusted the filing fees for patent applications and other procedural fees, the IPO has created a new category of applicants, "small entities," with fees averaging between those for natural persons and applicants other than natural persons and small and medium-sized entities. The revised rules also stipulate that an additional 10% fee will be payable when filing patent applications or other documents physically (i.e., on paper rather than online).

The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India promulgated the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024 on March 15, 2024. The 2024 amendments brought about the following changes:

Regarding Form 3 , applicants must submit it at the following time:

• Within six months from the date of application
• Within three months from the date of issuance of the first review report
• Within two months from the date of notification issued by the competent authority under Article 8(2)

Regarding divisional applications :

• Section 13 of the Patents Act has been amended to include a new clause (2A) which allows applicants to file divisional applications based on the contents of the specification.
• Timing of Divisional Applications: An applicant may file a divisional application even if the original parent application contains multiple inventions, but the application must be filed before the parent application is granted. If the divisional application and the parent application are granted on the same day, the divisional application cannot be rejected solely based on technical differences in timing. In other words, when both occur on the same day, there is no clear distinction between "before" and "after."

Statement on Implementation Status (Form 27):

• The original submission schedule was changed from once a year to once every three fiscal years.

Regarding requests for extension under Section 138:

• A request for an extension must be made before the expiry of the six-month period, and delays may be extended for up to six months.

Regarding expedited review procedures:

• The Patent Office is undergoing modernization and expansion, recruiting a large number of examiners. It is expected that the patent granting period will be shortened from approximately 5-7 years to an average of 2-5 years.
• Patent applications are generally published 18 months after the filing date or priority date. Applicants may request early publication by paying a prescribed fee.
• The 2003 Patent Rules were revised in 2016 and came into effect on May 16 of that year. This revision brought several important expedited measures to the patent examination process, including:
  • The deadline for responding to the examination opinion is 6 months from the date of receipt of the first examination opinion notice (originally 12 months). An application for an extension of 3 months may be submitted, but the extension request must be submitted before the expiration of the 6-month period.
• Applicants who are eligible to apply for accelerated examination procedures include:
  • Small and medium-sized entities
  • Natural person (in case of joint application, all applicants must be natural persons, or at least one applicant must be a female)
  • government departments
  • An institution established under a central, provincial or state law and owned or controlled by the government
  • Government companies as defined in Section 2(45) of the Companies Act 2013
  • Institutions wholly or primarily funded by the government
  • The head of a central government department submits a request and applies for a specific field notified by the central government
  • Applications that are eligible for special examination arrangements under an agreement between the Indian Patent Office and a foreign patent office (the patentability of such applications will still be examined under the relevant provisions of the Patents Act).

Regarding the hearing process:

• Hearing opinions must be submitted within 15 days after the hearing date; a request for a hearing extension must be submitted at least three days before the hearing date; no party may be granted more than two extensions, and each extension may not exceed 30 days.