Frequently asked questions

A patent is an exclusive right granted by the Government for an invention. For a limited period, it lets the patentee prevent others from making, using, selling, offering for sale or importing the invention in India without consent.

A granted patent lets you take legal action against anyone who exploits your patented product or process without permission. It gives you an edge over competitors, and the patent can be sold or licensed to earn revenue or to attract investment.

A new product or process that involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application, provided it does not fall within the exclusions in Sections 3 and 4 of the Patents Act, 1970.

Among other things: discoveries of natural phenomena, mathematical and business methods, computer programmes per se, methods of treatment of humans or animals, plants and animals other than micro-organisms, traditional knowledge and inventions relating to atomic energy.

The true and first inventor, the inventor’s assignee (for example, an employer or institution), or the legal representative of a deceased inventor or assignee. Applications may be filed jointly.

Patents are granted by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks. The Patent Office has four branches — Kolkata (head office), Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi. The right office depends on where the applicant resides or has a place of business, or where the invention originated. Foreign applicants file at the office covering their address for service in India.

Ordinary, convention, PCT national phase, patent of addition and divisional applications. An application can begin with a provisional specification, with the complete specification filed within 12 months.

An application filed in India claiming priority from an application filed earlier in a convention country. It must be filed in India within 12 months of that first filing.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty, concluded in 1970 and administered by WIPO. It lets an applicant file one international application to seek protection in over 150 member countries, deferring the cost and timing of national filings.

Within 31 months from the priority date.

No. Patents are territorial: an Indian patent can be enforced only in India. Protection elsewhere needs filings in each country or region, usually through the PCT or convention route.

1. Record the invention in detail, ideally in an invention disclosure form.
2. Carry out a prior art and patentability search.
3. Draft and file the patent specification (provisional or complete).
4. Request examination within 31 months of the priority date, and early publication if desired.
5. The application is published, ordinarily 18 months from the priority date.
6. Respond to the First Examination Report and attend any hearing.
7. The patent is granted.

A search of patent and non-patent literature to assess whether an invention is novel, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. It helps decide whether to file and shapes how the claims are drafted.

A Patent Office examiner reviews the application against the requirements of the Act and issues a First Examination Report setting out any objections. The applicant must respond within six months, which can be extended by three months on request.

20 years from the date of filing (for PCT national phase applications, from the international filing date), subject to payment of renewal fees.

By paying renewal fees every year from the third year onwards. Fees for years that fall due before grant are paid together after the grant. Renewals can be handled by the patentee or through a patent agent.

Making, using, selling, offering for sale or importing a patented product or process in India without the patentee’s consent. The patentee can sue for an injunction and for damages or an account of profits.

Preparing the techno-legal patent specification — the description, drawings, claims and abstract — that defines the invention and the scope of protection.

A professional registered with the Indian Patent Office after qualifying the Patent Agent Examination. A patent agent can draft and file applications and act for applicants before the Controller.

A patent agent handles drafting, filing and prosecution before the Patent Office. An advocate who is also a registered patent agent — commonly called a patent attorney — can additionally advise on and represent clients in patent disputes before the courts.

Official fees are usually paid online through the IP India e-filing portal. Offline payment at the Patent Office is also accepted.

It varies with the field of technology and the Patent Office’s workload, and typically takes a few years. Expedited examination — available, for example, to start-ups, small entities, women applicants and government institutions — can shorten this considerably.

A word, name, logo, symbol, shape, sound, colour combination or a combination of these that can be represented graphically and distinguishes the goods or services of one business from those of others.

Any person, firm, company or other entity claiming to be the proprietor of a mark that is used, or proposed to be used, for its goods or services.

Product marks, service marks, collective marks, certification marks, shape marks, sound marks and colour or pattern marks, among others.

Registration is not mandatory, but it gives you the exclusive right to use the mark across India for the registered goods or services, makes enforcement far easier through an infringement action, and creates an asset you can license or assign.

1. Search for earlier conflicting marks.
2. File the application in the relevant classes.
3. The Registry examines the application; respond to any objections, and attend a hearing if needed.
4. The mark is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, opening a four-month opposition period.
5. If there is no opposition, or it is decided in your favour, the registration certificate issues.

Per class: for individuals, start-ups and small enterprises, ₹4,500 (e-filing) or ₹5,000 (physical filing); for all others, ₹9,000 (e-filing) or ₹10,000 (physical filing).

Choose a mark that is distinctive — invented or arbitrary words are strongest — easy to pronounce, spell and remember, not descriptive of your goods or services, and clear of earlier marks. A search before adoption is advisable.

™ can be used with any mark claimed as a trade mark, registered or not. ® can be used only once the mark is registered; using it for an unregistered mark is an offence under the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

TM denotes a mark for goods; SM denotes a mark for services. In India, the ™ symbol is commonly used for both.

Online, on the IP India trade mark e-register, by entering the application number.

Registration lasts 10 years from the date of application and can be renewed indefinitely for further 10-year periods. Renewal can be filed within one year before expiry, and with a surcharge up to six months after. The renewal fee is ₹9,000 (e-filing) or ₹10,000 (physical filing) per class.

India follows the Nice Classification: classes 1–34 cover goods and classes 35–45 cover services. One application can cover one or more classes.

Unauthorised use, in the course of trade, of a mark identical with or deceptively similar to a registered mark, in a way likely to cause confusion. Unregistered marks can be protected through a passing-off action.

A set of exclusive rights that the law grants to creators of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings — including computer programs — to control how their work is used.

Exclusive control over reproduction, publication, adaptation and other uses of the work; the ability to license or assign those rights; and civil and criminal remedies against infringement. By rewarding creators, copyright also encourages new creative work.

Books, articles, computer programs and databases, plays, music, choreography, paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, architectural works, films, sound recordings, maps and technical drawings, among others.

The author or owner of the work, or an assignee — directly or through an authorised representative.

No. In India, copyright exists from the moment an original work is created. Registration is optional, but the entries in the Register serve as prima facie evidence of the particulars recorded, which is valuable in a dispute.

Before the Registrar of Copyrights at the Copyright Office, New Delhi — usually online through the e-filing facility at copyright.gov.in.

An agreement by which the owner permits another person to exercise some or all of the rights in a work. It must be in writing, signed by the owner or an authorised agent, and should set out the rights, territory, duration and royalty.

After filing there is a mandatory 30-day period for objections. The overall time then depends on the Copyright Office’s workload and on whether any objection or discrepancy is raised.

The rights to reproduce the work, issue copies, perform or communicate it to the public, translate and adapt it, and make films or sound recordings of it — along with the author’s moral rights of authorship and integrity.

Yes. Computer programs are protected as literary works, and the source code can be registered.

Yes. Website text, graphics and code are protected as literary and artistic works, and can be registered in their respective categories.

For literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, including photographs: the author’s lifetime plus 60 years. For films, sound recordings, posthumous, anonymous and pseudonymous works, government works and works of international organisations: 60 years from publication. Both periods run from the beginning of the following calendar year.

Doing any act reserved exclusively for the owner — such as copying, distributing, performing or adapting the work — without a licence from the owner.

The features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colours applied to an article, in two or three dimensions, by an industrial process, which appeal to and are judged solely by the eye. Purely functional features are not covered.

The exclusive right to apply the design to the article for which it is registered, and to prevent others from making, selling or importing articles bearing the design or a fraudulent or obvious imitation of it.

Manufacturers, designers, artisans and any business whose product’s appearance contributes to its value.

Handicrafts, furnishings and household goods, jewellery, textiles, packaging, electronic devices and other manufactured articles.

It must be new or original, must not have been published anywhere or used in India before filing, must be significantly distinguishable from known designs, and must not be contrary to public order or morality.

1. Search to check that the design is new.
2. File the application with representations (views) of the article and its class.
3. The Design Office examines the application; respond to any objections.
4. The design is registered and a certificate issues.
5. The registration is published in the Patent Office Journal.

A register maintained at the Patent Office, Kolkata, recording each design’s number, class, filing date, proprietor’s name and address, and later assignments.

Before the design is disclosed or the product goes on the market. Prior publication destroys novelty.

A design protects only how a product looks. A patent protects a technical invention — how something works or is made. One product can be protected by both.

The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, through the Design Wing of the Patent Office at Kolkata.

10 years from the date of registration, extendable once by a further five years — 15 years in total. The extension can be applied for at any time before the first 10 years expire.

Applying a registered design, or a fraudulent or obvious imitation of it, to an article in the same class for sale without the proprietor’s consent — or importing or selling such articles.

Yes, by a written assignment or licence, which should be recorded in the Register of Designs.

Yes. Any interested person can petition the Controller for cancellation at any time after registration. The proprietor may contest the petition, and the matter is decided after a hearing.

That it was previously registered in India; that it was published in India or elsewhere before the registration date; that it is not new or original; that it is not registrable under the Designs Act, 2000; or that it is not a “design” as defined in the Act.

An indication that identifies agricultural, natural or manufactured goods, including handicrafts and foodstuffs, as originating in a particular territory, where their quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially due to that origin. Darjeeling Tea is a well-known example.

Legal protection against unauthorised use of the indication, and support for the economic prosperity of the producers of goods from that territory.

Any association of persons or producers, organisation or authority established by or under law that represents the interests of the producers of the goods.

1. File the application, with a statement of case and proof of origin, at the Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai.
2. The application undergoes preliminary scrutiny and examination.
3. Respond to any objections raised by the Registrar, or request a hearing.
4. The accepted application is published in the Geographical Indications Journal.
5. Third parties may oppose it within the prescribed period.
6. If unopposed, or if the opposition is decided in the applicant’s favour, the GI is registered.

The goods must originate in the defined geographical area, and their quality, reputation or characteristics must be essentially attributable to that origin.

A producer of the goods who applies for and is registered as an authorised user of a registered GI.

Only the registered proprietor and registered authorised users.

No, but it is strongly advisable: an action for infringement can be brought only for a registered GI.

Using the indication in a way that misleads the public about the true place of origin of the goods, or that amounts to unfair competition — for example, using it for goods that do not originate in the registered territory.

10 years, renewable for further periods of 10 years.

A trade mark identifies the goods or services of one particular business. A GI identifies goods from a particular region, and can be used by every authorised producer from that region.

No. A GI is the collective property of the producers concerned, and cannot be assigned, transmitted, licensed or pledged.

No, but professional help is advisable, particularly with the statement of case, evidence of origin and responses to objections.

Yes, every 10 years. A GI that is not renewed is liable to be removed from the register.