Patent Registration

Patent registration for inventions.

A patent gives a twenty-year monopoly over an invention that is new, involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application, in exchange for publishing exactly how it works. The rule that decides most Indian patent outcomes is that novelty is absolute: any public disclosure before filing — a conference talk, a product launch, a paper, a pitch without a confidentiality agreement — destroys it. That cannot be repaired afterwards, which is why the first conversation matters more than any later step.

Who this is for

Invention protection
20-year validity
Prior art search
3-5 year registration

The process

What we actually do

1
We tell you immediately whether disclosure has already happened
Novelty is absolute in India. A public demonstration, a published paper or an unprotected pitch before filing is fatal, and there is no grace period of the kind some jurisdictions allow. This question comes before every other one.
2
We check patentability, including the exclusions
Section 3 excludes a long list — a mere algorithm, a business method, a mathematical method, a discovery of something already existing, and computer software per se. Software is patentable in India only where it demonstrates a technical effect beyond the computation itself, and that framing is decided at drafting.
3
We file a provisional to secure the date where it helps
A provisional specification secures a priority date and gives twelve months to file the complete specification. It is the right move when the invention works but the detail is still moving, and the wrong one when the complete specification could have been filed now.
4
We draft the claims, which are the patent
The claims define the monopoly. Too narrow and a competitor works around them; too broad and they are refused over prior art. This is the part of the work that decides what the patent is worth, and it is done with a patent agent.
5
We request examination and respond to the FER
Examination must be requested within 48 months of the priority date or the application is deemed withdrawn. The First Examination Report is then answered within six months, extendable by three.

Who this is for

Businesses with a genuinely novel technical product or process
Research-led startups whose investors will ask what is protected
Manufacturers with a process improvement that competitors would copy
Anyone about to publish, demonstrate or launch something they may want to patent
Businesses that need a filing date now and time to complete the specification

How long it takes

Publication at eighteen months from the priority date unless early publication is requested. Grant typically runs three to five years from filing, and expedited examination is available for startups and small entities.

If you do nothing

The invention enters the public domain the moment it is disclosed, and anyone may use it. There is no partial protection to fall back on — unlike a brand, where use generates common-law rights, an unpatented invention that has been shown publicly is simply free for everyone. That is why the decision has to be made before the launch, not after it.

The law, in figures

Dates, thresholds and sections

Every figure below carries the provision it comes from, so it can be checked.
What	Figure	Source
Term	20 years from the date of filing	Section 53, Patents Act 1970
Requirements	Novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability	Section 2(1)(j), Patents Act 1970
Exclusions	Business methods, mathematical methods, algorithms and computer programmes per se	Section 3(k), Patents Act 1970
Provisional to complete specification	12 months	Section 9, Patents Act 1970
Request for examination	Within 48 months of the priority date	Rule 24B, Patents Rules 2003
Publication	18 months from the priority date, unless early publication is requested	Section 11A, Patents Act 1970
Renewal fees	Payable annually from the third year	Section 53(2), Patents Act 1970

What usually goes wrong

Disclosing the invention publicly before filing, which destroys novelty irrecoverably
Pitching to investors or partners without a confidentiality agreement in place
Filing a provisional and letting the twelve months lapse without the complete specification
Missing the 48-month examination request, after which the application is deemed withdrawn
Drafting claims so narrow that a competitor changes one element and works around them
Forgetting the annual renewal fee from the third year, which lapses the patent

What non-compliance costs

Loss of novelty after public disclosure, which no later filing can cure
Deemed withdrawal where examination is not requested within 48 months
Lapse of the patent where a renewal fee is unpaid, with restoration only within a limited window
Infringement remedies are unavailable for an invention never filed

These are statutory amounts, not our fees. What we charge depends on your situation and is quoted before any work starts.

Not to be confused with

These come up in the same conversation and are routinely treated as the same thing. They are not.

Copyright

Copyright protects expression and arises automatically. A patent protects a technical invention, must be applied for, and is examined against everything published anywhere in the world before the filing date.

Design registration

A registered design protects how something looks — shape, configuration, ornamentation. A patent protects how it works. A product can carry both, filed separately.

Trade secret

A trade secret is protected only by keeping it secret, indefinitely and with no filing. A patent trades secrecy for a twenty-year monopoly. Choosing between them is a commercial decision, and it can only be made once.

Related services