Patent

Under current practice, there is no provision to allow accelerated examination for patent applications in India except for applicants who qualify as an Indian based “Start-up” or have chosen Indian Patent Office as the ISA or IPEA in the corresponding international application. The application is put in queue for examination only after a request has been filed.

Voluntary amendments to claims can be made any time from the filing of an application to before the grant of patent application. However, it is preferable to file such voluntary amendments before or at the time of filing request for examination.

Under current practice, the Indian Patent Office does not accept utility/petty patents.

Please note that India’s current Patents (Amendment) Rules of 2016 only allow for deletions from the original set of claims. At the time of national phase entry, an applicant is not allowed to make any amendment beyond mere deletion of claims.

Trademark

Indian trademark law allows for filing of a trademark application in India on an ‘intent-to-use’ basis. Therefore, the foreign proprietor does not have to await for actual use of the trademark in order to seek protection.

However the registered proprietor of the trademark in India has to commence use of the mark within 5 years and 3 months of the date of registration. Otherwise, the registered trademark is open to invalidation proceedings.

 

A person who claims to be  the proprietor of the trademark can apply for the registration of its mark for goods as well services.

A person may apply for registration of a trade mark to the Trademark office under whose jurisdiction the principal place of the business of the applicant in India falls.

In case the principal place of business is outside India, then the application can be filed in the Trademark office under whose jurisdiction the office of the lawyer appointed by you is located.

In case of a company about to be formed, anyone may apply in his name for subsequent assignment of the registration in the company’s favour.