A series of actions are required to be performed before getting your patent granted, which begins with the prior art search, patentability analysis followed by preparation of patent draft or patent specification. Subsequently, the patent draft is filed at the patent office for review and examination and undergoes an extensive examination at the patent office and only after that it is decided whether a patent will be refused or granted. The applications received by the patent offices can be divided into two types (national patent applications and International patent applications) based on the type of office at which the fresh application for patent has been filed. National patent applications will always be submitted at the national office of patents, for example, Indian patent office. An international patent application of patent can be filed through the PCT route that is, patent cooperation treaty. The PCT provides a centralized platform of a patent application across multiple countries internationally which is solely operated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. The application filed through this process is called an international patent application which at the later stage gives applicant, an advantage of filing the patent in any of the member countries of the PCT within 30/31 months from the priority date. An inventor or a company has to be certain about the type of application they prefer to file in accordance with their requirements. There are six types of patent applications according to Indian Patent Law where each application is used for different purposes. Below are the six different kinds of patent applications.
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Different Types of Patent Applications
Ordinary Patent Application
Ordinary application is the application which is filed by Indian applicant and directly filed in India without taking any priority. It can be further divided into provisional application and complete application.
Provisional Patent Application
A provisional application can be submitted when the invention is still subject to amendments or under experimentation. It is required to be submitted in the Indian patent office and provides the benefit of early filing, which matures as an issued patent only when the applicant files the complete specification accompanied with full disclosure of claims. The main aim of a provisional application is to secure the earliest priority date for the invention.
Complete Patent Application ( Complete Specification)
Complete application or complete specification can be filed directly without filing a provisional application. However, if the provisional application has been filed, then the complete application has to be filed within 12 months from provisional filing date. There is some provision to postdate the complete application filing beyond 12 months through post dating under various section of the Patent act but that also delays the priority date.
Convention Patent Application
Convention Application means, any applicant who attempts to claim a priority for the invention based on some other similar patent application submitted in other convention countries, is called a convention application. To obtain the status of convention the applicant must file a patent application in the office of patents in 12 months of filing the application in any of the convention countries.
International Patent Application
An international application as already discussed above is controlled by the PCT, which gives the benefit of validation across 142 countries and also provides 30/31 months time before deciding national phase entry in other countries of interest. It offers many advantages like single fees, no translation, no foreign patent attorney required, search report and sufficient time to make a business decision but if you are planning to file a patent in multiple countries. However, if you are planning to file only in one or two countries, it is advisable to follow the conventional route.
Patent of Addition
A Patent of Addition, if an inventor already holds a patent application/patent for something and later comes across some modification in the same invention, in such case the applicant can go for the patent of addition if such substantial inventive step is not found in the invention, yet apart is novel. It is not necessary to pay the fees for renewal separately for the patent of addition during the term of the primary patent. Also, a patent of addition expires along with the primary patent.
Divisional Patent Application
A Divisional Application, if the application prepared by the applicant carries multiple inventions, he/she can divide the application into two or more multiple applications, as required for all substantive inventions. This kind of application which is separated out of a principal application is called as a Divisional Application. And the priority date for all the application other than principal application will be the same as principal application.
List of Additional Documents required with Patent Application
You need to file some other documents too accompanied with the application. The necessary documents include in the application for patent (Form-1), Declaration of Inventorship (form-5), a complete specification (Form-2), that is a complete disclosure with illustrations of the invention, Power of attorney (Form-26) by the applicant, in case patent is to be filed through an attorney or an agent, Statement and undertaking by the applicant(Form -3).[under section 8 of the Indian patent act, 1970], Small entity status (Form 28) if claiming Small entity status or Startup.
EXCELON IP, your Patent Filing Company
We are a team of IP experts with years of experience, operating as patent attorneys registered under Indian patent office and PCT (WIPO). At Excelon IP we provide comprehensive service in preparing required documentation and filing at the patent office through the online portal for India as well as for PCT. For international patent filing, we have trusted network of associates through which we can support International Patent Filing.