Patent registration in India is controlled by the Indian Patent Office that is under the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM), a subsidiary office of the Indian Government. Currently, patent registration procedures have been extensive and tiresome, thereby affecting negatively the invention and startups in India. In order to make the procedures easy and minimize the duration it takes for registrations, the government has launched lots of fresh modifications and different methods. This will make sure that registration processes are quicker and less expensive for startups and individuals. This will later in future support more companies to file patent requests in India. Startups will likewise be able to be beneficiaries of the advantages of patents policy worldwide as India can be chosen as the International Preliminary Examining Authorities to file opening requests in case the patent wants to be registered without delay.
For the Startup Action Plan to turn India into one of the most excellent incubators for startups all over the globe, the government has launched a fresh Tatkal system for the patent registration process for every new applicant. Up until now, the whole process of patent registration took up to five to seven years. The major purpose or objective of these fresh rules or policies is to reduce these durations to 2.5 years by March 2018. The projected Tatkal program will make sure that this takes lesser duration. Under the fresh policies, registration charges have been reduced by 80% for the normal route whereas the Tatkal choice will cost about thrice the normal price, depending on the service. Nevertheless, globally the Tatkal choice will be accessible only if the applicant picks India as the proficient International Searching Authority in the subsequent international application as well as talk about the fact that they have filed applications before in India. This will prevent startups from applying in India after primarily applying abroad.
The application charges under the fresh filing procedure would cost between Rs. 1600 and Rs. 8800 (this depends on the kind of entity), whilst in Tatkal scheme format, the charges for each applicant and startups would be Rs. 8000 while for companies, it would be Rs. 60,000.
In addition, startups have been redefined as an individual with incomes less than 25 crores and this has brought in the desire to enhance the obtainable patent policy in the country to draw international players while preserving local businesses. Startups have been defined as “individual persons” in place of companies in the newest modification to the policy. The government has also launched removal of patent application devoid of extra charges to enhance the efficacy of the scheme. For the first time, patent fees refund has also been permitted. In such cases where the application has been withdrawn and so has the request for examination, 90% of the application charge will be refunded. Double payments made as a result of mistakes in the online transaction will also be reimbursed. Nevertheless, the responsibility of the patent application rests only with the applicant. On the other hand, for the procedure listed above to get started, more than 2 Lakh applications that are imminent needs to be removed before a fresh set is scrutinized and accepted.
Advantages of Startups
The fast procedure would make sure that startups achieve traction as soon as possible, most specifically if their goods or service is in relation to the patent that they have applied for. Research organizations would also be able to control the advantages as soon as possible. In addition, the circumstances for patent dispute decision has also been adapted with a restricted number of postponements in the court with respect to a patent dispute-twice with a maximum period of 30 days. So, these advantages would only be valid for the fresh applicant.
As a result of the elongated and tiresome procedure of registration, Indian patent applications stood at 1400 in 2015, which summed up to just 2.5 percent of the total patents filed in the United States of America that same year. Whilst inadequacy of invention initiatives can as well be a cause for the above, the long procedure for the same would also have been a causative factor. Despite the fact that technology is regularly been improved and older technology turns out to be out of date within months, technology startups would not be able to wait for 5 years to have their patents registered. For this reason, the fresh policies are to welcome change to make sure that startups are capable of maintaining their stand worldwide.
