Patent filing and getting a granted patent for an invention can at times consume considerable time. The blinding pace at which technology is moving ahead craves a quicker and expedited patent filing process.
Otherwise, by the time one’s invention is given a granted patent there would be little value of the product in market if the invention is not relevant at that time. Patent filing in India had especially been excruciatingly slow.
To address these problems w.r.t Patent Filing in India, the Government of India has introduced expedited patent filing process for startups in 2016.
Innovation in India is largely driven by startups and small entities and patent filing for the ideas is extremely important to survive and grow in the market. Usually, after the patent filing the patent application takes around 18 months post patent filing to get the invention published in the Official Journal!
However, an expedited patent filing or patent registration process would exponentially reduce the time and the application would be published within a month and the applicant or inventor will obtain the final decision on Patent in just an year or less.
Post-publication, the patent application is examined by the Patent Office after patent filing in India. In an ordinary process, the Patent Application will be queued behind other applications filed before and the examination can take upto 48 months.
However, startups and small entities can avail expedited examination which would shorten the period to a few months. Post-examination the patent is granted to the startup. Overall, patent registration process for startups would be successful within one year or less!
There are several benefits to expedite the patent filing in India. Firstly, a published application would increase a startup’s ability to market their product manifold and also gain sponsorship from investors and the government.
Further, from the very date of publication, the startup gets all rights which an actual patent holder possesses! No one would be able to replicate that particular invention and sell it in the market. As per the norm, startups usually hire patent attorneys or patent agents for expedited patent filing owing the intricate and fast nature of the entire process.
