Indian Patent Office

The Indian Patent Office is administered by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM). This is a subordinate office of the Indian government and administers the Indian law of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.

Patent administration

The CGPDTM has five main administrative sections:
* Patents
* Designs
* Trade Marks
* Geographical Indications
* Patent Information System

The patent office is headquartered at Kolkata with branches in Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai, but the CGPDTM office is in Mumbai. The office of the Patent Information System is at Nagpur.

The Controller General, who supervises the working of the Patents Act, the Designs Act, and the Trade Mark's Act, also advises the Government on matters relating to these subjects. Under the CGPDTMA, a Geographical Indications Registry has been established in Chennai to administer the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

The Indian Patent Office has as per their website has 134 Examiners, 31 Assistant Controllers, 4 Deputy Controllers, 1 Joint Controller, and 1 Senior Joint Controller, all of whom operate from four branches. Although the designations of the Controllers differ, all of them (with the exception of the Controller General) have equal authority in administering the Patents Act. Indian Patent Examiner's submit their reports to the Controllers, who have the power to either accept or reject Examiner's reports. In 2005, the Indian Patent Office examined around 14,500 patent applications. [ [http://www.patentoffice.nic.in/ipr/patent/ipti/topic1.ppt The Controller General of Indian Patent Office] ] Examiner attrition seems to be issue with the Office. [ [http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Attrition-hit_offices_get_impatent/articleshow/2257791.cms Attrition-hit offices get impatent- Jobs-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times ] ] [ [http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/10011232/Patent-offices-suffer-as-priva.html Patent offices suffer as private companies lure experienced staff ] ] . Despite the attrition the the number of first office actions have increased from 2004-05 to 2006-07 probably due to increased output from the Office. See page52 of [http://www.me.titech.ac.jp/~ytanaka/english/memberse/MOHANTY.pdf] . A recent reoprt of a concerned government official has recommended outsourcing of search in view of increased work load .See page 29 of [http://www.jpo.go.jp/torikumi_e/kokusai_e/pdf/ipcoop_asia-pacific_e/2006jpo_india_e.pdf] The Indian Patent Office has implemented a modernization program according to an Indian govt website. And according to this website "Efforts have been made to improve the working of the Patent Offices within the resources available and that the problem of backlog is also being attacked through 50% higher monthly target for disposal of patent applications per Examiner". [ [http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/investment/ipr.htm Welcome to India in Business ] ] The details of Indian Patent Office's modernization can be seen from this presentation by a Patent Office Official. [http://www.patentoffice.nic.in/ipr/patent/ipti/Topic%202.ppt] According to the Indian Patent Office website the "Indian Digitized Patent & Designs data bases are under preparation. [ [http://www.patentoffice.nic.in/rti/index.htm Right to Information Act - Patents ] ] .E- Filing of Patents & Trademarks is made possiblie and according to an Indian Minister the first phase of the modernisation comes to an end and the Indian Patent office wishes to be an International search Authority. [ [http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=29284 PIB Press Release ] ] The Indian Patent Office has been recognised as the International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). [ [http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/12/19/stories/2007121951731200.htm The Hindu Business Line : Indian Patent Office gets global recognition ] ] The second phase of modernization has been proposed [http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=34113] with the aim of achieving US patent examination efficiency among others. see page 43 of [http://dipp.nic.in/dipp_budget/outcomeBudget2007-08.pdf] . Patent filings during the year 2007-08 were 35000. [http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37065]

Amendments to the Patents Act

Amendments (in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006) were necessitated by India's obligations under TRIPS, allowing product patents in drugs and chemicals. Another important feature was the introduction of pre-grant representation (opposition) in addition to the existing post-grant opposition mechanism. The pre-grant representation has had success in a short span. One example is the abandonment of a patent application by Novartis on Glivec (Imatinib Mesylate), revoking the earlier granted EMR on the same drug used to treat Leukemia.Fact|date=February 2007

A controversial provision of this amendment was on software patent-ability, which was later withdrawn in another amendment (Patents Act, 1970, as amended by Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005). It is clear from the legislative history and interpretation of provisions in the Patent Act, 1970 (as amended in 2005) that the Patent office should not allow intrinsic patent-ability of computer programs. ["Patent Protection for Computer Programs in India: The Journal of World Intellectual Property"Available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1747-1796.2007.00325.x] But there is evidence suggesting that the Patent office has acted otherwise. ["Patent Protection for Computer Programs in India: The Journal of World Intellectual Property" Abstract available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1747-1796.2007.00325.x] Patent Rules 2003 were amended in 2005 and again in 2006. Some of the important features of both the 2005 & 2006 Rules are the introduction of reduced time lines and a fee structure based on specification size and number of claims, in addition to a basic fee.

Criticism

Only bibliographic details along with abstract are published in The Patent Office Journal, and not the complete specification. [http://www.law.fsu.edu/gpc2007/materials/Chapter3PatentInformationandSearching.pdf] Unlike EPO and USPTO, the Indian Patent Office does not provide access to Office Action's. The Office does not have access to paid search databases even after 2 years, since India began the Product Patent Regime( In respect of Chemicals & Drugs) as per the Modernization details of The Patent Office Official cited above. As per An Indian patent Attorney in a Leading IP magazine, patents which were beyond the Act were granted by the Office. [ [http://www.managingip.com/?Page=17&ISS=17631&SID=524406 Managing Intellectual Property ] ] The Indian Patent office seems to have unusually high grant rate (refer to page 14 of the patent office annual report [http://ipindia.nic.in/main_text1.htm] for the year 2005-06 in respect of number of refused patent applications), compared to other major patent Offices (EPO annual report for 2006, p22), and indicates the complete failure of the "well established" quality assurance systems covering the patent granting procedures page 5 of [http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/govbody/en/pct_a_36/pct_a_36_10.doc] .Or|date=October 2007 Knowledge commission, an Indian govt appointed body has recommended measures regarding the functioning of the Office. [ [http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/recommendations/IPRPM.pdf Microsoft Word - IPR.doc ] ] Recently the patent grant of a pharma drug has attracted attention. [ [http://www.livemint.com/Articles/2007/09/26001101/Lawyer-group-to-challenge-pate.html Lawyer group to challenge patent for Roche?s anti-HIV drug - livemint ] ] [ [http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/21225939/Controller-orders-inquiry-into.html Controller orders inquiry into Chennai office patent for Roche - livemint ] ] It should also be noted that the Patent office has not come up with final guidelines (Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure). It is unclear whether the patent office is still revising its draft manual which is kept for public inspection since 2005.A Delhi high court judgement has found that the Indian Patent Office has followed a lowered inventive step criterion (TSM method)in respect of a cancer drug patent. [http://courtnic.nic.in/dhcorder/dhcqrydisp_j.asp?pn=1031&yr=2008] .

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References

External links

* [http://www.patentoffice.nic.in/ Indian Patent Office]

http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/10011232/Patent-offices-suffer-as-priva.html