In a much welcomed change, the Patent Office has gone digital promoting the online filing system for Patent filings and other proceedings with respect to a Patent application or a granted Patent.

DIGITISATION:

With the introduction of The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2014, Patent Office has promoted complete digitisation of Patent filings. In this regards a revised fee structure has been provided for filing of patent applications as well as other proceedings before the Patent.

The important provision with the introduction of amendment rules is the 10% additional fee when the applications for patent and other documents are filed through the physical mode, i.e., in hard copy format as opposed to the online mode. This step will certainly result in major online filings in comparison to physical filings of Patent applications and other proceedings with respect to a Patent application or a granted Patent. As regards 10% additional fee for physical filing, all the applicants will be opting for lower Official fees, thereby promoting online filings rather than physical filings.

AMENDMENT IN PATENTS RULES:

The Patent (Amendment) Rules, 2014 was published by the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) by notification vide dated 28/02/2014 in Part II, Section 3, Sub-Section (i) of the Gazette Of India, Extraordinary on 28-2-2014 and has been made effective from the date of publication. The amended Fee for Patent filings started with the publication of amendment rules, resulting in a good no. of online filings.

BENEFITS ARISING FROM DIGITISATION OF PATENT SYSTEM:

The digitisation of Patent system is certainly a good step towards improvement of Indian Patent Office and procedural requirements. All the major actions in respect of a Patent application or granted Patent can be effected with online filing system of Indian Patent Office.

The system is highly useful for urgent filings and filings of last due dates, wherein it will save time as regards to manfully filing an application at Patent Office.

With the digitisation of Patent filings, one can file Patent application directly by uploading specification and other relevant documents online. This has resulted in an efficient filing system with proper records and direct uploading of documents with Indian Patent Office.

This efficient move by Patent Office will save both time and money for applicants throughout world. Time by saving visit to Patent Office for manual filings and money as online filings will charge lesser official fee in comparison to physical filings which will be charging the applicant an additional 10% of Official Fees.

Apart from being efficient tool for filing of Patent applications, it is equally useful for formalities in respect of granted Patents like online submission of renewal fee and annual requirements of filing of working statements. With the online filing system its of convenience to applicant as with online filing system bulk of renewals can be paid in respect of a particular Patent Office branch with one time payment. The Official Filing Receipts will be generated at the same time of online payment and the same can be easily saved for future references.

Also it is promoted by Indian Patent Office to submit working statements online providing complete details regarding working of a Patented invention and the submission receipt can be kept for records for submission of working statement with Patent Office for any future requirement.

URGENT FILINGS:

The online filing system of Indian Patent Office is highly useful at the time of urgent filings of 'Request for Examination' where a deadline is nearing and also for renewal cases on urgent basis. The same is also efficient for filing of renewals which were not filed before the due date and needs to be filed with Official Fine for extension of time.

The said service of online filing is also being used for filing responses to Examination reports. A reply to examination response can easily be filed with online filing system along with uploading of relevant documents.

CONCLUSION:

The online filing system introduced by Indian Patent Office is certainly a major step towards the improvement and modification of Patent filing system in India. With Patent amendment Rule and lesser Official Fee for online filings the Patent system will go completely digital as all applicants will be opting for convenient online filings and lesser official fees. The digitisation of Patent system in India has resulted in an efficient Patent Office and in future we will see much more modifications in Indian Patent system with better efficiency and convenience for applicants.

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