PATENTS
There are two major types of patent applications: (1) on the basis of geographical location; and (2) on the basis of the nature of application.
On the basis of geographical location - This is further categorized into three categories:
a. Person of Indian origin filing patent in India
- Provisional application : When the inventor is an Indian and has filed application in India, where he does not possess 100% technical details required for his invention to be produced into a tangible product, and where further research is required, he has to file under provisional application. In this case, the applicant is granted one year to complete his research.
- Application of complete specification :When the inventor is an Indian and has filed application in India, where he possesses 100%of the required information for his invention to be viable and no further research is required.
b. Person of foreign origin filing patent in India
- Convention application : Where the patent is already registered in another country and the patentee intends to file the same patent in India.
- Patent Corporation Treaty :Where the patent is already filed in India through Patent Corporation Treaty (PCT), an international patent law treaty. A patent application under this category is considered an international patent.
c. Person of Indian origin filing patent outside India
- Paris Convention/ convention application : In this case, the applicant is required to file the patent within 12 months from the date of filing in India through the Paris Convention, an international patent treaty.
- Patent Corporation Treaty :Here, the applicant is required to file the patent within 31 months from the date of filing in India through Patent Corporation Treaty.
On the basis of nature of application
- a. Divisional Application : The need to file a patent application under this arises when the applicant has filed two or more inventions under the same patent. In this case, the single patent application is required to be divided into those many numbers of patents. This can be done voluntarily by the applicant after careful consideration, or it can be done on the basis of suggestion received by the patent office.
- b. Patent of Addition :The need to file a patent application under this arises when the applicant already has an existing patent to his credit. Over a period of time, some additions or improvements are made which are required to be registered under the pre-existing patent.
- c. Provisional Application :When the inventor does not possess 100% technical details required for his invention to be produced into a tangible product, and where further research is required, he has to file under provisional application. In this case, the applicant is granted one year to complete his research.
- d. Application of Complete Specification :Application is filed under this category when the inventor possesses 100% of the required information for his invention to be viable, and no further research is required.
