The Patent Rules, 2024 have been notified by Ministry of Commerce and Industry under Government of India on 16th March, 2024. The increasing inclination of businesses towards Intellectual Property Rights registration has led to varied measures that would further boost creativity and its protection under law. Some of these changes are given below:
- Reduction in timeline to furnish foreign application from 6 months to 3 months from the date of issuance of first examination report.
- Now, ‘Certificate of Inventorship’ can be given to inventors.
- Grace period can be claimed now by filing Form 31.
- Renewal fee can be reduced by 10% provided the same is paid in advance for a period of at least 4 years.
- Reduction in time limit for filing request for examination to 31 months. Previously, it was 48 months.
- If there is delay in filing, then the same can now be condoned for any number of times up to 6 months.
- While on one hand, previously, the patent holder had to file a statement on working of patent and progress once in every financial year, on the other hand, now the same has to be filed once in three financial years. This is a very big move considering the fact that considerable time is involved in getting a patented invention work because of its complexity, available resources, technical knowhow etc.
- Few technical steps have been taken to avoid fraudulent pre-grant representations so that only genuine ones are looked upon.
By looking at such drastic measures on easing the whole process, it is very clear that the Government is committed tom enhancing ease of doing business and promoting ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. Hence, it is opportunistic time for new entrepreneurs to set up or grow their business.
