PATENT

A patent is a license or permit authorized by the government conferring a legal right for a period of time. The main right is the sole ownership of the product and excluding others from making, using, selling or importing the patented product without the consent of the owner.

Its granted to an invention if it meets the following criteria:
Novelty: The invention has to be new and cannot be a part of the prior state of work, implying that it must not have been published, presented or revealed publicly.
Inventiveness: This is a feature of the invention that involves the advancement of the existing knowledge or state or work that is strikingly evident to any person
Industrial Utility: An invention must be applied to or applicable in the industrial process.

The application can be made by the following:
    1. The true and first inventor
    2. True and first inventor‘s assignee
    3. The legal representative of the deceased true and first inventor or his/her assignee

Its application is a plea for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by the applicant. An application for this purpose generally comprises a description of the invention, added with official forms and correspondence relevant to the application. The applications are of several types, and each one of them caters to a unique purpose. 

SEARCH:
The first and most important step to any patent registration is the patent search in the patent database. Search can be done under two publication types: published or granted. 

Importance of Patent Search:
    1. It provides clarity on the imitation or infringement of the invention, product or service that is under the                                                         process.
    2. It determines the novelty of the product to be patented.
    3. Search procedure estimates the scope of patent protection you will be granted by the Patent Office.
    4. It provides strength to the invention against issues of proof or validity from other applicants.
    5. Its not only applicable to the active patents but also searches for resembles or copies in the expired or inactive patents                           database.
    6. It helps avoid unnecessary expenses in the field of innovation prior to investing.  

Search Process:
Search: Patentability search or novelty search is carried out to find out if the invention or product in question meets the novelty factor. In this case, it is necessary that all features of claims must be described in a single document.
Prior Art or State of Art search: This search is mainly conducted to identify the technology of invention and its purpose. The search is conducted on the databases relevant to or running parallel to the technology under scrutiny.
Freedom to Operate (FTO) search: This search is also known as the Right to Use search. Any company ready to initiate or launch its invention carries out the FTO. It does an FTO  search to validate if the company is not violating any intellectual property rights of others for its own benefit of commerce.
Validity/Invalidity search: The validity or invalidity searches are two identical searches except that the results vary. These searches are carried out after the grant of the patent in order to determine the novelty of the patented invention at the time of patent application filing.
Patent Landscape: As the name suggests, patent landscaping helps to get an overview of the invention with regards to its technology, its field of work, competitors, latest trends and research and development in the industry.

Patent applications are of two types: 
1. Provisional Application
2. Complete Application

PROVISIONAL REGISTRATION:
A provisional patent is the one that is usually applied in the early stages of an invention to secure the date of filing. It requires fewer specifications than a regular patent application. It is typically considered as a preliminary step to complete the application. It lasts for 12 months only; within which a complete application must be filed to avoid abandoning the application else the invention becomes non-patentable. If a complete application is granted patent then the date of filing will be considered of the provisional application.

A provisional application must include the title and description of the invention. No claims are included in the provisional application. Claims are generally included incomplete application.

Benefits of Provisional Filing:
1. Low cost of fees
2. Establishing an early date of filing before the complete application is filed
3. Extension of the patent term by one year
4. Confidentiality of the application is maintained before it is published
5. The commercial benefit is evaluated

FINAL REGISTRATION:
A complete application has to be filed in the patent office if you wish to protect your invention. It can be filed in the first place OR if you have filed a provisional application previously, then within 12 months from the provisional application filing date.  

Process of Registration:
    1. A patent search is the most important step. All inventions are not patentable. Check if the patent meets all the criteria of                       patentability and whether it can be a patent or not.
    2. File the application form either by self or with the help of a professional if the invention can be patented.
    3. Filing of supporting documents with complete details of the invention such as:
    4. Area and nature of the invention
    5. Invention Description
    6. Working of the invention

Advantages
1. Drawings, plans, diagrams, sketches, etc. of the invention
2. After filing for a patent with complete specifications, the application is published after 18 months of first filing. An early request         for publication can be made with prescribed fees to make the publication of application as early as one month from the date of         filing for early publication.
3. An examination of the application is carried out after a request for examination is filed.
4. The examiner checks for the eligibility and if the criteria are met such as novelty, inventiveness, utility, etc.
5. The examiner creates a report called patent prosecution and submits it to the controller. Everything that happens before the              grant of patent is called patent prosecution.
6. The controller checks the report for any objections and gives the applicant extended time to analyze and correct the objections.
7. The applicant has the chance to prove his novelty and create a strong satisfactory report to resolve the objections.

Once the objections are resolved, the patent is granted to the applicant and published in the patent journal.

For more information regarding patent registration, please visit http://www.ipindia.nic.in/index.htm
For copyright registration, click https://allroundtaxsolutions.com/copyright/