Patent Prosecution Procedure in India A Patent is an exclusive right granted to a person for a process or product which is novel, has an inventive step and has an industrial applicability. Getting a patent has two benefits interrelated to each other. First is exclusive use. Once a person gets the right of exclusive use, they can use that right to stop others from manufacturing and selling that process/product to have commercial returns. For any process or product to be patented, it should not fall under non-patentable inventions as defined under Section 3 of the Indian Patents Act. Invention means a new innovation that must not be obvious to a person skilled in the field of the patent claims. Novelty means that the invention should not have been in public knowledge before, i.e. no presence of similar or prior art, both patent and non-patent literature. Industrial Applicability: The Patent should have some practical utility of being applied in one or more industry sectors. 3 main types of Patent Applications include, Ordinary Application is a patent application before a patent office without claiming any priority, of application made in a convention country or reference to any other application. It should have complete specification and claims. Convention Application is a patent application having a priority date based on same/ similar application filed in one or more convention countries. PCT Application is a single patent application governed by the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which can provide protection to the patent for up to 142 countries. Patent Filing Procedure covers patent forms in India, including, Form 1 for Application for Grant of Patent, Form 2 for Provisional/Complete Specification with patent claims, Form 3 for Statement and undertaking u/s 8 of Patent Act, 1970, Form 5 for Declaration as to Inventor ship, and, Form 26 for Authorization of a Patent Agent/or any person in a matter or proceeding under the Patent Act. Requirements for filing a Patent include, Complete/ provisional specification: An application can be filed with either full description of the invention or a provisional one. A provisional application if filed, has to be followed by filing of complete specification within 12 months. Patent Claims define the legal rights that the applicant is seeking. Patent Abstract is a concise summary of the invention. Patent drawings: The patent should accompany at last one drawing of the invention. First Examination Report: Patent Applicant can file for an examination by the patent office within 48 months of earliest priority date via Form 18/18A. Thereafter, the patent office would examine the patent and in case of any objections, a First Examination Report (FER) would be issued by the patent examiner stating all the mistakes and errors made by the applicant. Applicant has 6 months to rectify the mistakes and file the appropriate response with arguments and submissions.