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I missed a patent deadline. Is anything possible?
Which Indian deadlines have a cure, and which should be treated as final.
Treat the thirty-one months as absolute.
Recent Delhi High Court authority has held national phase timelines mandatory and non-extendable, including where the delay was caused by a patent agent. The 2024 rewrite of rule 138 has not settled the question.
- Take advice on the specific facts immediately.
- Do not plan on a cure, and do not delay other jurisdictions while waiting to find out.
- Review your docketing process - migrations and handovers are the usual cause.
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This is educational guidance, not personalised legal advice. It cannot see your documents, your dates or the prior art, and those are usually what decide the answer. Use it to understand the question, then take advice on your own facts.
Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.