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Should I post-date my patent application?
Post-dating moves your application to a later date. It can buy time, but it never lets you add new matter, and it can cost you priority.
No, it is still pendingNo, it is an ordinary Indian applicationMy complete specification is filed and the provisional is weak← back a step
Section 9(4) lets you cancel the provisional and date the application from the complete specification.
Moderate complexity - several routes or missing facts
Where a complete specification has followed a provisional, the Controller may, on request before grant, cancel the provisional and post-date the application to the date the complete specification was filed.
- You lose the provisional's date for every claim. Check what became public between the two dates.
- This makes sense mainly when the provisional is so thin that it gives no useful priority, and its date is causing a problem.
- The reverse route also exists: within twelve months of filing, a complete specification can be treated as a provisional on request (section 9(3)). It is not available for convention or PCT national phase applications.
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Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
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