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Patent Criticalities

The things that quietly decide whether an invention can be protected - explained before they cost you anything.

Showing 10 of 56.

Critical

Nobody asked the Patent Office to look at it

An Indian patent application is not examined unless someone files a request and pays for it. If the request is not filed in time, the application is treated as withd…

During examinationIntermediate
Critical

The reply that quietly gave the patent away

A first examination report is an opening position, not a rejection. The two ways applicants lose value here are missing the date, and buying a grant by conceding mor…

During examinationIntermediate
High

Software claimed as software

You cannot patent a computer programme per se. You can, on current Indian authority, patent an invention that happens to be implemented in software if it delivers a …

During draftingAdvanced
High

There is nowhere to retreat to

Claim 1 will often not survive examination. What decides whether you still have a patent worth having is whether the drafter built a ladder of narrower, meaningful p…

During draftingIntermediate
Critical

Most applications do not fail. They stop.

Very few Indian applications are refused after an argument. Most simply end because a date passed - and because there is no decision to appeal, there is often nothin…

During examinationBeginner
High

Somebody is reading your published application

Publication makes your application visible to everyone who competes with you. In some industries, opposition is a routine part of the landscape rather than an except…

During examinationAdvanced
Medium

Why unity objections arise

A unity objection is not an attack on your invention. It is the examiner saying that one application cannot cover all of this - and it creates a decision with a dead…

During examinationIntermediate
High

The divisional you could no longer file

A divisional application must be filed before the parent is granted. That is a moving target you do not control - and it is the single most common way that valuable …

During examinationAdvanced
Medium

Everything is obvious once you know the answer

Once you have read the invention, the route to it looks inevitable. Combination objections often rely on that effect - so the reply has to force the analysis back to…

During examinationAdvanced
High

The form that can revoke a patent

Section 8 requires you to tell the Indian Patent Office about corresponding applications filed abroad. It is administrative, it is easy to overlook in a large family…

During examinationAdvanced

LowWorth knowing
MediumCould create complications
HighCan materially affect protection
CriticalAct before proceeding

This is the Ragulika IP Educational Criticality - our own editorial prioritisation device, to help you decide what to read first. It is not a legal score, it is not calculated from your facts, and it says nothing about the strength of any particular application.

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Every explanation here links to the ones next to it. Follow the thread rather than the menu.

Educational guidance, not legal advice. This material is published by Ragulika IP for general education and information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a professional-client relationship, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Patentability, infringement, prosecution strategy and every other IP outcome turn on the specific facts and on the law and Patent Office practice as they stand at the time you act. Please take professional advice before making a decision, and read the underlying provision or judgment before relying on any point stated here.