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Patent Criticalities

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

Showing 9 of 56.

Critical

Claim 1 describes your product instead of your invention

Claim 1 is the patent. If it recites the specific product you happened to build - your materials, your dimensions, your architecture - then a competitor only has to …

During draftingIntermediate
Critical

Your specification does not support your claim

You can only claim what you described. When an examiner cites prior art and the obvious answer is to add a limitation you never wrote down, there is nothing to amend…

During draftingAdvanced
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
Critical

Filing abroad first, without permission

A person resident in India may not apply outside India for a patent without written permission from the Controller, unless an application for the same invention was …

Before filingAdvanced
Critical

The twelve months that decide your international position

Twelve months from your first filing, you must either file in each country you care about, or file a PCT application that preserves the option. There is no third cho…

Before filingIntermediate
Critical

The thirty-one months that ended the case

If a PCT application does not enter the Indian national phase within thirty-one months of the priority date, it is treated as withdrawn so far as India is concerned.…

During examinationAdvanced
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
Critical

The working statement nobody filed

India requires patentees and licensees to tell the Patent Office whether a patent has been worked in India. The obligation moved from annual to once every three fina…

After grantIntermediate

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.