IP Intelligence
Patent Criticalities
The things that quietly decide whether an invention can be protected - explained before they cost you anything.
Showing 11 of 56.
You told the world before you told the Patent Office
In India there is no general grace period. If your invention was made available to the public before your priority date, that disclosure is prior art against your ow…
The prior art nobody checked
Prior art is anything already available to the public, anywhere in the world, in any language, in any form. A team can be genuinely original and still be second - an…
A granted patent does not mean you are free to sell
A patent is a right to stop other people. It is not a licence to practise your own invention. Your product can be simultaneously protected by your patent and blocked…
The invention exists but the record does not
A patent can only be as good as what the drafter was given. Where the technical record is a slide deck and a conversation, the specification ends up thin, the altern…
The danger of filing too late
Late filings fail in three different ways, and only one of them is about competitors. Your own disclosure becomes prior art against you. Somebody else files first. A…
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…
The patent died of neglect
Renewal fees are due from the expiration of the second year from the date of the patent, and each year after. Miss them and the patent ceases to have effect - usuall…
A granted patent can still be taken away
Grant is a decision by an examining office on the material in front of it. Section 13(4) says expressly that it carries no warranty of validity - and there are four …
Nobody enforces your patent for you
Granting a patent and enforcing it are done by completely different institutions. The Patent Office has no role once a patent is granted - enforcement is a civil act…
Published is not granted
Publication makes your application public. It does not make it enforceable. Between publication and grant you have privileges and rights as if the patent had been gr…
The application that died on paperwork
Substantive objections get the attention. Formal ones end just as many applications, because they carry the same deadline and are easy to leave until last.
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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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.