IP Intelligence
Patent Criticalities
The things that quietly decide whether an invention can be protected - explained before they cost you anything.
Showing 14 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…
Nobody wrote down who owns it
An invention belongs to its inventors unless something in writing moves it. Filing in the company's name does not by itself transfer anything. Ownership defects are …
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…
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 …
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 …
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…
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application does not enter the Indian national phase within thirty-one months of the priority date, it is treated as withdrawn so far as India is concerned.…
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…
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…
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.