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For founders
Reading your competitors through their patents
How do we find out what competitors are protecting?
Published applications tell you what a competitor thought was worth protecting eighteen months ago, and where they chose to file tells you which markets they care about.
What the filings reveal
Where a company files shows which markets it intends to defend. What it lets lapse shows which markets it has given up on. What it claims shows which technical direction it committed to, at a point eighteen months before you can see it.
A family also shows scale of intent: one Indian filing is an experiment; a PCT application taken into eight national phases is a strategy.
What to do with it
Two things. First, avoid: if a competitor holds a granted right whose claims your roadmap runs into, that is a design decision, not a legal one, and it is cheap to make early.
Second, act: publication opens the pre-grant opposition window, which any person may use. A well-evidenced representation against an over-broad claim is often far cheaper than dealing with the granted patent later.
Set up monitoring on the Journal for your technical classifications and your named competitors. It costs very little and most companies never do it.
What to actually do
- Monitor the Journal for your classifications and competitors.
- Read where they file and where they lapse, not just what they claim.
- Use the pre-grant window when it matters - any person may file.
- Feed the findings into the product roadmap, not just into the legal file.
Sources & further reading
- The Patents Act, 1970 (consolidated to 1 August 2024) — Official IP India text
Related
Patent landscape
A structured analysis of the patent activity in a technology area - who is filing, in which sub-areas, in which countries, and how that has changed over time.
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…
Pre-grant opposition
A written representation opposing the grant of a published application, which any person may file after publication and before grant.
Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.
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.
Last reviewed by Ragulika IP on 2026-08-23. Indian patent law and Patent Office practice change; check the position before you rely on it.