Step 1 · Day zero
The invention exists
Somebody solves a technical problem. At this point there is no legal event of any kind - only a fact that will later have to be proved: who devised what, and when.
Who actsThe inventors. Nobody else has a role yet, which is precisely why this stage is usually undocumented.
What can go wrongThe contribution is never recorded, so inventorship has to be reconstructed years later from memory and email. Contractors and interns contribute with no written assignment.
What to watchWho actually devised the solution, as opposed to who managed the project or funded it. Those are different questions with different answers.
Common misconceptionThat an idea is enough. Patent law needs a technical solution described well enough to be performed.
Nobody wrote down who owns it The wrong people are named as inventors Inventorship
Step 2 · Before anything else
The invention is written down
The technical record is captured: the problem, what was tried before, the mechanism, the parameters that matter, the alternatives considered and rejected, and any comparative results. This is what the drafter will work from.
Who actsThe inventors, with whoever runs the invention disclosure process.
What can go wrongA slide deck and a conversation instead of a record. The alternatives are never captured, so the specification describes only the version that was built.
What to watchBoundary conditions - where the invention stops working and why. That is usually the amendment you will need in three years.
Common misconceptionThat the drafter will ask the right questions unprompted. They can only write what they are told.
The invention exists but the record does not How to write an invention disclosure a drafter can use You only described the one you built
Step 3 · Before drafting
The prior art is searched
A search of published patent and non-patent literature, across jurisdictions and languages, to find the closest existing disclosures. The output should change what is drafted, not just whether to file.
Who actsA searcher or patent professional. The results belong with the drafter and with whoever decides the commercial case.
What can go wrongSearching for products, in English, in your own industry. Or searching after the specification has been written, so the results cannot influence claim 1.
What to watchDocuments from adjacent fields, expired filings and non-patent literature. Examiners cite all three routinely.
Common misconceptionThat a clean search guarantees a patent. Applications are unpublished for eighteen months, so there is always a pool nobody can see.
The prior art nobody checked Patentability search Searching once, at the wrong moment
Step 4 · Weeks before filing
The specification is drafted
The document that becomes the patent: description, alternatives, best method known to the applicant, drawings where needed, and the claims. Everything you can ever claim or amend to has to be in here.
Who actsA patent professional, working from the technical record and the search results, with the inventors reviewing for technical accuracy.
What can go wrongClaim 1 written around the product rather than the invention. No fallback ladder. Functional language with no worked detail. Inconsistent terminology.
What to watchRead claim 1 yourself. Ask, feature by feature, whether removing it would stop the invention working - and what the cheapest version a competitor could ship looks like.
Common misconceptionThat anything wrong can be fixed later. After filing you may narrow, correct and explain - never add.
Claim 1 describes your product instead of your invention There is nowhere to retreat to What you can and cannot change after filing
Step 5 · Priority date
The application is filed
A provisional or a complete specification is filed with the Indian Patent Office. This fixes the priority date for the subject matter actually disclosed, and starts several clocks at once.
Who actsThe applicant, usually through a registered patent agent. The applicant name determines ownership and fee category.
What can go wrongFiling in the wrong name. Filing a thin provisional and assuming it covers what the product becomes. Filing after a public disclosure. Filing abroad first where an India-resident inventor is involved.
What to watchThree dates start here: twelve months to a complete specification if you filed provisionally, twelve months to file abroad, and eighteen months to publication.
Common misconceptionThat filing means protection. It gives you a date and a queue position, not an enforceable right.
The application is in the wrong name The provisional that covered nothing Filing abroad first, without permission Once I file, I am protected.
Step 6 · By 12 months from priority
The international decision
Either file directly in each country you care about, or file a PCT application which preserves the option and pushes the country decision out to roughly thirty or thirty-one months from priority.
Who actsThe applicant, on advice about markets, manufacturing locations and competitors - not just about technology.
What can go wrongLeaving the decision to month twelve, so the last weeks are spent executing a plan nobody had time to think about. Or treating a PCT filing as protection rather than an option.
What to watchThe twelve-month Paris Convention window is effectively immovable. Decide the market list by month nine.
Common misconceptionThat there is a worldwide patent. Every patent is granted, enforced and revoked country by country.
The twelve months that decide your international position PCT Before filing outside India
Step 7 · 18 months from the earliest date
The application publishes
The Patent Office publishes the application in the Official Journal. Your specification becomes public, becomes prior art against everyone else, and can be read by every competitor.
Who actsThe Patent Office. The applicant can also request early publication where that is commercially useful.
What can go wrongAssuming the application stays confidential until grant. Telling customers you have a patent when you have a published application.
What to watchThe pre-grant opposition window opens here, and no patent is granted before six months from publication.
Common misconceptionThat publication means the claims have been allowed. Published claims are the claims as filed and they frequently change.
Publication Published is not granted Somebody is reading your published application
Step 8 · 31 months from priority or filing, whichever is earlier
Examination is requested
Someone has to file Form 18 and pay for the application to be examined. Nothing happens until they do, and nothing prompts them.
Who actsThe applicant or their agent.
What can go wrongMissing it. The application is then treated as withdrawn - no refusal, no letter, nothing to appeal.
What to watchThe period changed in 2024. Applications filed on or after 15 March 2024 have thirty-one months; those filed on or before 14 March 2024 keep the older forty-eight months. For PCT national phase cases entering at thirty-one months, the request often has to be filed immediately.
Common misconceptionThat the old forty-eight months still applies to everything.
Nobody asked the Patent Office to look at it Request for examination
Step 9 · Typically 1 to 3 years after the request
The application is examined
An examiner searches the prior art and prepares a report; the Controller issues it as the first statement of objections. It lists every reason the application should not be granted - novelty, inventive step, subject matter, sufficiency, clarity, unity and formalities.
Who actsAn examiner prepares, the Controller issues and ultimately decides.
What can go wrongReading it as a rejection and giving up. Or treating formal objections as an afterthought - they carry the same deadline as the substantive ones.
What to watchThe six-month period runs from the date the report was issued, not from the date you read it.
Common misconceptionThat receiving objections says something about the quality of the invention. Nearly every application receives them.
First Examination Report The application that died on paperwork An examination report means my application was rejected.
Step 10 · Within 6 months, extendable by 3
The reply is filed
A written reply dealing with every objection: which are answered by argument, which by amendment, and what the technical difference over each cited document actually is. A marked-up claim set is filed with it.
Who actsThe applicant, through their agent, working with the inventors on the technical arguments.
What can go wrongAmending to the commercial product because it produces a grant quickly. Conceding more than the objection required. Leaving the priority document translation to the last week.
What to watchEverything in the reply is public and permanent. What you concede here will be quoted back at you by a defendant years later.
Common misconceptionThat a granted narrow patent is always better than a fight. Often it is not.
The reply that quietly gave the patent away Before responding to an examination report What you said to the examiner is a public document
Step 11 · If written argument does not resolve it
A hearing, if required
An oral proceeding before the Controller, usually short, followed by written submissions. It is the last chance to change the outcome before a decision is written.
Who actsThe Controller, and the applicant through their agent.
What can go wrongAttending with no fallback amendment, so the only options are allow or refuse. Arguing commercial success or foreign grants instead of the technical difference.
What to watchThe date on the hearing notice and the deadline for written submissions afterwards. Letting a hearing notice lapse almost always ends the application.
Common misconceptionThat a hearing notice is bad news. It is an opportunity, and a common route to grant.
Turning up to the hearing with nothing new Hearing The hearing with no fallback
Step 12 · Typically 4 to 6 years from filing
Grant or refusal
The Controller grants the patent, or refuses the application by a reasoned order. On grant the patent is entered in the register and the grant is published.
Who actsThe Controller. A refusal is appealable.
What can go wrongTreating grant as the end. The last opportunity to file a divisional closes at grant, and the post-grant opposition window opens at publication of the grant.
What to watchAny subject matter your specification discloses but does not claim. If you want it, the divisional has to be filed before the parent is granted.
Common misconceptionThat a granted patent cannot be challenged. Section 13(4) says expressly that grant carries no warranty of validity.
The divisional you could no longer file A granted patent can still be taken away Post-grant opposition
Step 13 · For up to 20 years from filing
Keeping it alive and using it
Renewal fees from the expiration of the second year, statements of working once every three financial years, licensing where relevant, and enforcement if someone infringes. The term runs from filing, so a patent granted in year five has about fifteen years left.
Who actsThe patentee, and any licensees - who also have working statement obligations.
What can go wrongLosing the patent to a missed renewal after an office move, an agent change or an acquisition. Forgetting the triennial working statement. Enforcing without first testing your own validity.
What to watchThe address for service on the register, the renewal schedule, and the three-financial-year block that applies to each granted patent.
Common misconceptionThat the Patent Office enforces patents. It does not. Enforcement is a civil action that you start, fund and prove.
The patent died of neglect The working statement nobody filed Nobody enforces your patent for you After grant: the things that quietly kill patents
