IP Intelligence › Myths › Patent registration and patent filing are the same thing.
Patent myth
“Patent registration and patent filing are the same thing.”
There is no registration process for patents in India. An application is filed, published, examined, argued and then either granted or refused. Registration is how trade marks and designs work, not patents.
The vocabulary matters because it sets expectations. A trade mark or a design goes through a comparatively short examination. A patent goes through a substantive technical examination against the whole of world prior art, and most applications are objected to at least once. Anyone promising registration of a patent has described a process that does not exist.
Budgets and timelines built on a registration model are usually out by years.
Sources & further reading
- The Patents Act, 1970 (consolidated to 1 August 2024) — Official IP India text
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Examination
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The application is examined
The invention is new - and still not patentable
Indian law has a filter that operates completely independently of novelty and inventive step. Section 3 lists things that are not inventions at all - and something c…
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.