IP Intelligence › Myths › Software cannot be patented in India.
Patent myth
“Software cannot be patented in India.”
Section 3(k) excludes a computer programme per se. Indian courts have repeatedly held that inventions implemented in software may be patentable where they deliver a technical effect.
The words per se were included deliberately so that genuine inventions merely based on computer programmes are not refused. The test applied by the Delhi High Court is technical effect or technical contribution, and later decisions accept this can be shown on a general-purpose computer. The revised CRI Guidelines notified on 29 July 2025 set out a step-wise methodology and cover AI, machine learning, blockchain and quantum computing.
Indian software companies who believe the myth do not file, and then find competitors holding rights over the same techniques.
Sources & further reading
- Section 3, Patents Act 1970 - what are not inventions — Official IP India section text
- Revised Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions, notified 29 July 2025 — CGPDTM, via Press Information Bureau
Related
Section 3(k)
Section 3(k) excludes a mathematical method, a business method, a computer programme **per se**, and algorithms from being inventions.
Software claimed as software
You cannot patent a computer programme per se. You can, on current Indian authority, patent an invention that happens to be implemented in software if it delivers a …
The case that put technical effect back at the centre
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.