IP Intelligence
Patent Myths
Widely repeated beliefs about patents, and what the position actually is.
Showing 9 of 51.
“India gives you twelve months after you publish to file.”
India has no general grace period. Sections 29 to 32 exclude only specific, narrow situations from anticipation, and the twelve-month limb in section 31 applies to gazette-notified exhibitions and papers read before a learned society.
“Any improvement to a known product can be patented.”
An improvement has to be more than a workshop change, and in chemistry and pharmaceuticals a new form of a known substance faces a further test under section 3(d).
“An NDA means I can show the invention to anyone.”
A confidentiality agreement helps only to the extent it actually binds the people who saw the invention, and can be shown to have done so.
“If I invented it independently, nobody else can have it patented.”
Independent invention is common and is not a defence. India is a first-to-file system: the person who filed first prevails, whatever you can prove about when you had the idea.
“A patent means nobody can use the technology at all.”
A patent stops others doing what the claims cover, in the country that granted it, for its term - subject to defences and statutory exceptions.
“I can publish the paper now and file the patent afterwards.”
In India, publishing first usually destroys novelty in your own invention. The narrow learned-society limb of section 31 does not cover ordinary journal or conference publication.
“A university thesis is not a publication.”
A thesis deposited in a library or an institutional repository, available to the public without restriction, can be prior art.
“The inventor always owns the patent.”
The inventor is the person who devised the invention. The owner is whoever holds the rights, which may be an employer, a university or an assignee.
“It does not matter which country I file in first.”
For a person resident in India it matters a great deal. Filing abroad first without permission, and without an Indian filing at least six weeks earlier, can lead to refusal or revocation of the Indian patent.
Keep going.
Every explanation here links to the ones next to it. Follow the thread rather than the menu.
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.