IP Intelligence › What Changed › The examination request window shortened from 48 months to 3
What changed · 15 March 2024
The examination request window shortened from 48 months to 31 - but only for new filings
What changed
Rule 24B(1) was substituted by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024. The request for examination on Form 18 must now be filed within thirty-one months from the priority date or the filing date, whichever is earlier.
Why it matters
It is not retrospective. Rule 24B(1)(vi) preserves the earlier period for applications filed before the amendment, so a portfolio can contain both. And because Indian national phase entry is also at thirty-one months from priority, a PCT application entering India on or after 15 March 2024 may need the examination request filed at or immediately after entry - the comfortable gap has gone.
Who should care
Anyone with pending Indian applications, and anyone entering the Indian national phase.
What you should do
For every pending case, write down the filing date and the earliest priority date and work out which period applies: 31 months for filings on or after 15 March 2024, 48 months for those on or before 14 March 2024. Re-docket any portfolio that was set up under the old rule and never revisited.
Do not assume the general extension power rewritten in 2024 will rescue a missed examination request. Whether it reaches this deadline is unsettled and sources conflict.
Sources & further reading
- The Patents Rules, 2003, as amended (e-version updated to 15 March 2024) — Official IP India text
- The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024 - G.S.R. 211(E), 15 March 2024 — Gazette text via WIPO Lex
Related
Nobody asked the Patent Office to look at it
An Indian patent application is not examined unless someone files a request and pays for it. If the request is not filed in time, the application is treated as withd…
Request for examination
A separate request (Form 18) asking the Patent Office to actually examine your application. Without it, nothing happens.
Patent deadlines can always be extended if you pay.
Some can. Several of the most important cannot, or their extendability is unsettled - and an application that misses one is simply treated as abandoned or withdrawn.
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.