A bilateral patent prosecution highway (PPH) pilot program has been implemented between the Indian patent office (IPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on December 05, 2019, for a period of three years. The guideline was framed by the patent offices and published on the website of Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks. As per the guideline, the number ...Read More

The fourth amendment of the Chinese Patent Law (CPL) has been approved by China's National People's Congress on October 17, 2020, which will take effect on June 01, 2021. After the 2008 amendments, China has approved the current amendments to the CPL. Below is a brief summary of the Top 5 Changes in the newly amended CPL....Read More

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) notified the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2020 dated October 19th, 2020. The Patent Amendment Rules, 2020 are effective from October 20th, 2020. The existing patent rules 21 and 131 (2) are revised in the present amendments and the revised rules modify the requirement of %...Read More

In view of the UK's exit (Brexit) from the European Union (EU), the transition period will finally end on December 31st,2020 and the UK becomes an independent territory of the EU since January 1st, 2021. The EU Trade Marks and Registered Community Designs have direct impacts due to the end of the transition period. However, the EU patents/patent applications do not have...Read More

Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in its order, OA/63/2020/PT/DEL dated 27 October 2020, observed that filing of the declaration under Rule 4.17 (ii) of the PCT Regulations during PCT filing satisfies the legal requirement of filing ‘proof of right’ for PCT National phase patent applications in India and set aside the order dated January 30, 2020 ...Read More

Geographical Indication (GI) is an Intellectual Property Right like any other IPR which is described in Article 22 of TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property) Agreement as “indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of the good is essentially attrib...Read More

The PCT patent application or International patent application generally has two phases, 1) International Phase and 2) National Phase. The PCT patent application has to be nationalized in specific countries before the expiration of the international phase. The ...Read More

The international (PCT) patent application plays the role of an international patent application for a certain period of time or until national phase entry in each of the national countries. The PCT patent application does not result in a grant of a patent, however, the applicant or inventor can prosecute the PCT patent application with the International search authority (ISA) and/or International Prelimin...Read More

The PCT patent application or the International patent application has an effect of a national patent application for a certain period of time. After that period, the PCT patent application is converted into national phase patent applications where patent protection is required. The PCT patent application can be amended under Article 19 and Article 34 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)....Read More

Australia Patent Office has amended some of the official fees for patent/patent applications to recover the costs from administering intellectual property (IP) rights and their associated legislation. The changes to the official fees will commence from October 1, 2020. A summary of the patent/patent application fee changes is discussed below. ...Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) latest decision, in IBSA Institut Biochimique, S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., affirmed a District Court's decision that the asserted claims relating to a pharmaceutical composition were invalid as indefinite under 35 U.S.C §112.BACKGROUND OF THE CASE...Read More

Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in its order, OA/47/2020/PT/DEL dated July 20, 2020, says a divisional patent application filed from a parent patent application after the unity of objection cannot be rejected based on the parent patent application/patent and set aside the decision dated January 02, 2020 (Impugned order), of Assistant Controller of Patents...Read More

Paris Convention The Paris Convention is one of the first international intellectual property treaties formed between numerous countries. The Paris Convention was signed in the year 1883 in Paris, France by eleven countries. Presently, the Paris Convention has 177 countries as contracting parties. The Paris Convention applies to all intellectual property ...Read More

The patent registration process in India involves numerous steps such as filing a patent application, publication of the patent application, examination of the patent application, grant of the patent application, and maintenance of the issued patent. The typical time period to receive the grant of the patent application in India is 4 -5 yea...Read More

Filing a PCT National Phase patent application in IndiaThe PCT national phase patent application has to be filed in India within thirty-one months from the priority date pursuant to rule 20 (3) and (4)(i)...Read More