The government has invited stakeholder suggestions on the draft Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure of the patent office of the department of industrial policy and promotion, ministry of commerce and industry, from users and stakeholders.

The draft manual has been uploaded on the website of the office of the controller general of patents, designs and trademarks (www.ipindia.nic.in).

The manual provides detailed information on the practices and procedures followed by the patent office for processing of the patent applications.

The objective of the manual is to provide guidelines to the users and the officials of the patent office in order to maintain uniformity and transparency in dealing with various issues under the Patents Act, 1970. The manual, however, does not constitute rule making and hence does not have the force and effect of law, making it more of a handbook rather than a recommend any particular line of action.

The manual has been so formatted as to reproduce the various sections of the Patents Act, 1970, with relevant rules of the Patents Rules, 2003, followed by the explanations. The explanations are supported by citations from the decisions of the various courts of India including the Supreme Court of India and the decisions of other countries in order to provide legal support to the explanation.

The draft manual consists of 25 chapters covering issues related to origin and history of patent system in India, interpretation of definitions, patentable subject matter including non-patentable inventions, opposition proceedings, working of patents and compulsory license and guidelines to the users for filing of the patent applications, etc.

There are four annexures to the manual, detailing the lists of fees applicable for various proceedings and fees for applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), forms to be used for various proceedings and case laws referred to in the manual.

The highlight of the current draft manual is that the explanations are supported, wherever possible, by relevant judicial pronouncements. Therefore, this will provide more authoritative position to deal with a particular issue under the patent law.

The draft manual will be finalised in the light of the comments / suggestions received from the users and stakeholders and would eventually replace the earlier edition of the manual.

The last date for comments / suggestions to the office of the controller general of patents, designs and trademarks has been extended from 25 March, 2008. to April 15, 2008.