labels: economy - general, government policies
Filing of patents to get cheaper, easiernews
Our Economy Bureau
02 January 2006

New Delhi: The application fee for filing patents has been reduced to Rs4,000 for companies and Rs1,000 for individuals.

The draft rules, which drastically reduce the filing fee, have also proposed changes to the Patents Rules 2003 and also changes in the time-period for the entire procedure of granting patents - publication of application, examination and opposition.

While the fee before the onset of the new patents regime (January 1, 2005) was Rs4,000 per application for companies, it remained the same (post-January 1) for the first 30 pages. Beyond 30 pages, there was a charge of Rs400 per page and of Rs800 for any claim exceeding 10. All these extra charges will go, according to the new draft rules.

The draft rules, put up for comments by industry and public for a period of 30 days, have not altered the fee for renewal of patents applications, requests for publication and examination.

A requests for examination attracted Rs10,000 under the January1 regime compared with Rs4,000 earlier. Further, any extension of time meant a fee of Rs4,000, Rs8,000 and Rs12,000 for the first, second and third months, respectively, compared with Rs1,000 per month applicable before.

The period for granting patents has also been revised and under the draft rules, the period for filing of statements and undertakings by foreign applicants has been increased from three months to six months.

The time-period for requesting examination of an application has also been increased from six months to nine months.


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Filing of patents to get cheaper, easier