{"id":13953,"date":"2014-07-16T02:45:43","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T21:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/one\/sinapse-blog\/?p=13953"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T03:48:28","slug":"patent-process-india-types-applications-procedure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/patent-process-india-types-applications-procedure\/","title":{"rendered":"Elucidating the Patent Process &#8211; Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>First published 16 July 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A clear understanding of the different types of patent applications is essential to comprehending the patent process in India as a whole. This post explains each of the seven types of applications that may be filed before the Indian Patent Office, along with the key procedural requirements applicable to each.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provisional Application<\/li>\n<li>Non-Provisional Application \/ Complete Application<\/li>\n<li>Conventional Application<\/li>\n<li>PCT \u2014 International Application<\/li>\n<li>PCT \u2014 National Application<\/li>\n<li>Application for Patent of Addition<\/li>\n<li>Divisional Application<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Provisional Application<\/h2>\n<p>A Provisional Application is a non-final, preliminary application filed before the Patent Office to claim an early priority date. It is typically filed when an invention requires additional time to be perfected. An early filing date is advantageous because the Indian Patent Office follows the first-to-file system, meaning that related subsequent inventions cannot become prior art to the applicant&#8217;s own application if filed earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Where an application is accompanied by a provisional specification, a complete specification must be filed within 12 months from the date of filing of the provisional application. Failure to do so results in the application being treated as abandoned. The provisional application should describe the invention briefly but must be drafted with sufficient care to secure the priority rights sought.<\/p>\n<h2>Non-Provisional Application<\/h2>\n<p>A Non-Provisional Application is accompanied by a complete specification, which is a techno-legal document. The complete specification must describe the invention in detail, disclose the best known method of carrying it out, and end with one or more claims that define the scope of the invention. A complete specification may be filed in two ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Direct filing:<\/strong> The complete specification is filed directly with the Indian Patent Office without any prior provisional specification.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Subsequent filing:<\/strong> The complete specification is filed after a provisional specification, claiming priority from the corresponding provisional application.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conventional Application<\/h2>\n<p>A Conventional Application is an application for a patent that enters India through the Paris Convention route. Where an application has been filed in a Convention Country (the basic application), the applicant must file in India within 12 months from the date of filing that basic application. Where applications are filed in two or more Convention countries, the applicant must file in India within 12 months from the date of filing of the earliest such application.<\/p>\n<h2>PCT \u2014 International Application<\/h2>\n<p>The Patent Cooperation Treaty assists applicants in seeking patent protection internationally. By filing one international patent application under the PCT, an applicant can simultaneously seek protection in 148 countries. A PCT application does not itself grant an international patent; it provides a streamlined procedure enabling applicants to pursue protection in many countries through a single filing. An applicant may enter the national phase in the designated countries within 30\/31 months from the date of filing of the PCT application.<\/p>\n<h2>PCT \u2014 National Application<\/h2>\n<p>The National Phase Application follows the international phase. An applicant must file a national phase application in each designated country where protection is sought within the time prescribed under the PCT, which is 30\/31 months from the priority date. National laws of individual member states may extend this time limit. The applicant must file the National Phase Application within 30\/31 months from the priority date or the international application date, whichever is earlier. The title, description, drawings, abstract, and claims as filed with the International Application under PCT are taken as the Complete Specification for national phase purposes.<\/p>\n<h2>Application for Patent of Addition<\/h2>\n<p>Where an applicant arrives at an improvement or modification to an invention for which a main application has been filed or a patent has already been granted, the applicant may file an Application for a Patent of Addition. A Patent of Addition is granted only after the grant of the main or parent patent. No separate renewal fees are payable for the Patent of Addition during the term of the main patent. A Patent of Addition is granted for a term equal to that of the main patent and expires together with it. The filing date of the Patent of Addition is the date on which that application was made.<\/p>\n<h2>Divisional Application<\/h2>\n<p>Where a single application claims more than one invention, the applicant \u2014 either of his own accord or in response to an official objection \u2014 must divide the application and file two or more separate applications for each of the inventions claimed. The resulting applications are called Divisional Applications. The priority date for all Divisional Applications arising from a parent application is the same as that claimed by the parent application (ante-dating). The term of a patent granted on a Divisional Application is twenty years from the date of filing of the main application.<\/p>\n<h2>Summary Table<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Application<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Relevant Section<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Priority Date<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Important Condition<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Provisional Application<\/td>\n<td>S. 7, S. 9, S. 10<\/td>\n<td>Date of filing provisional specification<\/td>\n<td>Complete specification to be filed within 12 months<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Non-Provisional Application<\/td>\n<td>S. 7, S. 9, S. 10, S. 11<\/td>\n<td>Direct filing \u2014 date of filing complete specification; Subsequent filing \u2014 date of filing provisional specification<\/td>\n<td>Enablement and disclosure of best mode of working<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Conventional Application<\/td>\n<td>S. 133, S. 135<\/td>\n<td>Date of filing of earliest application<\/td>\n<td>Applicant must file in India within 12 months from the date of basic application; term of patent is twenty years from date of filing in India<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>PCT \u2014 International Application<\/td>\n<td>S. 39, S. 7<\/td>\n<td>Earliest priority date<\/td>\n<td>Applicant may enter national phases within 30\/31 months from date of PCT application<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>PCT \u2014 National Application<\/td>\n<td>S. 7(1A), S. 10(4A), S. 138<\/td>\n<td>Earliest priority date<\/td>\n<td>Applicant must file in India within 31 months from date of International Application<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Patent of Addition<\/td>\n<td>S. 54, S. 55<\/td>\n<td>Date of filing main application<\/td>\n<td>Granted only after grant of main patent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Divisional Application<\/td>\n<td>S. 16<\/td>\n<td>Date of filing of parent application<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><em>Disclaimer: This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post describes the different types of patent applications available under Indian law and their essential procedural requirements. It provides clarity on the patent process in India, focusing on application types, filing priorities, and statutory conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":53,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,14],"tags":[2903,42,12792,6868,8784,12793,372],"class_list":["post-13953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-patents","tag-divisional-application","tag-indian-patent-office","tag-patent-application-types","tag-patent-of-addition","tag-patent-process-india","tag-pct-application-india","tag-provisional-application"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149692,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13953\/revisions\/149692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}