Govt streamlines patent rules to promote ease of doing business

The government on Wednesday said it has amended patent rules to streamline the submission requirements regarding the working of a patented invention on a commercial scale in India, a move aimed at promoting ease of doing business.

As per the changed rules, priority document is not required to be submitted if it is available in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and English translation of these documents is needed only in certain cases.

The patentee would get the flexibility to file a single Form-27 in respect of a single or multiple related patents. This will ease the compliance burden and boost innovation.

Form 27 is related to submission of statements regarding the working of a patented invention on a commercial scale in India.

Authorised agents would be able to submit Form-27 on behalf of the patentee. This will lead to greater ‘Ease of Doing Business’ for innovators. For filing Form-27, patentees would get 6 months, instead of the current three months

If the priority document is available in WIPO’s digital library, the applicant would not be required to submit the same in the Indian Patent Office.