Updated on: Oct 12th, 2021
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6 min read
Intellectual property in the form of patents is protected in India when a person registers a patent under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’). Obtaining a patent prevents other individuals or concerns from infringing into your invention. A patent may be obtained on a design or a process. Under the Act, there are two types of patent specifications.
Under Section 9 of the Act, patents are specified under two categories:
A provisional patent is a preliminary step and is obtained to get protection before being able to file a complete patent. To get a complete patent, a lot of details of the design and its specifications are required. When a person is involved in R&D even if they do not have a fully formed design or process that is patentable, they may obtain a provisional patent to protect their work.
Compared to a complete patent a provisional patent has shortcomings, especially upon the period of protection given to the intellectual property that has been provisionally patented. The main reason for allowing provisional patents is to provide security and a form of interim protection to investors and inventors until they are fully able to pursue a complete patent.
When it’s about filing for a patent, many factors such as cost of filing, date of filing, protection period, etc come into play. Therefore filing a provisional patent renders the following advantages:
It is to be noted that a provisional patent is an optional step. If the inventor/investor is able to submit for a complete patent, it is always better to do so to avoid possible setbacks.
To file a provisional patent application, one must submit a series of forms and documents.Documents needed to file for a provisional patent include:
All these have to be submitted in accordance with The Patent Rules (2003). All forms are available for download on the patent office website.
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Intellectual property in India is protected through patents under the Indian Patent Act, 1970. Provisional patents offer interim protection, cost-effectiveness, and a filing date advantage. The provisional patent application contains the name, specifications, and description of the invention. To file for a provisional patent, various forms and documents are required. A provisional patent allows the use of the 'Patent Pending' tag.