Patents Rights and Laws in India
With a legacy spanning 37 years, our Patents Team at S.S. Rana & Co., has been protecting and enforcing Patent rights of numerous Fortune 500 companies, multinationals, micro/small/medium scale companies, grassroot innovators and startups. The Firm has been at the forefront of intellectual property practice, establishing itself as one of the few firms in India that acts as a single point of contact for countries across the SAARC region.
Our team of seasoned professionals includes advocates, patent attorneys, agents, and engineers with doctorate, graduate qualifications with expertise in diverse technical fields such as electronics, information technology, biotechnology, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, automotive, mechanical engineering, computer science, information technology and applied sciences. This multidisciplinary strength has enabled the firm to build an outstanding reputation in intellectual property law, offering comprehensive services that range from conducting prior art search, drafting and prosecuting patent applications to portfolio management, litigation, enforcement, licensing, technology transfer, and international filings under the PCT route and Paris Convention Route.
With India’s emergence as a Global IP powerhouse, the patent filings in India have been rising by leaps and bounds. The World Intellectual Property Office in its Report of 2025, places India at the 6th position globally in Patent filings. These inching numbers have driven the relentless drive for innovation in the nation.
Our core practice areas
Patentability Assessment– Our core practice areas include patent prior art searches and novelty search to determine novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability.
Patent Drafting and Patent Filing- Our expert professionals draft high-quality patent specifications tailored to technical and legal requirements of the applicant. The team files patent applications with the national and international patent offices (India, USPTO, EPO, WIPO, etc.)
Patent Prosecution– The Patent team manages the office actions, patent hearings and responses across all major patent offices such as India, USPTO, EPO etc. For a smooth grant of Patent, the Team strategizes to secure broad and enforceable patent claims.
International Patent Registration- Our firm specializes in guiding innovators, corporations, and research institutions through the complex process of securing patent protection across multiple jurisdictions. Key services include conducting comprehensive global searches to assess novelty. Preparation of patent specifications that meet diverse legal and technical standards and patent filing under multiple jurisdictions such as the USPTO and EPO for streamlined international protection. Our network of trusted associates in most of the jurisdictions worldwide provide end- to- end support from initial patent filing to patent enforcement and patent commercialization.
Patent Licensing & Transactions– Our professional experts draft and negotiate patent licensing, assignment, and technology transfer agreements. Our Corporate team alongwith Patent expertise assists clients in mergers, acquisitions, and due diligence involving patent assets.
The Firm’s USP to combine legal acumen with technical insight to deliver patent services not only protects inventions but also enhance their commercial potential.
The team also conducts various other patent searches such as Invalidation Searches, Freedom to Operate Search, Landscape Searches.
The team is an expert in filing and defending patent oppositions across jurisdictions.
A Brief overview of Patent Laws and Registration in India
The Chief Administrator of the patent system in India is the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (‘CGPDTM’) functioning under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (‘DIPP’), Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The Indian Patent Law is primarily governed by the Patent Act, 1970 which was further amended in the year 2005 and the newly amended Patent Amendment Rules, 2025.
The term patent as defined under the Indian Patent Act 1970, means a patent for any new invention, granted for a new product or process, involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application.
In simple words, Patents can be understood as ‘an exclusive statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the Government, in exchange for full disclosure of their invention’. Patents are a type of statutory rights that give a monopoly to exclude others, from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented product or process for producing that product for the aforementioned purposes without the consent of the patentee.
The invention is also defined under Section 2(1)(j) of the Indian Patents Act 1970 as ‘ a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application’.
In order to be a patentable subject matter, the invention is required to meet the following patentability criteria:
- It should be novel.
- It should have inventive step or it must be non-obvious
- It should be capable of Industrial application.
- It should not fall within the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of the Patents Act 1970.
An inventive step as defined under the act means a feature of an invention that involves technical advancement as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both, which is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.
A new invention as defined under the act means any invention or technology which has not been anticipated by publication in any document or used in the country or elsewhere in the world before the date of filing of patent application with complete specification, i.e., the subject matter has not fallen in public domain or that it does not form part of the state of the art.
What is industrial applicability?
In relation to an invention, industrial applicability means that the subject matter of the invention must be capable of being made or used in any kind of industry. Industry in this connection is understood not in the legal or economic meaning but in the primary signification of action or enterprise of fashioning and utilizing nature and matter for the production of goods or of technical results. Thus industry means any kind of activity including agriculture.
Non-Patentable Inventions- India
Sections 3 and 4 of the Patents Act 1970 specify the inventions that are not patentable in India. These are:
- An invention that is frivolous, or which claims anything obviously contrary to well-established natural laws;
- An invention the primary or intended use or commercial exploitation of which could be contrary to public order or morality or which causes serious prejudice to human, animal or plant life or health or to the environment;
- The mere discovery of a scientific principle or the formulation of an abstract theory or discovery of any living thing or non-living substance occurring in nature;
- The mere discovery of a new form of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance or the mere discovery of any new property or new use for a known substance or of the mere use of a known process, machine or apparatus unless such known process results in a new product or employs at least one new reactant. For the purposes of this clause, salts, esters, ethers, polymorphs, metabolites, pure form, particle size, isomers, mixtures of isomers, complexes, combinations and other derivatives of known substance shall be considered to be the same substance, unless they differ significantly in properties with regard to efficacy;
- A substance obtained by a mere admixture resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of the components thereof or a process for producing such substance;
- The mere arrangement or re-arrangement or duplication of known devices each functioning independently of one another in a known way;
- A method of agriculture or horticulture;
- Any process for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic diagnostic, therapeutic or other treatment of human beings or any process for a similar treatment of animals to render them free of disease or to increase their economic value or that of their products.
- Plants and animals in whole or any part thereof other than micro organisms but including seeds, varieties and species and essentially biological processes for production or propagation of plants and animals;
- A mathematical or business method or a computer program per se or algorithms;
- A literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work or any other aesthetic creation whatsoever including cinematographic works and television productions;
- A mere scheme or rule or method of performing a mental act or method of playing the game;
- A presentation of information;
- Topography of integrated circuits;
- An invention which in effect, is traditional knowledge or which is an aggregation or duplication of known properties of a traditionally known components or components
- An invention relating to atomic energy falling within sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962
The Indian laws and rules are continuously being revamped to incorporate provisions that encourage innovation, particularly by Startups, MSMEs, and female entrepreneurs, thereby making the Patenting regime in India conducive and favorable for innovators.
In a nutshell, a patent is an exclusive statutory right granted by the state for an invention that is new, involves an inventive step, and is capable of industrial application. A Patent owner is given an exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing a process or product(s) in respect of which the patent has been granted.
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Cost of Filing Patent in India
For more information on Patent Rights & Laws in India please contact us at info@ssrana.com or submit a query.