A patent is looked upon as one of the most prestigious achievements in a person life. And most people consider patent to be the most difficult work while on the contrary, it is much simpler than publishing a research paper.
All you need is an idea that's unique and fits into the patent criteria specified by the "Controller of Patents Office".
The moment you have an idea, study about it and if you find nothing relevant to it then it's awesome and you get it patent and later sell it or monetize it.
So the current post is about provisional filing
The question!
What is provisional filing?
Simply an idea or the concept that you're developing can be filed and later converted into a complete patent within a time period of 12 months from the time you file the provisional application either online or in any of the patent offices in India.
Why should you file a provisional application?
If your product is under development or you're still working on fixing a few things in the project, I would suggest you file it provisionally so that even if someone copies your idea or steals your novelty innovation, you can still claim it by presenting the provisional application id. This comes quite handy when you're working on a project that requires you to involve a number of people.
It's like an insurance policy to your innovative from theft! But it's always recommended that you keep the information of your invention limited to a few people to avoid unwanted arbitrations later.
What to Patent?
Let me answer this by referring to a situation, if you're patenting to really work on that project and then make something useful out of it then it's recommended that you file it but if you're patenting an invention for the sake of getting some weight on your resume then it's an absolutely stupid idea!
On one side its a privilege to have filed patents but then it's worthless if it isn't granted and believe me the ratio of patents granted to patents filed is really very small so its a waste of time and money if you're filing something useless or even a copied version of someone else's work. If you copy an invention then you're offending the copyright of someone else and it is regarded as a non bailable offense under Indian Law so, be cautious with what you're filing and don't fall prey to the let's just file and claim an inventor title, people who're into research are well aware of what & how stuffs works! so its no use trying to fool others.
Next, The most Awaited!
Procedure...
Basically, you need to fill 3 forms for filing a provisional patent along with fees Rs. 1750/- I've attached the forms to this post which you can download and fill it as per the instructions and details mentioned in the forms.
Forms
The forms are having areas filled with XXXXX wherein you can fill the replace and fill the required terms.
I would suggest that you get some professional involved in the filling of these forms as filing a patent is an easy task but to claim those rights isn't one! in lay man's words' I'll state it to be the "Game Of Words". whatever and in the grammar, you propose in proper legal tone shall be considered. While preparing the documents for my patents I thought I was good at English communication but later I realized that its' simply not the case, I was struggling to put the words in proper format that could be legally presented for claiming rights, I was simply Lucky to have Prof. Dr. Sandip Kale in my contacts and sir helped me to draft the entire documentation work.
And yes, sir did used a red pen to markup my mistakes which I had to correct and modify a couple of times before I could actually visit Mumbai and file it at the Antop Hill Patent Office in Mumbai.
I'm really grateful for the support extended by Prof. Dr. Sandip Kale sir & My dearest friend Mr. Gaurav Wagh who accompanied me on my journey!
I'll put the procedure concisely:
- Download the forms
- Fill them Properly and check if they actually convey your invention and could be legally represented
- Visit Patent Office and Submit the application
- Collect the receipt
- Boom! you're done provisionally filing but hurry to make it permanent because you now have only 12 months left
- Be sure to submit the complete specifications before the end of the tenure provided!
There's an alternative online procedure also but I have no idea about it as I haven't tried it as yet!
Thank You for Reading!
Please leave your questions in the comments below, I'll try my best to answer those...
-Sayyed Shadaab
Engineer for the Digital Civilization
Especially Written On the Request from Juniors at College:
Mr. Rohit Sonawane, Mr. Akash Lonkar & Mr. Vishal Mate, thank you guys for the suggestion to write this post and wish you all the Best for your upcoming Inventions!
Especially Written On the Request from Juniors at College:
Mr. Rohit Sonawane, Mr. Akash Lonkar & Mr. Vishal Mate, thank you guys for the suggestion to write this post and wish you all the Best for your upcoming Inventions!