[Ip-health] India: Patents (Amendment) Rules 2006 notified

[prabhu ram]

Amended Patent Act to focus on innovation- Kamal Nath


The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2006 have been notified by the
government. The recent amendments carried out to the Patents Rules
seeks to develop a vibrant and user-friendly IPR regime and this
foster innovation and creativity.

Patents Rules also aims to attain administrative efficiency and
therefore is aiming at transparency and decentralization of  the
functioning of Patent Offices, simplifying the procedures and to make
them user-friendly.

Highlights Of Amendments

Patent applications are now to be mandatorily published within one
month after expiry of the statutory period of 18 months and, in case
of request for an early publication, the application is to be
published within one month from the date of request.

A patent application now has to be referred to an Examiner within one
month of a request for its examination. Further, the Controller will
now be required to take a decision on the report of the Examiner
within one month of its submission and the First Examination Report
has also to be issued within six months of the date of request for
examination of a patent application. The time for granting permission
to file patents abroad has also been reduced to just 21 days.

Time frame for making a request for examination has been extended from
36 to 48 months; time for filing a pre-grant opposition extended from
3 to 6 months; time for filing reply to pre-grant opposition extended
from 1 to 3 months; and time for meeting the requirements of the First
Examination Report increased to 12 months.



http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/storyShow.php?fileR=20060511150223047&secID=fromnewsroom&secTitle=From%20the%20News%20Room&dir=2006/05/11