The term IP that is Intellectual Property refers to the creations of mind or intellect. This could be inventions, literacy, artistic works, symbols or images etc.

Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time.

A Patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the Government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention for excluding others, from making, using, selling, importing the patented product or process for producing that product for those purposes without his consent.

The term of every patent granted is 20 years from the date of filing of application. However, for applications filed in national phase under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the term of patent will be 20 years from the international filing date accorded under PCT.

No, patent protection is a territorial right and therefore it is effective only within the territory of India. There is no concept of global patent.

There are 3 basic criteria that any invention must meet in order to be patentable:

• Novelty
• Inventive Step
• Industrial Applicability

A patent application can be filed either by true and first inventor or his assignee, either alone or jointly with any other person. However, legal representative of any deceased person can also make an application for patent.

The status of patents filed at the Indian Patent Office can be checked at the link provided below: https://ipindiaservices.gov.in/PublicSearch/PublicationSearch/ApplicationStatus

A. You can apply for Patent Application at the Official Website of Indian Patent Office. Step by step filing of the patent application is provided here.

A. Yes, Detailed document is provided here.

A. You can apply for Trademark application at Official Website of IPO India. Step by step filing of the trademark Application is provided here.

This portal provides services like:

• Prior Art Search Report
• IPR Queries
• Landscape Report

Services provided through is portal are absolutely free of cost. However if you want to apply for Indian Patent application then you must visit the Official Website of IPO India. We can guide you at each and every step and can clarify your doubts.

You can file provisional patent application if your invention is ready w.r.t to documentation and you are not yet ready with the prototype in order to get priority date. But you have to file the complete application within a year for the same invention at IPO.

You can apply for foreign patent application within a year from the date of priority at Indian Patent Office. For that you have the following ways:

• PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty): In PCT (countries who have filed PCT agreement comes under this treaty), you have to file PCT application within a year from date of priority. Thereafter you can file national phase application in the respective countries wherever you want to file. You have to file national phase application within 30-31 months (according to conditions of respective countries).
• Paris Convention: In this route you can file in any foreign country within a year having priory application of Indian Patent Application.
• Direct Foreign Filing: Through this route you can file directly an international application in a foreign country without filing patent application in India after due permission from IPO (Indian Patent Office).