In an effort to nurture innovation in academia, the government has announced an 80% reduction in patent filing and prosecuting charges for educational institutions.
With the amendment, the cost of filings will come down to INR1,600 (USD21) for e-filings and INR1,750 for physical filings from the earlier INR8,000 and INR8,800, respectively. The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2021, were notified on 23 September. The government had earlier extended similar benefits to homegrown and foreign startups filing patents in India.
It has also taken additional steps to facilitate faster patent filing and approvals, including: Recruiting new examiners; making the process of applying and granting patents fully online; hearing patent cases through video-conferencing; redesigning its website for real-time dissemination of IP information to stakeholders; and introducing a scheme for facilitating startups called Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP), to provide facilitators to patent applicants, the cost of which will be reimbursed.
The Business Law Digest is written and researched by Mithun Varkey.
