The Application and Its Forms

In one line

An Indian patent application is one invention on one form, filed at the right branch of the patent office, with a specification, a declaration of inventorship and proof of any assignment.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: by section 7 of the Patents Act, 1970, every application for a patent shall be for one invention only, shall be made in the prescribed form and filed in the patent office, shall state that the applicant is in possession of the invention and name the person claiming to be the true and first inventor, and, if not a convention application or an application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty designating India, shall be accompanied by a provisional or a complete specification.

Why the form matters

Because a filing date is a legal position, and it is won or lost on paperwork. Everything in the rest of this book depends on the date: novelty is judged at it, priority is claimed from it, the twenty years run from it, and a rival who filed a day earlier wins. An application that does not comply may not get the date the applicant wanted.

And because "one invention only" decides what has to be split. Section 7(1) is why divisional applications exist at all, and chapter 320 works section 16 through.

The provision itself

Section 7(1). Every application for a patent shall be for one invention only and shall be made in the prescribed form and filed in the patent office.

Section 7(1A). Every international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty for a patent, as may be filed designating India, shall be deemed to be an application under this Act, if a corresponding application has also been filed before the Controller in India.

Section 7(1B). The filing date of such an application and its complete specification processed by the patent office as designated office or elected office shall be the international filing date accorded under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Section 7(2). Where the application is made by virtue of an assignment of the right to apply, proof of the right to make the application shall be furnished with the application or within the prescribed period after filing.

Section 7(3). Every application shall state that the applicant is in possession of the invention and shall name the person claiming to be the true and first inventor; and where that person is not the applicant or one of the applicants, the application shall contain a declaration that the applicant believes the person so named to be the true and first inventor.

Section 7(4). Every such application, not being a convention application or an application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty designating India, shall be accompanied by a provisional or a complete specification.