The types of applications that can be filed are:
A) PROVISIONAL APPLICATION: Indian Patent Law follows first to file system.
A provisional application is an application which can be filed if the invention is
still under experimentation stage. Filing
a provisional specification provides the advantage to the inventor since it helps in
establishing a ―priority date of the invention. Further, the inventor gets 12
months’ time to fully develop the invention
and ascertain its market potential and to file the complete specification.
B) ORDINARY APPLICATION: An application for patent filed in the Patent
Office without claiming any priority either in a convention country or without any
reference to any other earlier application
under process in the office. Such a type of application is known as an ordinary
application.
C) CONVENTION APPLICATION: An application for a patent filed in the
Patent Office, claiming a priority date based on the same or substantially similar
application filed in one or more of the convention
countries is known as a convention application. In order to get convention status,
an applicant should file the application in the Indian Patent Office within 12
months from the date of first filing of a similar
application in the convention country.
D) PCT INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION: An Application filed in India as
Receiving Office (RO) under Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international
application which can be filed in more than 150 countries
by a single application.
E) PCT NATIONAL PHASE APPLICATION: When an international application is
made according to PCT designating India, an applicant can file the national phase
application in India within 31 months from
the international filing date or the priority date, whichever is earlier.
F) PATENT OF ADDITION: When an invention is a slight modification of the
earlier invention for which he has already applied for or has obtained patent, the
applicant can go for a patent of addition
if the modification in the invention is new. One of the benefits of filing a patent
of addition is that there is no need to pay a separate renewal fee for the patent of
addition during the term of the main patent
and it expires along with the main patent.
G) DIVISIONAL APPLICATION: When an application claims more than one
invention, the applicant on his own or to meet the official objection on the ground
of plurality or distinct invention may divide
the application and file two or more applications, as the case may be for each of
the inventions. This type of application, divided out of the parent one, is known as
a Divisional Application. The priority date
for all the divisional applications will be the same as that of the main (the
Parent) Application (Ante-dating).