Intellectual Property India

The first legislation in India relating to patents was the Act VI of 1856 which was based on the British Patent Law of 1852. Certain exclusive privileges granted to inventors of new manufacturers for a period of 14 years.

In 1872, the Act of 1859 was consolidated to provide protection relating to designs. It was renamed as “The Patterns and Designs Protection Act”. This Act remained in force for about 30 years without any change but in the year 1883, certain modifications in the patent law were made in United Kingdom and it was considered that those modifications should also be incorporated in the Indian law. In 1888, an Act was introduced to consolidate and amend the law relating to invention and designs in conformity with the amendments made in the U.K. law.

The Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911, (Act II of 1911) replaced all the previous Acts. This Act brought patent administration under the management of Controller of Patents for the first time. After Independence, it was felt that the Indian Patents & Designs Act, 1911 was not fulfilling its objective. It was found desirable to enact comprehensive patent law owing to substantial changes in political and economic conditions in the country. Accordingly, the Government of India constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Justice (Dr.) Bakshi Tek Chand, a retired Judge of Lahore High Court, in 1949 t o review the patent law in India in order to ensure that the patent system is conducive to the national interest. The terms of reference included —

To survey and report on the working of the patent system in India;
To examine the existing patent legislation in India and to make recommendations for improving it, particularly with reference to the provisions concerned with the prevention of abuse of patent rights;
To consider whether any special restrictions should be imposed on patent regarding food and medicine;
To suggest steps for ensuring effective publicity to the patent system and to patent literature, particularly as regards patents obtained by Indian inventors;
To consider the necessity and feasibility of setting up a National Patents Trust;
To consider the desirability or otherwise of regulating the profession of patent agents
To examine the working of the Patent Office and the services rendered by it to the public and make suitable recommendations for improvement; and
To report generally on any improvement that the Committee thinks fit to recommend for enabling the Indian Patent System to be more conducive to national interest by encouraging invention and the commercial development and use of inventions.

The Patents (Amendment) Act 2002 came into force from 20th may 2003 and the latest one on 1st January 2005.

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Territorial Jurisdiction of Appropriate Office for the Applicants

Patent Office Branch, Mumbai: The States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, Goa and Chhattisgarh and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu & Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Patent Office Branch, Chennai: The States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep, Telangana

Patent Office Branch, New Delhi: The States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Utarakhand, Delhi and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Patent Office, Kolkata: The rest of India.

Intellectual Property Office Building

Plot No. 32, Sector 14, Dwarka,

New Delhi-110075

Phone: 011-28034304-05, 011-28034317

Fax: 011-28034315

Email: delhi-patent@nic.in

Boudhik Sampada Bhawan, Antop Hill

S. M. Road, Mumbai - 400 037.

Phone: 022- 24153651, 24148165

Fax: 022-24130387

Email: mumbai-patent@nic.in