Government Proposes Amendments In Indian Patents Rules

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the body responsible for administering Indian IP laws has, on August 22, 2023, published the Draft Patents (Amendment), Rules, 2023 (Draft Rules). The Draft Rules propose to amend the Patents Rules, 2003 and the DPIIT has sought comments from the stakeholders on these Draft Rules.

Some of the important changes proposed under the Draft Rules are as under:

1. Duty to file details of corresponding applications on Form 3 (Section 8(1)): The Draft Rules propose to relax the current continuous duty of the applicant to provide details of the corresponding application within six months of filing such application. The Draft proposes that the details of all corresponding applications be provided only once within 2 months from the date of issuance of the First Examination Report (FER). The Controller is also mandated to monitor the prosecution of corresponding applications