How to Search the Indian Patent Office Website

Let’s see what the Indian patent office website has to offer. The Indian patent office has a lot to offer, particularly if you know what type of information you are looking for.  For example, if you want to gather basic bibliographic information around an application, then using the default Patent Search is your best bet.  After you enter your search criteria and captcha, a results page displays. Then, you click on the application number to access the patent profile. 

In the patent profile page, basic bibliographic information for the application is displayed including title, publication number and date, application number and date, priority number and date, inventor names, and applicant.  What isn’t displayed at the top of this page is information on patent number and grant date. 

Most webpages have all the relevant bibliographic information towards the top so when I first viewed this page, I didn’t scroll all the way down to catch the patent number and grant date at the bottom of the profile. 

Additionally, if you didn’t scroll down to the bottom of the Indian application page, you would miss the Details Sections which includes the PCT Filing Date and email addresses.  The most interesting part of this page is all the way at the bottom in the Application Status section. 

Finally, you are informed of the grant date (Date of Certificate Issue) and the status including the patent number.  On this page the format is dd/mm/yyyy.  Almost as if to hide this information, they have included buttons “View Examination Report(s)” and “View Documents.”  By clicking either of these buttons, the links allow you to view and download documents which is priceless for transferred-in cases.

Some people may find the Patent Search and the associated patent profile sufficient for their needs.  However, if you want information around an issued patent (and their annuities) the Patent E-register is your go-to page. 

I’m going to use the same patent number in my previous paragraph to show the display differences between these pages.  You can only enter the patent number and captcha.  It may take a minute to load the result but, be patient, it eventually displays.  I really like the order in which this information is displayed. 

The bibliographic information is all at the top of the page and the relevant dates are easily accessible including the next renewal date.  A quick tip, you will need to scroll to the right as well as up/down to absorb the complete information. 

Also, be cautious of the dates given and their formats on this screen.  For example, the Date of Patent (i.e. filing date) and it’s is format dd/mm/yyyy (09/03/2007).  In comparison, the PCT International Filing Date is 09/Mar/2007. 

Scrolling down the page there is information regarding renewal year, renewal dates (Due dates for Renewal), amounts (Renewal Amount), when they were paid (CBR Date or Date of Renewal), and the renewal period (Renewal Period). 

For Indian renewals, the fees are technically due annually on the filing date.  However, those fees are postponed until the application grants. Because of this, the first 5 renewal payments were made on the same day in this example.  Additional information around assignments and change of address are also available as you keep scrolling down.  Lastly, you can access documents in the View Documents link (same documents as in the previous View Documents discussed earlier) along with the Working of Patents documents.

Now you know my tips and tricks for navigating the Indian patent office website! I’m sure there are more. If you know of one I didn’t mention, please let us know or post on our LinkedIn page . If you found this valuable, we have some upcoming webinars that will cover the subject of patenting in different countries around the world. Black Hills IP hopes this content becomes a continuous flow of information that the IP community can rely and act on. We are the leaders in smarter IP data docketing.