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5 July 2017Patents

Indian Patent Office updates guidelines on computer-related inventions

The Indian Patent Office (IPO) has released new guidelines on obtaining patents for computer-related inventions (CRIs).

Released on Friday, June 30, the 18-page document (PDF) outlines various regulations and explanations regarding CRI patent laws.

It replaces the previous CRI guidelines issued in February of last year, and is the third time in less than two years a new release has been revealed.

The guidelines listed what aspects of CRIs cannot be patented. Those that involve mathematical methods, for example, are “purely abstract or intellectual methods” and are not patentable.

Other examples in the guidelines include algorithms, which are not patentable “in all forms”.

“It is well-established that, while establishing patentability, the focus should be on the underlying substance of the invention and not on the particular form in which it is claimed,” the statement read.

The guidelines further stated that patent examiners will now be required to focus on the technical advancement of a CRI when assessing patentability. However, they go on to caution that if a claim, taken as whole, falls into any of the excluded categories in any way, it cannot be patented.

“It is important to ascertain from the nature of the claimed CRI whether it is of a technical nature involving technical advancement as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance, or both,” the document concluded in saying.

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