India publishes new guidelines for examiners
India’s Controller General for patents, designs and trademarks has issued instructions aimed at clarifying the division of work between patent examiners and the controller, in an effort to reduce unnecessary duplication.
The key points include directing examiners to substantiate their objections with clear reasons, including identifying the relevant paragraph in the prior art where appropriate. Indian law firm Remfry & Sagar commented: “These directions are laudable and their strict implementation may put an end to the practice of raising objections without sufficient justification being followed by a large section of examiners.”
The Controller in turn is obliged to provide sufficient reasons if he wishes to overrule or add to the examiner’s objections.
Further, the examiner must conduct an interoffice search to ensure that there are no multiple filings for the same invention, while he must also allow applicants time to respond to any further objections raised after the applicant’s initial response, communicating a notice of hearing at the same time as the objections.
Perhaps most significantly, the onus is put on applicants to file a petition for delay, providing satisfactory reasons, rather than the patent office having to call for such petitions.
