This is the first step, during which you must sign a non-disclosure agreement with a patent professional (patent agent) to reveal your invention. Here you can include all known information about your invention, as well as diagrams, explanations, and experimental results (if any).

During this process, a patent specialist searches all available databases for prior art (patents, papers, theses, etc.) and creates a patentability search report based on the closest prior art found for your invention.

To be eligible for a patent, the invention must have "inventive phase" as compared to established prior art. When your innovation outperforms established prior arts in terms of either "technical progress" or "economic importance," or both, you have entered the inventive phase. When you have decided to pursue a patent, the next move is to draft the patent application.

A patent application is a specialised job that necessitates knowledge of both technological (field of invention) and legal (Indian patent act) concepts. A patent is a legal document that incorporates technology and law. Many inventors who attempt to write a patent application on their own do so from a strictly technical standpoint. Writing a patent application as a technical document without understanding the legal implications may be a mistake that decreases the value of the application. The right patent specialist (patent agent) with the right expertise will significantly increase the value of a patent application.

You may file the patent application in the specified manner once you have completed the analysis of the patent drafted and are satisfied with the nature and technical information in the patent application. If you do not file request for early publication, the patent application will be published on expiry of 18 months.

The request for examination is to be made within 48 months from the date of filing the patent application, along with prescribed form and fees. This is the request made to Indian patent office to examine you patent application.

The first examination report submitted to controller by examiner generally contains prior arts (existing documents before the date of filing) which are like the claimed invention, and same is reported to patent applicant.

The majority of patent applicants will face objections based on the review report. The best thing to do is work with a patent specialist (patent agent) to analyse the examination report and come up with an answer to the concerns posed in the report. This is an opportunity for an inventor to express his or her novelty or imaginative phase over prior art that was discovered in the review study. The inventor and patent agent draft and submit a response to the examination, seeking to convince the examiner that his invention is patentable and meets all patentability requirements.

The application would be placed for grant once it is found to be meeting all patentability requirements. The grant of patent is notified in the patent journal which is published time to time.

Maintaining patent for its entire lifetime that is 20 years from filing date requires renewal fees to be paid to patent office.