How long does the patent application process last?

 Patent application process in India

This is the most common question that we receive from an inventor who trying to understand the amount of time they need to wait to get their invention patented.

There are two ways to answer this question.

1.        The time to get your patent filed and.

2.        Time to get the patent granted.

When you file a patent for your invention, (may it be provisional or complete) you can start doing most of the things you wanted to do with your invention that is, running trial experiments, talking to investors, checking business potential and commercial worth of invention, trying to find licensee or even selling the patent application in process in certain cases.

The only thing you cannot do till grant of patent is to file a suit for infringement or file a case against the infringer, for that you need to wait for the grant of patent.

So, as a business owner or an inventor you can do 95% things in your action plan to take your invention to next level after filing of a patent application and you need not wait for the grant of patent.

Time required to File patent application

Now, we assume that the details about your invention are ready with your and you prepared a comprehensive invention disclosure to discuss with the patent attorney. refer our section on Creating Final Draft of the complete invention disclosure.

From the day you start the project for patent drafting (writing), it takes about 10 to 15 days for the patent attorney or agent to work on your invention and create the final version of the patent draft, which would be sent to you for approval and suggesting improvements if any. (time taken by you to review and respond to the final version of draft adds to the total time required)

Generally, the patent application is filed in the government patent office within 2 weeks from the start of the project and a receipt is generated from the patent office about the confirmation of filing of the patent application for your invention.

You can write “patent pending”  or “patent applied” and mention the patent application number in front of your technology as soon as you file the patent application in the patent office. You can use patent-pending or patent applied status for both provisional or complete patent application.

There are some subtle advantages of writing “patent pending” next to the name of your product or service or maybe sometimes in your resume and achievements:

• This gives an immediate impression of superior product or technology in minds of the reader
• Seeing the patent-pending or patent applied status, many of the competitors would be discouraged anticipating they would not be able to compete in the same domain if you own a granted patent
• This sends a message to the public that the patent has been applied for this innovative technology
• Your investors take you more seriously if you have a patent-pending for your invention

Having said this, there is no legal significance to these words. The infringement suit can be initiated only after the patent is granted.

The grant of a patent takes more than 2 or 3 Years by the normal route and within 1 or 1.5 years by the expedited route. but you don’t need to wait for grant of patent to do almost 95% of things you wanted to do with your invention

After filing of the patent application, that is receiving patent pending or patent applied status and patent application number; you can do most of the things like:

• disclosing the patented invention without fear of losing its confidentiality (since patent is already filed and we secured the priority date already)
• testing the commercial worth of invention
• demonstrating invention to other businesses or parties
• selling invention in the market
• presenting information in seminar or conferences
• talking to investors or bankers for funding etc…

However, although patent pending or patent filed status has all these benefits,  you can not stop others until you have granted a patent in India (or respective country of your interest).

Patent application process in USA

After filing, the length of time to patent grant depends on whether you begin with a provisional or a non-provisional patent application in the United States. If you begin with a non-provisional patent application, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will place your application in a queue to be examined by a Patent Examiner when the USPTO receives your complete non-provisional patent application.

The average wait time until the USPTO provides with the results of the Patent Examiner’s first substantive review and examination (average pendency to first office action) of the patent application is about 21 months. The average time it takes to obtain a patent from the patent office is about 32 months or a little under 3 years. [See the current wait time statistics at the USPTO website [here].

The actual amount of time it will take for patent application to be examined, and if found allowable, to issue into a patent will vary. Some technical areas have a longer or shorter wait time because the USPTO groups patent applications based on the invention’s technology and assign patents to technology groups (known as art units) of examiners at the USPTO for examination. If one art unit has more patent applications in the queue than another art unit, then patent applications assigned to the art unit with relatively more patent application will wait longer for examination and ultimate issuance.

If you decide to file a provisional patent application, the patent office will not put your provisional patent application in a queue to be examined. Instead, a non-provisional patent application must be filed within one year of the filing date of the provisional application, in order to claim the benefit of the provisional application filing date. In the case that you file a provisional and then file a provisional on the one-year anniversary date of the filing of the provisional, one additional year will be added to the times listed above. This is true because you have waited that 1 year to have the non-provisional application placed in a queue to be examined.

Prioritized Examination

The USPTO offers a prioritized examination (also known as Track One) for utility and plant patent applications for a limited number of patent application per year.  To be considered for the prioritized examination, the applicant must pay additional large fee to USPTO. Under the prioritized examination procedure the USPTO assigns a priority status to your application. The USPTO aims to get to a final disposition (allowance or final rejection) of your patent application within 12 months of the prioritized status being granted.

Patent Pending

While your patent application is pending (after the patent application is filed but before the patent is granted) you will have patent pending status. You are not required to wait until you obtain a patent to start exploiting (making, marking, selling, licensing, etc.) your invention. You can begin doing so after the patent application is filed, as long as the patent application fully describes and covers all the elements of your invention that you intend to disclose and use publicly.

 

 

 

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