IP office granted over 100,000 patents in FY24 assuring 'no delay'

India granted 1.03 lakh patents in financial year 2023-24, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks Unnat Pandit said on Thursday, as he assured that there will be "no delay" in the Intellectual Property Office as it prioritises timely clearance of applications.

Addressing an Assocham event here, he shared that 40 per cent of the applications were disposed of within 30 months of the request for examination.

"We are going to have no delay in the IP office, that's the motive with which we have .. that IP should be granted and under Chapter 8 of the Act it should also be utilised by the applicant ... that will generate the economic value of IP," Pandit said.

"All the pendency got cleared so now whatever application which is going to come for examination or hearing will be within the period of 30-36 months. So there is no delay which is going to happen now," he said on the sidelines of the event.

Pandit emphasised that India needs to strengthen its Intellectual Property position.

"Year over year, the IP filing is increasing, in 2023-24 we got 90,300 patent filings. There is enough traction on not just development of science and technology but equally protection and this high number of patent filing shows the confidence of research on getting it commercialised in the Indian economy," he said.
 

The commerce and industry ministry had earlier said every 6 minutes one technology is seeking IP protection in India. In 2023, an all-time high of 90,300 patent applications were received. Patent office granted over one lakh patents in the last one year (March 15, 2023 to March 14, 2024). Every working day, 250 patents were granted.

It added that the Patent Rules, 2024 have been notified and these rules introduced several provisions aimed at simplifying the process of obtaining and managing patents, thereby facilitating a conducive environment for inventors and creators.

In the revamped rules, a unique provision for New 'Certificate of Inventorship' has been introduced to acknowledge the contribution of inventors in the patented invention.

Besides, the time limit to furnish foreign application filing details in a specified form has been changed from six months from the date of filing of application to three months from the date of issuance of the first examination report.