Some Obvious and Not so Novel Steps to Increase the Efficacy of the Patent Office

Abstract

For the last 8 years, even since the Patents Act, 1970 was amended to comply with TRIPS, there have been an endless series of complaints against the working of the Patent Office. Despite the general improvement of affairs at the Patent Office because of dynamic Controller Generals for the last 4 years, the Patent Office and its human resources remains constrained by the statutory framework and indifference on part of its parent-department – the DIPP. While the backlog in patent applications and the general inefficiency of the Patent Office is certainly problematic, equally worrying is the quality of examination by the Patent Office. Mechanisms like the pre-grant representation and post-grant opposition, which promise to raise the quality of patents, are largely ignored by the Patent Office due to a lack of resources.

This paper seeks to explore the above issues, identify the problems and propose solutions.

Keywords: Indian Patent Office, Patents Act, 1970, Patent Administration

JEL Classification: K0, O3