Objection Against Patent

There are two types of opposition; pre-grant opposition and post-grant opposition which are filed at the patent office. Rectification of a patent is brought either before the civil court or before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

A. Pre-grant opposition

After publication of the patent application, it is available for pre-grant opposition. A pre-grant opposition can be filed any time till the grant of the patent. It can be filed by any person under Section 25 (1) of the Patents Act on the grounds stated in this section along with supporting proof.

B. Post-grant opposition

Another opposition which is a post grant opposition can be filed anytime from the date of grant until the expiry of one year of grant. Unlike pre-grant opposition, a post-grant opposition can be filed only by a person having interest in the same. The grounds for opposition are under mentioned in the Section 25 (2) of the Patents Act.

You can bring this under attention of the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) if you believe that an invention is not patentable - ie., not new or inventive. This is known as 'making observations'.

Some of the grounds for opposing a patent application may be:

• Prior art or prior use - if the invention isn't novel
• Obviousness - if the invention lacks an inventive stage
• Not an invention - the subject matter of the application is not patentable
• Insufficiency - the specification doesn't explain how to put the patent into practice