Shri P.H. Kurian, the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM), during his presence as a chief guest at a seminar on IP for Business Advantage and R&D Development, organized at IIT-Madras research park by Intellecture, mentioned the changes the Indian Patent Office (IPO) has observed in the last couple of years both in terms of making the processes employed at Indian IP offices more transparent and also making the information regarding patents and trademarks more accessible to people through their website www.ipindia.nic.in. He also expressed concerns regarding the delays in the patent process, stating that the patent office is seriously facing acute shortage of staff which is expected to be stabilized by June 2011 after hiring and training of more examiners during the first half of the next year.

 

During the course of his address, he also mentioned about the release of the draft Indian Patent Manual on 4 November, 2010. Upon a question raised by one of the seminar attendees about the possible status of the newly released patent draft manual in light of the fact that previous draft manuals never reached finalization, he said that the Indian Patent Office this time will definitely finalize the draft patent manual. He further said that the draft patent manual is currently available for comments/suggestions for the very last time before finalization. After considering all the comments/suggestions, he expects to finalize the draft manual and release the Indian Patent Manual by the end of the year. Any comments/suggestions may be sent to the Indian Patent Office by 4 December, 2010 (view details).

 

Another disclosure which was made by the CGPDTM during the seminar was that the Trademark and Design Manuals are works in progress. According to him, both the manuals should be ready and may be released by end of November 2010.

 

We certainly will be tracking the release of the manuals. Follow us for more IP updates.