Ans- Yes, Patents can be filed at an Ideation stage.

Ans- A Provisional Patent Application is an expedited process of filing a patent application, without the complete experimental details. The additional details should be provided within a period of 12 months, to file a complete patent application.

Ans- A Provisional Patent Application is advisable in the above circumstances. Please note that a complete patent application for the same invention can be filed within a period of 12 months.

Ans- Within 30 day, the patent application gets filed.

Ans- Inventors are advised to do a preliminary search on Google Patents ( https://patents.google.com/) , Google Patent is a free Patent search database available on Internet, If the Inventors are unable to do the Prior art search, they are advised to contact IPR Cell for the same, the cell has advanced AI equipped Paid database and Technical staff who are well versed in providing Patent search report. A minimum of 4 working days are required to prepare the patent search report at IPR Cell.

Ans- Rule- PATENT FIRST PUBLISH LATER
Public disclosure of an invention before patent filing is not allowed, the same public disclosure in the research journal, l becomes a prior art for the Patent application, hence it is advised not to disclose the invention at any forum before Patent filing.

Ans- The Patent granting process takes at least 48 months/ 4 years from the date of Patent filing, however the Institute uses the expedited mode of publication, so the Patent applications are getting granted in less than 3 years.

Ans- The patent/IPRs can be licensed to an Industry partner after filing the patent application, through technology licensing agreements.

Ans- Algorithm/source code/Software’s are a subject matter of copyright, as per the section 3(K) of the Indian Patent Act 1970, which states that a mathematical or business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms are not inventions hence not patentable.

However if the software is embedded with a hardware, the same invention can be filed as a Patent application.

Ans- Inventions having novel aesthetics views alone are a subject matter of Design Registration (Laymen terms- Design Patent), for filing a Design registration 7 different CAD/CAM/ Real prototype views are required i.e. Top, bottom, right, left, front, back and perspective view (illustrative disclosure form on filing a Design registration can be found at this link).

Ans- IIT Kanpur always signs an agreement beforehand with any funding agency, for any sponsored Research/consultancy project, the clause over IPR filing, maintenance and commercialization are explicitly mentioned in the agreement. The ownership, patent filing fee and commercialization onus are mentioned in the agreement, please refer it to the same.

Ans- The inventor’s name from outside of IITK can also be included in the Patent application, subject to providing a No Objection Certificate from the administrative head of the employer of that inventor, the NOC must explicitly mention that XYZ(employer) has no objection in filing of the patent by IIT Kanpur being the sole applicant of the Patent. The NOC format is available in the download section of the website.

Ans- Yes, the Patents/IPRs are jurisdictional in nature, a Patent application filing in India would result in protection for the Indian jurisdiction only, there is no protection/terminology like global Patent, separate patent application needs to be filed for each jurisdictions.

Ans- The deadline to file a Foreign patent application is 12 months, from the date of Indian Patent application filing.

Ans- Yes, the expansion of deadline or time window of 12 months for filing a foreign patent application is possible, through a process called as PCT (Patent co-operation treaty), the PCT application can be filed within 12 months from the date of National Phase filing in order to expand the foreign filing window from 12 months to 31 months.

Ans- PCT (Patent co-operation treaty), the PCT application is filed to expand the foreign filing window from 12 months to 31 months, it can be filed within 12 months from the date of National Phase filing(Indian Patent application)

Ans- The PCT/foreign application filings are subject to monetary support from the Project funds of the inventors, inventors are suggested to provide their preferences in the disclosure form.