The Patents (2nd Amendment) Rules, 2020 have been published by the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) by notification dated 04/11/2020 in the Gazette of India, and has been made effective from the date of publication i.e. 04/11/2020 The said rules are available on the official website of the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks www.ipindia.nic.in.
Some salient features of the Amended Rules are as follows:
Sub-Rule (3) shall be substituted as follows in Rule 7 in the Patents Rules, 2003:
(3) In case an application processed by a natural person or startup or small entity is fully or partly transferred to a person other than a natural person, startup or small entity, the difference, if any, in the scale of fees between the fees charged from the natural person, startup or small entity and the fees chargeable from the person other than a natural person, startup or small entity in the same matter, shall be paid by the new applicant with the request for transfer.
Sub-Rule (3A); (3B) and explanation to Sub-Rule (3B) shall be Omitted.
After sub-rule (3), the following explanation shall be inserted: Â
Explanation- Where a startup or small entity, having filed an application for a patent, ceases to be a startup or small entity due to the lapse of the period during which it is recognized by the competent authority, or its turnover subsequently crosses the financial threshold limit as notified by the competent authority, no such difference in the scale of fees shall be payable.
In the FIRST SCHEDULE of the Principal Rules, an amended fee schedule shall be substituted.
An amended proviso to sub-rule (5) of Rule 24C shall be substituted as follows:
Provided that a request for expedited examination under this rule filed by a startup or small entity shall not be questioned merely on the ground that the startup or small entity, having filed an application for a patent, ceases to be a startup or small entity due to the lapse of the period during which it is recognised by the competent authority, or its turnover subsequently crosses the financial threshold limit as notified by the competent authority.