As the name suggests, Opposition is a process for opposing the patent. The Indian Patent Act 1970 provides two modes for opposition of a patent – pre-grant opposition or post grant opposition. In a pre-grant opposition, an interested party may oppose the grant of a patent application filed in India. On the other hand, a post-grant opposition is applicable for a patent that was recently granted. Indian Patent Act provides a variety of grounds which can form a basis for a pre/post grant opposition. The grounds for both pre and post-grant opposition are similar. Also, if a pre-grant opposition fails a person may file a post-grant opposition subsequently. However, there are procedural differences between the pre and post grant oppositions.
The main difference between a pre-grant opposition and post-grant opposition is that – a pre-grant opposition may filed by “any person”, but a post-grant opposition may only be filed by a “person interested”. “Person interested” is defined in Indian Patent Act 1970 as a person who is engaged in, or in promoting, research in the same field as that to which the invention relates. A pre/post grant opposition is one of the effective business strategies being used by many organizations in order to oppose the monopolistic position provided by the patent to the assignee.
Effectual Services has assisted many clients by timely monitoring the patents filed by competitors and successfully filing pre and/or post grant oppositions by conducting comprehensive searches. Our team of Lawyers and Engineers have in-depth understanding and knowledge of Indian Patent Act 1970 and have unparalleled searching skills. We have access to Industry’s leading tools for searching patent and non patent literature such as – Thomson Innovation, Orbit (Questel) and TotalPatents (LexisNexis) which provide coverage to more than 100 jurisdictions worldwide.
Our team consisting of Engineers, Bachelors, Masters and PhDs from varied technical backgrounds, including Computer Science and Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences domain. Many of our team members have a Law degree in addition to the technical degrees making them ideal for Intellectual Property related services.
