Patents are statutorily designed real life legal instruments aimed at protecting inventions. Inventions, in modern times, are the outcome of well-planned research and development. Patents act as economic incentives to inventors who put in intellectual labor to develop new and useful inventions. Patents foster research and development by providing limited term exclusivity to patentees to commercially make use of the inventions they own. Patents are granted by national governments in consideration for disclosing to the public the scientific and technological information subsisting in the inventions by the inventors/or the subsequent owners of the inventions. Published patent specifications are therefore, important scientific documents containing extremely valuable scientific information. A patent is enforceable only within the territorial limits of the nation granting it.

Invention means a new product or process involving inventive step and capable of industrial application. Not all inventions are patentable. For an invention to be patentable, it must be new, useful and non-obvious. Invention means a new product or process involving inventive step and capable of industrial application. Inventive step is defined as a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both and that makes the invention not obvious to the person skilled in the art. The national laws of a number of countries prescribe limitations on the patentability of inventions. As for example, the Indian law declares that Inventions which are frivolous or which claim anything obviously contrary to well established natural laws as not patentable. Inventions, the commercial exploitation of which could be contrary to public order or morality or which cause serious prejudice to human, animal or plant life or health or to the environment are also declared as non-patentable. Similarly there are several other specific categories of inventions, which are declared as non-patentable in India.

The process of patenting begins with the execution of an idea by an inventor. Typically an idea is executed by preparing a technical disclsoure statement that enables a person ordinarily skilled in the art to reduce the invention into practice. The technical disclosure is then converted into a patent specification. This is an extremely sophisticated process that is governed by well established conventions in patent law and practice. The process typically involves conducting prior art searches to distinguish the current invention from prior art and developing a patent disclosure that demonstrates the best mode of working the invention. The patent specification comprises a title, the technical field, cross-reference to related patents (if relevant), the background of the invention, the description of the related art, the summary of the invention, the brief description of the drawing figures (if any), the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, claims and abstract.Claims are the most critical components of a patent specification. Claims define the nature and extent of the rights that a patentee owns in the invention.

Most countries have national laws providing for patent administration systems. These national laws not only prescribe the substantive principles concerning the patentability of inventions but also the procedure for securing patents for inventions and maintaining such patents after the grant. Once an application for a patent is filed, the national patent office in most countries will publish the application (there are some exceptions to this). Typically an application for patent will be examined for formal and substantive compliance by the national patent offices. This examination may precede prior searches and in such cases the national patent office may issue a search report. This will be followed by the establishment of an Examination Report. It is the obligation of the applicant for patent to remedy the objections by the Examiner of Patents and there will be certain time limits attached with these processes. Once the applicant complies with the national patent office requirements, the patent will be granted and issued. It is the patentee’s responsibility to maintain an issued patent by paying the annuities until the patent expires after its 20 years' term (the term of patent may not be 20 years in all countries).

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 Type of incorporation (e.g. partnership, company, etc.)

 Country of incorporation (where applicant is not a perso)

 If applicant is not the inventor How applicant derived right to file patent application from inventor(s) (e.g., employment agreement, commission, assignment deed, etc.)