Indian patent holders and licensees must begin preparing for the next major working statement compliance deadline in India. The upcoming due date of September 30, 2026 is particularly important since it is the first major triennial filing deadline affecting patents granted before the 2024 amendments to the Indian Patents Rules took effect. Under Section 146(2) of the Patents Act, 1970, read with Rule 131 of the Patents Rules, 2003, every patentee and every licensee is required to submit a statement regarding the commercial working of a patented invention in India in Form 27. Working Statement is a statutory requirement and must be filed by every patentee and every licensee in India for the commercial working of the patented invention on a commercial scale in India.
What Changed After the 2024 Patent Rules Amendment?
The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024, which came into force on March 15, 2024, changed the frequency of Form 27 filings. Earlier, working statements were required annually. After the amendment, Form 27 is required once for every period of three financial years, beginning from the financial year immediately after the year in which the patent is granted, and must be filed within six months from the end of that three-year period. This means that the due date for each Form 27 filing will fall on September 30 following the close of the relevant three-financial-year block, since the Indian financial year runs from April 1 to March 31.
Which patents need SOW filing this year?
The September 30, 2026 deadline will apply to the following categories of patents:
- The first category is Patents granted on or before March 31, 2023. These patents fall into the working period covering FY 2023-24, FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. The Form 27 statement for this three-year block will be due by September 30, 2026.
- The second category is Patents whose term expired between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. Where a patent expires during a reporting period, a final working statement is required for the period during which the patent remained in force. The Indian Patent Office has clarified that the new three-year reporting period applies prospectively from the 2024 amendment and missed Form 27 filings for FY 2022-23 or earlier cannot be clubbed with the new triennial block.
Independent Obligation of Patentees and Licensees
A key compliance point is that patentees and licensees each have an independent obligation to file Form 27. The filing of a working statement by the patentee does not automatically satisfy the obligation of a licensee, and vice versa. The Indian Patent Office FAQ confirms that every patentee and every licensee must file Form 27. This is especially relevant where patents are subject to exclusive or non-exclusive licences, cross-licensing arrangements, technology transfer agreements, or group company exploitation structures. In such cases, both the recordal position and the commercialisation position should be reviewed carefully before filing.
Due Date Calculations Simplified
| Trigger | Working Period Covered | Form 27 Due By |
| Patent expired in FY 2025-26 | FY 2025-26, up to date of expiry | September 30, 2026 |
| Patent granted on or before FY 2022-23 | FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26 | September 30, 2026 |
| Patent granted in FY 2023-24 | FY 2024-25 to FY 2026-27 | September 30, 2027 |
| Patent granted in FY 2024-25 | FY 2025-26 to FY 2027-28 | September 30, 2028 |
| Patent granted in FY 2025-26 | FY 2026-27 to FY 2028-29 | September 30, 2029 |
The above timeline follows the amended Rule 131 framework, under which Form 27 is filed once for every three-financial-year period beginning from the financial year immediately following the financial year in which the patent was granted.
What Information Is Required in Form 27?
Form 27 has been simplified compared with the earlier version. Patent holders and licensees are required to provide only the following information:
- Whether the patented invention was commercially worked in India during the relevant period;
- If the patent was not worked, the predefined or specific reason for non-working; Whether the patent is available for licensing; and
- If available for licensing, optional contact details such as an email address and telephone number may be provided.
The Indian Patent Office FAQ indicates that if a patent has not been worked, the filer may select pre-defined reasons such as the invention being under development or commercial trials, pending regulatory review or approval, or being under commercial licensing discussions.
Can One Form 27 Cover Multiple Patents?
Yes, in certain cases. A single Form 27 may be filed for multiple patents, provided that the patents are related patents and are granted to the same patentee or patentees. This can be useful for patent families or related divisional patents, but the eligibility for consolidated filing should be assessed carefully before submission.
Extension Options
The filing deadline may be extended, but only within the permitted statutory framework. The Indian Patent Office has clarified that the Form 27 deadline may be extended by up to three months upon request in Form 4 under Rule 131(2), and further by up to six months under Rule 138. This means that the maximum possible extension is nine months in aggregate. However, extension requests involve huge official fees, and the cost increases depending on the stage of extension and the entity category. Since no open-ended condonation mechanism is available once the permissible extension window lapses, early filing remains the safer and more cost-effective approach.
Consequences of Non-Compliance
Failure to file Form 27 is not merely an administrative lapse. It can attract statutory penalties and may also create commercial and strategic risk. Following amendments introduced through the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, non-compliance under the Patents Act has been decriminalised in certain respects, but monetary penalties have been revised. Non-filing or failure to furnish required information may attract a penalty of up to INR 1,00,000, with a further penalty of INR 1000 for every day during which the failure continues.
Furnishing false information may attract a penalty of 0.5% of total sales or turnover or gross receipts, or INR 5 crore, whichever is lower. Beyond monetary penalties, gaps or inconsistencies in working statement records may become relevant in contentious or commercial contexts. In particular, working statement history may be reviewed in relation to compulsory licensing, patent enforcement, licensing negotiations, investor diligence, M&A diligence, technology transfer reviews, and portfolio audits.
Why Patent Owners Should Act Early
For large portfolios, Form 27 compliance is rarely a last-minute exercise. Patent owners should first identify which patents fall within the relevant triennial cycle, check whether any patents expired during the reporting period, confirm whether any licences exist, and gather commercial working information from business, regulatory, finance, product, and licensing teams.
Early review is especially important where:
- the patent is part of a large portfolio;
- multiple patents cover the same product or technology;
- the patent is licensed to one or more parties;
- commercialisation occurred through imports, local manufacture, distributors, or affiliates;
- the product was under regulatory review or clinical/commercial trials;
- the patent was not worked in India during the reporting period; or
- old annual Form 27 filings for FY 2021-22 or FY 2022-23 may have been missed.
Missed filings for periods before the 2024 amendment should be reviewed separately, since the Indian Patent Office has clarified that earlier missed periods cannot be folded into the new three-year reporting system.
Recommended Next Steps
Patent owners and licensees should consider taking the following steps well before September 30, 2026:
- Map the portfolio to identify patents granted on or before March 31, 2023;
- Identify expired patents where the term ended between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026;
- Check licences to determine whether licensees have independent filing obligations;
- Confirm working status for each patent during the relevant period;
- Document reasons for non-working, where applicable;
- Confirm licensing availability and whether optional licensing contact details should be provided;
- Review prior-year filing gaps, particularly for FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23; and
- File early, rather than relying on extension mechanisms.
Conclusion
The shift from annual to triennial Form 27 filings has reduced the frequency of working statement compliance in India, but it has not removed the obligation. For patents granted on or before March 31, 2023, and for patents that expired during FY 2025-26, the next key deadline is September 30, 2026. Given the independent filing obligations of patentees and licensees, the statutory penalties for non-compliance, and the potential relevance of Form 27 records in compulsory licensing and commercial diligence, patent owners should begin the review process early and ensure that their working statement filings are accurate, complete, and timely.
Authors: Manisha Singh and Joginder Singh