A Thorough Patent Search Is Performed To Make Sure That Your Idea Or Product Is Inventive, Novel And Industrial Applicable. The Patent Search Is Done to Check Whether There Exists an Invention Similar or Same as to the Applicant’s Invention. A provisional patent specification is a preliminary application before filing a usual patent. It explains the invention in a broad manner but not completely. It is the document which may be filed before a Complete Specification in the Office of the Controller of Patents pertaining to a prospective patent.

Inventors too often think that drawings are unnecessary in their description. This is usually a mistake. Although there are fewer formal requirements with provisional patent applications, they still must provide a complete description. Because drawings are usually necessary for others to understand the invention, they are usually a necessary part of the description. See 35 U.S.C. 113.
The saying “A picture really is worth a thousand words” applies here. Including drawings in a patent application is typically essential, and failing to do so puts your provisional patent at risk of being inadequate.

It isn’t easy to draft a patent application. If you are doing so on your own, get advice from qualified professional sources. Non-attorneys and non-agents are more likely to give bad advice or misinformation.
Whether bad sources of information are intentionally misleading or just making innocent mistakes is of no consequence to the inventor. In either case, the provisional patent may fail to be effective and the inventor will suffer harm. So be careful when getting legal advice and assistance with patent drafting to make sure that your provisional patent application fully satisfies the requirements of 35 U.S.C.
Another issue that inventors need to be aware of when it comes to provisional patents is that the Patent Office does not examine provisional patent applications for compliance with 35 U.S.C. Instead, as long as a provisional patent cover sheet is properly filled out, the office will accept it.
This means that problems with a provisional patent will not be apparent until much later when a patent holder attempts to enforce an effective filing date. Only then will errors in the provisional patent application be uncovered.

After you submit all the documents, the patent application is safely secured by the Indian Patent Office. The patent is then published in an official patent journal after a period of 18 months approximately. However, inventors who wish to have their patent application published before this 18 month period can submit Form 9. This is an automatic process but if an inventor wishes to have his application published earlier, he needs to submit Form 9 (early publication request), in which case, the application will be published in the official patent journal within 1 month of making the request. However, there are certain scenarios in which your patent application may not be published. These include incomplete applications, withdrawal requests made by the individual filing the patent and secrecy direction imposed under Patent Act wherein the invention is against the nation’s interests.

Before your patent is granted, it needs to be examined substantively. As per rules of the patent application process in India, your patent is thoroughly examined based on the merits of your invention as claimed and described in the patent specification form. Unlike the publication process, this is not an automatic process and the applicant needs to make a request to examine their patent application by submitting Form 18. The patent office queues the application for examination only after a formal request for examination is made. You can also expedite this process by filling and submitting Form 18 (A).

The patent examiner is obligated to follow a few steps of his/her own while examining your application. They are as under

• When the application lands on the examiner’s desk, it is scrutinized according to the Patent Act and underlying rules.
• The patent examiner searches for similar technologies to ensure the invention satisfies patentability criteria.
• After reviewing the application, a first examination report (FER) is submitted in which, grounds for objections, if any, are also stated.
• The examiner lists his objections in detail. This can further extend the application process by another 6- 9 months. Note that examiner objections are quite common in case of patents.
• If the inventor needs to make changes to his/her objection, he/she can file a request for time extension by submitting Form 4.

Once the examiner finds no objections in the patent application, he grants the patent. The patent is then published in the official patent gazette.

The patent holder also needs to renew his patent by paying an annual renewal fee. In India, it is possible to renew your patent for a period of 20 years at maximum, from the date the patent was first filed.