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Patents Act, 1970 · Chapter IV — Publication and Examination of Applications

Section 11B: Request for examination

In plain English

Section 11B requires a request for examination before an application is examined.

The applicant or any other interested person must make the request in the prescribed manner and within the period set by the Patents Rules.

If no request is made in time, the application is treated as withdrawn.

The applicant may withdraw the application at any time before grant, and where a secrecy direction applies, the request may be made within the prescribed period after the direction is revoked.

This is a summary, not legal advice. The text of the Act below governs. Summary by , Co-founder and CEO, PatentAssist.ai.

Text of section 11B

(1) No application for a patent shall be examined unless the applicant or any other interested person makes a request in the prescribed manner for such examination within the prescribed period.

* * *

(3) In case of an application in respect of a claim for a patent filed under sub-section (2) of section 5 before the 1st day of January, 2005 a request for its examination shall be made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period by the applicant or any other interested person.

(4) In case the applicant or any other interested person does not make a request for examination of the application for a patent within the period as specified under sub-section (1) or sub-section (3), the application shall be treated as withdrawn by the applicant:

Provided that—

(i) the applicant may, at any time after filing the application but before the grant of a patent, withdraw the application by making a request in the prescribed manner; and

(ii) in a case where secrecy direction has been issued under section 35, the request for examination may be made within the prescribed period from the date of revocation of the secrecy direction.

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All sections of the Patents Act, 1970

Text of the Patents Act, 1970 as amended up to 2024, from the consolidated version published by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (IP India). Reproduced under section 52(1)(q) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Check the official text before relying on it.