Pre Grant Opposition(Patents)

Patents are known for their inventiveness, novelty and non-obviousness. Patents when granted give its holder an exclusive sovereign right to have a monopoly over the patented product or a process.

A patent is granted only when an application for the patent is presented to the patent office and the patent office publishes the patent application in order to invite an opposition from various stakeholders. The application is open for any opposition after hearing the opposite party then only the Patent office decide either to give the patent or to reject the patent application. The opposition which may be filed before the grant of the patent is a pre grant opposition, which is filed under section 25(1) of the Indian Patent Act, 1970.

The grounds of patent opposition are mentioned below-:

1. Patent claims were wrongfully obtained.
2. That patent claims were published earlier.
3. That the patent claim was already claimed.
4. The specification was already known.
5. That the information pertaining to patent claim is obvious.
6. That the complete specification is not an invention within the meaning of the act.
7. That the complete specification does not describe invention or method.
8. That applicant failed to disclose the information by section 8 of the act.