Appropriate Office in Relation to International Applications :

Rule 18 of the Patents Rules, 2003 provides that the receiving office, designated office and elected office for the purposes of international applications filed under the Treaty shall be the appropriate office in accordance with rule 4. The head office of the patent office shall be the appropriate office for dealing with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, International Searching Authorities and International Preliminary Examining Authorities.

An international application under the Treaty should be filed at and processed by the appropriate office in accordance with the provisions rules relating to international applications under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) the regulations established under the PCT. The appropriate office shall on receipt of an international application, transmit one copy as record copy of such application to International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation and another copy as search copy to Competent International Searching Authority. The appropriate office shall simultaneously furnish complete details of such application to the head office of the patent offices.

It may be pointed out that Section 39 expressly states that an Indian applicant cannot apply for patents outside India except under the authority of a written permit sought in the prescribed manner and granted by or on behalf of the Controller.

An Indian applicant can file a PCT International application in the following manner:

(a) Filing in the Indian Patent Office acting as Receiving Office. In such cases, it is advisable that the application be accompanied by permission for foreign filing granted under section 39 by the Controller.

If such permission is sought along with the application, there is a probability that the permission may be deferred and the application may be referred to DRDO / Department of Atomic Energy for their directions.

(b) Filing directly in the International Bureau of WIPO after taking permission u/s 39 from the Indian Patent Office.

(c) After filing a patent application in India, anytime before the expiry of 12 months from the date of filing, file an international in IB of WIPO or in Indian Patent Office as Receiving Office. However, if the international filing is within 6 weeks from the date of filing in India, such filing shall be made after taking permission u/s 39 from the Indian Patent Office.