Search for Anticipation by Previous Publication and by Prior Claim :

Section 13 dealing with search for anticipation by previous publication and by prior claim provides that the examiner to whom the application for a patent is referred shall make investigation for the purpose of ascertaining whether the invention so far as claimed in any claim of the complete specification:

(a) has been anticipated by publication before the date of filing of the applicant’s complete specification in any specification filed in pursuance of an application for a patent made in India and dated on or after the 1st day of January, 1912;

(b) is claimed in any claim of any other complete specification published on or after the date of filing of the applicant’s complete specification, being a specification filed in pursuance of an application for a patent made in India and dated before or claiming the priority date earlier than that date.

The examiner shall, in addition, make such investigation for the purpose of ascertaining whether the invention so far as claimed in any claim of the complete specification has been anticipated by publication in India or elsewhere in any document other than those mentioned in Section 13(1) before the date of filing of the applicant’s complete specification. In case a complete specification has been amended before the grant of a patent, the amended specification shall be examined and investigated in the like manner as the original specification.