Over 1 lakh requests pending with patent offices

NEW DELHI: Over one lakh patent applications are pending with various patent examination offices, Minister of State For Commerce and Industry S Jagathrakshakan has said.

Of these, 45,525 requests are in Delhi, 22,431 in Kolkata, 37,811, in Chennai and 13,748 in Mumbai, he said in a written reply tabled in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

The highest number of requests are pending in the electrical engineering segment (49,266), followed by mechanical engineering (37,942), chemistry (24,959) and biotechnology (7,348).

"The government has completed the process of selection of 248 patent examiners. Of these, 151 have joined. At present, processing of patent applications are conducted through electronic modules which enable achieving enhanced speed in the examination and final disposal of patent applications and has also improved transparency," he added.

Patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention.

He also said that the government has revoked six patents and granted 50 for herbal medicines in the three year period so far.