Тhe IPO has issued a public notice dated July 2, 2012 notifying that the Indian Patent Office has acquired online access to the International Bureau (IB) of World Intellectual Property Organization. Thus the process of filing PCT National Phase Applications has been simplified, as the Applicant is now not required to file multiple copies of documents already available with IB. The notification shall be effective from July 6, 2012.
The highlight of this notification is that the IPO has clearly notified that no amendments of any nature are possible at the time of National Phase entry and the documents filed by the Applicant should exactly correspond to the up-to-date information available with the IB.
The requirement of filing complete specification and abstract at the time of filing National Phase applications has been dispensed with. The Applicant only has to submit the claims corresponding with those filed in the International phase or as amended under A. 19 or A. 34.
In effect, the IPO has prohibited amendments of any nature including name or address of applicant, claim amendments or any other amendment unless such amendment has been recorded with IB. In case of any pending amendment filed with WIPO for which IB notification is awaited, the Indian IPO would not take such amendment on record.
For further details please refer to http://www.ipindia.nic.in/iponew/PublicNotice_PCT_02July2012.pdf
