What is an expedited patent examination in India?

In India, obtaining a patent can take anywhere from 5 to 7 years. The government aims to reduce the time it takes to obtain a patent to 18 months in the recently released National IPR Policy.

In order to achieve this goal, the Government included a provision for expediting patent examination in India in the Patent (Amendment) Rules, 2016.

A request for regular or expedited examination can be made at the time of filing the patent application or within 48 months of the filing date. Filing requests during the application process, on the other hand, would eventually shorten the grant process timeline.

The Controller is normally (but not always) required to refer an application to an examiner within one month of receiving a request for examination. Furthermore, the examiner must prepare the Examination Report within one month of the date of reference for such examination by the Controller, but no later than three months. On the other hand, if the Controller requests an expedited examination, the examiner must provide the Examination Report within one month, not to exceed two months, from the date of reference for examination. As a result, patents for expedited examination will be placed in a separate queue from applications for regular examination. This ensures that expedited exams are completed in less time than standard exams.