Intellectual Property Law Services in India

A patent is a government-granted monopoly over an invention -- the exclusive right, for a limited period, to stop others from making, using, selling, or importing it without permission. Patents in India are governed by the Patents Act, 1970, and protection lasts for 20 years from the filing date, provided renewal fees are paid every year. Unlike copyright, which arises automatically, a patent must be applied for and examined before any right exists.

To be patentable, an invention must satisfy three tests together: it must be novel (not already known anywhere in the world, including through the applicant's own prior publication), it must involve an inventive step not obvious to a person skilled in the field, and it must be capable of industrial application. Section 3 of the Act also excludes certain subject matter regardless of novelty -- among them, scientific discoveries, mathematical or business methods, computer programs "per se," and methods of agriculture or medical treatment. This is the single most common reason software-related and business-process inventions get rejected, or need to be reframed around a genuine technical effect before filing.

Our patent practice covers the full lifecycle of protection, and clients are typically walked through five stages:

• Patentability Search: A prior-art search across Indian and international databases before committing to the cost of drafting and filing.
• Specification Drafting: Preparing the specification -- the document defining exactly what is claimed, and the factor most likely to determine how strong the eventual patent is.
• Filing and Publication: Filing with the Indian Patent Office, followed by publication 18 months from the priority date, or earlier on request.
• Examination and Response: Requesting examination, then responding to the First Examination Report (FER) to overcome objections raised by the examiner.
• Grant and Renewal: Once objections are resolved, the patent is granted -- after which annual renewal fees keep it in force for the remainder of the 20-year term.

A trade secret is any confidential business information that provides a competitive advantage because it is not generally known -- a formula, a manufacturing process, a client list, a pricing methodology, or source code never publicly disclosed. India has no standalone trade secrets statute; protection is built entirely through contract law and the common-law duty of confidence, resting on the principle that a person who receives confidential information under an obligation of confidence cannot use or disclose it without consent.

Because there is no registration system, protection depends entirely on the steps a business takes to keep the information secret. Courts assessing a claim typically look at whether the information was genuinely treated as confidential -- restricted access, marked documents, a demonstrated practice of confidentiality -- rather than simply asserted to be secret after the fact. A workable strategy rests on three practical pillars:

When a trade secret is misappropriated -- typically by a departing employee or a partner exceeding what was shared -- remedies include an injunction, damages, and, in some cases, an account of profits. Because protection lasts only as long as secrecy is maintained, one careless disclosure can permanently end it, which is why the groundwork above matters more here than in any other category of IP.

The four categories are often confused because they can overlap on the same product -- one piece of software might carry a trademarked brand name, patentable technology, copyrighted code, and trade-secret algorithms, all at once. The table below is a starting point for identifying which protection applies to a given asset.