Patent Opposition

An opposition proceeding is an administrative process available under the patent law of many jurisdictions which allows the third parties to formally dispute or oppose the validity of a pending patent application (known as pre-grant opposition) or of a granted patent (known as post grant opposition).

Preventing the grant of a patent or revoking a granted patent is one of the effective strategies to protect future business interest, for example by opposing the validity of a patent which may be an obstacle for a product launch will save substantial litigation cost.

Patent opposition proceedings and grounds for opposition vary depending on the country with quite a few similarities.

IPaatEntiti has a dedicated and experienced opposition team with patent agents and patent attorneys, who regularly undertake the opposition work. Our expertise lies in research to gather evidences required to file oppositions, prepare opposition grounds and file with the Indian patent office.

Section 25(1) of the Indian Patent (Amendment) Act 2005 provides provisions for pre grant opposition of Patent, under this provision any person or any third party or Government may challenge the application of grant of patent and inform to the controller of Patents for opposition, in writing against the grant of a patent after the application for a patent has been published but before the grant of a patent. Opposition can be made on the grounds listed under section 25(1)(a) to (k) of the Patent Amendment Act, 2005. Similarly 25(2) provides provisions for post-grant opposition of the patent. Post grant opposition may be filed at any time after the grant of patent but before the expiry of a period of one year from the date of publication of grant of the patent.

IPaatEntiti often helps clients to file patent opposition outside India, our services include gathering evidences and grounds of opposition for Third Party Observation (EPO), Pre-issuance submission (USPTO), pre grant and post grant opposition, and also help them to file Opposition with our foreign associates.