The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) on February 09, 2021 has issued the Draft Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2021 to further amend the Patents Rules, 2003.

The following critical amendments have been made therein:

1. Rule 2 (ca), which specifies the definitions, has been inserted, as follows:  “Eligible educational institution’ means an institution established by a Central, Provincial or State Act, which is owned or controlled by the Government, and is wholly or substantially financed by the Government.”
2. Rule 7 (3), which specifies the processing of application, has been substituted, as follows:  “In case an application processed by a natural person, startup, small entity or eligible educational institution is fully or partly transferred to a person other than a natural person, startup, small entity or eligible educational institution, the difference, if any, in the scale of fees between the fees charged from the natural person, startup, small entity or eligible educational institution and the fees chargeable from the person other than a natural person, startup, small entity or eligible educational institution, shall be paid by the new applicant along with the request for transfer.”
3. First Schedule, which specifies the filing for patent, has been substituted.
4. Rule 24C of the principal rules, in sub-rule (1), after clause (j), the following clause shall be substituted, namely: “(k) that the applicant is an eligible educational institution.” The eligible institutions will also be eligible for expedited examinations as well.

Objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi- 110011 or by e-mail at sachin.d@gov.in; The objections and suggestions, which may be received from any person with respect to the said draft rules before the expiry of the period so specified, will be considered by the Central Government.