What is Response to Office Action/Reply to Examination Report in Patents?
After filing patent application with complete specification, a patent application gets published. A patent application is examined only after filing a request for examination along with prescribed fee. The request for examination has to be filed within a strict timeline of thirty one (31 months) from the priority date or earliest filing date of the patent application. A patent application is examined for preliminary defects as well as for the patentability. The preliminary defects cover procedural compliance and submission of all requisite documents. For ascertaining patentability, a thorough patentability search is conducted by the Indian Patent Office (IPO) and an examination report (generally called as first examination report (FER)) is issued. Normally, time taken by the Indian Patent Office (IPO) to issue the first examination report (FER) varies from few months to a year or two. The timeline also depends upon type of request for examination whether it’s ordinary or expedite....