The Amended Patent Rules, 2016 of India that came into effect from 16 May 2016 have introduced Expedited Request for Examination for patent applications in India.
Under said examination, Application is taken for examination on priority prior to the applications where regular to express examination has already been requested. However, expedited examination is applicable only if one of the following two conditions is fulfilled:
- that India has been indicated as the competent International Searching Authority or elected as an International Preliminary Examining Authority in the corresponding international application; or
- that the applicant is a startup entity.
Introduction of Expedited Examination with conditions appears to encourage IP owners to use India as searching authority during PCT Phase and startups in general.
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