Ordinary Applications
An ordinary application is the one filed for grant of patent without claiming any priority arising out of application filed in a convention country or a provisional application or a PCT application.
Provisional Applications
A provisional application is a temporary application which is filed when the invention is not finalized and is still under experimentation and enables the applicant to establish priority over the invention. The reason behind filing such application is to get a 12 months’ time to fully develop the invention and to know its market viability. It also Enables the applicant to use the term "patent pending” on their product and is Less expensive to prepare and file the application
Complete Application
If the inventor believes that his invention is complete in all respects and require no necessary modifications, he may file a complete application with all the claims without further delay. It shall be noted that, a complete patent application has to be filed within 12 months from the date of filing the provisional application. Failure to do so will be considered as abandoning the provisional application.
Divisional Application
When an application made by applicant claims more than one invention, the applicant on his own or to meet the official objection may divide the application and file two or more applications, as applicable for each of the inventions. This type of application, divided out of the parent one, is called a Divisional Application. The priority date for all the divisional applications will be same as that claimed by the Parent Application. The term of patent for a divisional application shall be twenty years from the date of filing of main application
Convention Application
In case an applicant is short of budget and thrives to secure patent protection in only few countries, then it is better to go ahead with the Conventional route. Moreover, conventional application takes less time than PCT application. This route is also adopted when an applicant wants to secure his/her rights in non-PCT member countries.
PCT International Application
The PCT is an international treaty of more than 150 countries, known as contracting states. PCT aids with the advantage of simultaneous protection of patent in all the contracting states by filing a single “international” patent application instead of filing several separate national or regional patent applications. In the entire process granting of patent remains under the control of national/regional office known as “National Phase”. It provides a strong basis for patenting decisions, as ISR will help in identifying the countries you can opt for successful grant of patent. In addition to that use of PCT saves effort, time and work of applicant seeking protection for an invention internationally.
PCT National Application
The national application follows the international phase. It is necessary for an applicant to file a national phase application in each designated country, where protection is sought for, within the time prescribed under PCT, i.e., within 30 months from the priority date. However, this time limit may be increased through National Laws by each member Country.
The applicant has to file the National Phase Application within 31 months from the priority date or International Application date, whichever is earlier.
For the National Phase Application, the title, description, drawings, abstract and claims as filed in the International Application under PCT shall be taken as the Complete Specification. All other formalities that are required for filing and processing an ordinary patent application shall apply to a National Phase Application.
Patent of Addition
A Patent of Addition enables the applicant to apply for an improvement or modifications made on the invention disclosed in the complete specification. The improvement must be something more than a mere workshop improvement. The term for a Patent of Addition shall not exceed the term of a regular patent and shall not be granted prior to the date of grant of a patent for the main invention. A Patent of Addition cannot be questioned on the ground that the invention ought to have been the subject of an independent patent.
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