What is Patent of Addition ?

The main purpose of patent of Addition is improvements or changes that aren’t covered in the original patent but have been improved or updated later.

It is used to protect innovative, industrially applicable, and non-inventive alterations or enhancements made after a patent application that has already been submitted or issued.

Under section 54, 55, and 56 of the Indian Patent Act (IPA), 1970, such modifications or additions are allowed under the title “Patent of Addition.” So, an application for any improvement or modification of an invention described in the detailed specification filed in respect of the main invention falls within the first clause of section 54 of the IPA, 1970. Where the applicant also applies for or has applied for a patent for that invention, or is the patentee in that case, and the controller grants the patent for the improvement or modification as a patent of addition. According to this provision, the first and most important criteria is that the applicant of Addition must be the same person who owns the patent which the modification or improvements will be filed. It does not receive a twenty-year extension. Its term is equivalent to that of the main invention’s patent under section 55(1), and it will continue in force until the main invention’s patent expires.

Criteria for Patent of Addition

• The applicant for the Addition Patent must be the same as the applicant for the original invention.
• According to the Patent Act of 1970, if the Addition of Patent includes any new or additional applicant, the Indian Patent Office is prohibited from pursuing the application.
• According to Rule 13(3) of the Patent Rules, 2003, the application for an addition patent must include a reference to the parent application.
• A definitive declaration about the improvement or modification of the invention being an improved and modified version of the already existing main Patent should be included.
• Unless the Controller of Patents is requested to review the parent application, the application for patent of addition will not be examined. The application for a patent of addition will not be considered until the parent or primary patent application has been approved.
• If the parent patent is invalidated, the new patent will not be accepted or issued. If the parent patent is not renewed, the patent of addition will expire (Non-payment of annuity).
• In the case of a patent of addition, the patentee is not needed to pay any renewable fees, but once the patent becomes an independent patent, the same payments must be paid on the same dates.
• In consideration of Sections 54 and 55 of the Indian Patents Act, each Patent of Addition is plainly an independent patent, and therefore; Rendered a new Application Number, Requires the submission of a separate request for examination, After 18 months, it is published, and Undergoes separate examination.