Can my startup get its patent application examined faster? How expedited examination works

You are a founder. You have filed a patent application. An investor, a partner or a competitor is waiting on the outcome, and the ordinary queue at the Patent Office is slow. You want to know if your startup can jump it.

It can. The Patents Rules, 2003 let a startup ask for expedited examination. This article explains who counts as a startup for this purpose, what you file, what it costs, how the clock runs once you file, and the mistakes that cost founders time.

What expedited examination is

Normally, a patent application is examined only after the applicant asks for it. That ask is the "request for examination", made in Form 18. Once the application is published, it is sent to an examiner in the order in which the requests were filed (rule 24B(2), Patents Rules 2003).

Expedited examination is a faster lane. You file a different form, Form 18A, and the application goes to the examiner in the order of expedited requests, not the ordinary queue (rule 24C(5), Patents Rules 2003).

A startup is one of the grounds on which the rules allow this (rule 24C(1)(b), Patents Rules 2003). Other grounds include a small entity, a woman applicant who is a natural person, a Government body, and an application where India was the International Searching Authority. This article stays with the startup ground.

Who counts as a startup

The rules define "startup" in two limbs (rule 2(fb), Patents Rules 2003):

• An entity in India: one recognised as a startup by the competent authority under the Startup India initiative.
• A foreign entity: one that meets the Startup India criteria for turnover and period of incorporation or registration, and that submits a declaration to that effect.

For turnover, the Reserve Bank of India reference rates of foreign currency apply (rule 2(fb), Patents Rules 2003).

The Startup India criteria themselves are not in the Patents Rules. The rule points to them. Check the current criteria and your recognition status on the Startup India portal before you file.

For an Indian applicant, the proof is the recognition certificate from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. A foreign entity can submit any document that evidences eligibility (Form 18A, item 4, Patents Rules 2003).

Recognition that later lapses

A common worry: you filed as a startup, but your recognition expires or your turnover grows past the limit before the examiner looks at the file. Does the request fail?

The rule answers this. A request for expedited examination by a startup shall not be questioned merely on the ground that the startup, having filed its application, ceases to be a startup. This covers both a lapse of the recognition period and turnover that later crosses the notified financial limit (rule 24C(5), proviso, Patents Rules 2003).

The same logic applies to fees. If a startup application is later transferred, or the startup stops qualifying, no difference in the scale of fees is payable where the reason is a lapse of recognition or turnover crossing the limit (rule 7(3), Explanation, Patents Rules 2003).

This protects you from a change after you filed, not from being ineligible on the filing day.

What you file

You need three things.

• Form 18A. This is the request for expedited examination. It is filed with the fee set in the First Schedule, and only by electronic transmission (rule 24C(1), Patents Rules 2003). Physical filing is shown as "not allowed" in the fee table.
• Form 28. This is the declaration by a small entity, startup or educational institution. Every document for which a fee is specified must be accompanied by Form 28 when you claim startup fees (rule 7(1), second proviso, Patents Rules 2003). Form 28 is itself free (First Schedule, Table I, as substituted by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024).
• The evidence. The startup recognition certificate for an Indian applicant, or any evidence of eligibility for a foreign entity (Form 18A, item 4, Patents Rules 2003).

Form 18A has three variants. Tick the one that applies: a fresh request under sections 12 and 13 of the Patents Act, 1970; a request on a Patent Cooperation Treaty application, without waiting for the 31 months in rule 20(4)(ii); or conversion of a Form 18 request already filed.

You also tick the ground. For you, that is "the applicant is a startup".

Publication comes with it

Expedited examination cannot run ahead of publication.

So the rule says that, unless the application has already been published under section 11A(2) of the Patents Act, 1970 or a request for publication under rule 24A has already been filed, your expedited request must come with a request for publication under rule 24A (rule 24C(3), Patents Rules 2003). A request for publication under rule 24A is made in Form 9 (rule 24A, Patents Rules 2003).

In practice: if your application is still unpublished, file Form 9 along with Form 18A.

What it costs

The fees are in Table I of the First Schedule, as substituted by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

For e-filing, the table has one column for a natural person, startup, small entity or educational institution, and another for everyone else. The startup column reads:

(First Schedule, Table I, entries 28, 29 and 30, Patents Rules 2003 as amended in 2024.)

Two practical points follow. First, speed costs a startup an extra ₹4,000 over the ordinary ₹4,000 request. Second, if you have already filed Form 18 and paid ₹4,000, the conversion route is ₹4,000 more. You reach the same total of ₹8,000 (rule 24C(2) and First Schedule, Table I, entry 30).

When can you file

Form 18A has to be filed within the period the rules set for the ordinary request for examination in rule 24B (rule 24C(1), Patents Rules 2003).

That period is now 31 months, counted from the date of priority or the date of filing, whichever is earlier. The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024 replaced "forty-eight months" with "thirty-one months" in rule 24B(1). Applications filed before those rules came into force keep the earlier period (rule 24B(1)(vi), inserted by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024).

Form 18A is not a way around the deadline. It sits inside it.

The clock once you file

This is where expedited examination earns its fee. The rules set short timelines for the Patent Office (rule 24C, Patents Rules 2003):

• Examiner's report: ordinarily one month, but not more than two months, from the date the Controller refers the application to the examiner (rule 24C(6)).
• Controller disposes of the report: one month from receiving it (rule 24C(7)).
• First statement of objections: issued to you or your agent within fifteen days of that disposal (rule 24C(8)).
• Your replies: processed in the order received (rule 24C(9)).
• Final decision: the Controller disposes of the application within three months of the last reply to the first statement of objections, or three months from the last date to put the application in order for grant, whichever is earlier (rule 24C(12)). This outer limit does not apply where there is a pre-grant opposition.

Add the first three together. On paper, the first statement of objections can reach you roughly three and a half months after referral: up to two months, plus one month, plus fifteen days.

Note the starting point. The one-month clock starts when the Controller refers the file to the examiner, not on the day you file. Referral itself follows the order in which expedited requests were received (rule 24C(5)).

Your side of the clock

Speed at the Patent Office needs speed from you.

The time to put the application in order for grant is six months from the date the first statement of objections is issued (rule 24C(10), Patents Rules 2003). You can extend it by three months by filing Form 4 with the prescribed fee, before the six months expire (rule 24C(11), as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024).

Brief your patent agent before you file Form 18A, not after the objections arrive.

The Controller can cap the lane

The Controller may limit the number of expedited requests received in a year, by notice in the official journal (rule 24C(13), Patents Rules 2003). Check the journal before you file.

Step by step

• Confirm your Startup India recognition is valid and keep the certificate ready.
• Check the rule 24B window for your application. Do not file Form 18A outside it.
• Check whether your application is published. If not, prepare Form 9 as well.
• Prepare Form 18A, tick "startup", and choose the right variant (fresh request, PCT-based, or conversion of a Form 18).
• Prepare Form 28 with the recognition certificate attached.
• File electronically and pay the fee: ₹8,000 for a fresh request, ₹4,000 for a conversion, on the startup scale.
• Calendar the clock: objections about three and a half months after referral, then six months to put the application in order.

What not to do

• Do not file Form 18A on paper. The rule allows only electronic transmission (rule 24C(1)).
• Do not claim startup status without proof. The certificate or equivalent evidence is mandatory (Form 18A, item 4).
• Do not forget Form 28. The rules require it with every fee-bearing document when you claim startup status (rule 7(1), second proviso).
• Do not skip publication. An unpublished application needs the Form 9 request with Form 18A (rule 24C(3)).
• Do not rely on the fast lane if you cannot answer objections quickly. Your six months start on the day the objections are issued (rule 24C(10)).
• Do not assume a defective request is rejected outright. If your request does not meet rule 24C, it is processed as an ordinary request under rule 24B, with an intimation to you, and it is treated as filed on the date you filed Form 18A (rule 24C(4)). You lose the fast lane but keep your place in the ordinary queue.

What to do now

• Next step: File Form 18A with Form 28 and the Startup India certificate, by electronic transmission, and add Form 9 if the application is unpublished (rule 24C(1) and (3), Patents Rules 2003).
• Deadline: within the rule 24B period: 31 months from priority or filing, whichever is earlier, for applications filed after the 2024 amendment (rule 24C(1) and rule 24B(1), Patents Rules 2003 as amended in 2024).
• Consequence of delay: the fast-track lane is not available outside the rule 24B window, and a request that does not meet rule 24C falls back to the ordinary queue (rule 24C(4), Patents Rules 2003).

Have a CA review your facts before you act or file.

FAQs

Is a startup the only applicant who can use expedited examination?
No. Rule 24C(1) lists other grounds too, including small entities, Government bodies and applications where India was the International Searching Authority. A startup is one ground among them (rule 24C(1)(b), Patents Rules 2003).

My startup recognition expired after I filed. Will the Patent Office reject my request?
A request by a startup shall not be questioned merely because recognition lapsed or turnover later crossed the limit after filing (rule 24C(5), proviso, Patents Rules 2003). The protection is for a change after filing, not before.

Can I convert a Form 18 I already filed?
Yes. A request filed under rule 24B can be converted to an expedited request by paying the relevant fees and submitting the documents required under rule 24C(1) (rule 24C(2), Patents Rules 2003). The startup-scale fee shown in the table is ₹4,000.

Does expedited examination mean faster grant?
It speeds up examination and disposal (rule 24C(6) to (8), Patents Rules 2003). It does not promise grant. That depends on your answering the objections.

Where do I confirm my startup status and the current Startup India criteria?
Check the Startup India portal. The Patents Rules rely on recognition under that initiative and do not set the criteria themselves (rule 2(fb), Patents Rules 2003).

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See Also

• I filed a provisional patent. What happens at month 12?
• I filed a patent application but never asked for examination. What happens now?
• Shops and establishments registration for a Vizag office: what the AP Act asks of you