Patent office calls meeting to make things user-friendly

The Indian Patent Office has decided to hold meetings with stakeholders here and in Mumbai to take feedback on making examination and processing more user-friendly.
In view of the emphasis led by the government on reducing pendency in patent examination/processing and implementation of recent amendments in patent rules, certain changes about application processing have been effected in the office.
With induction of a number of examiners of patents, the number of applications processed by the Patent Office has also significantly increased.
Recently, the office has been receiving representations and suggestions on certain shortcomings in procedural aspects.
"In order to streamline the procedure and make it more user-friendly, the office of the controller general of patents, designs and trademarks (CGPDTM) plans to have feedback from patent professionals and stakeholders," the patent office said in a statement.

Accordingly, meetings are being lined up with patent agents and stakeholders, it said.
The first such meeting is scheduled to be held in Mumbai on October 26. The second meeting will be held here on November 2.
As on February 1, the total patent applications and trademark registration requests pending are 2,37,029 and 5,44,171, respectively.