New Delhi, May 23

The Government is soon likely to charge 25 per cent less fees for companies filing patents electronically. “We had submitted a proposal in March to incentivise users for filing their patent applications online. The proposal has been approved in principal by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and is likely to be implemented shortly,” Ms Sheetal Chopra, Senior Assistant Director, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) IPR Di vision told Business Line. She said that the charges for online applications are expected to be at least 25 per cent less than the payment applicable for documents physically submitted. FICCI in partnership with DIPP has formed a consultative working group to speed up the process of patent records in the electronic form. The joint consultative working group is also providing recommendations to the Mumbai Patent Office on segregating data based on the maximum number of patents granted each year, product specific and company specific information, which is currently not available online.

— Our Bureau

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