Section 11B of the Patents Act, 1970
Request for examination
Requires a request for examination to be filed within the prescribed period, failing which the application is treated as withdrawn.
Official legal text
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The authority is the enacted text, not this page. Where our wording and the official provision, or an applicable Gazette notification, do not match, the official material prevails.
What this section says, in plain language
Filing an application does not start examination in India. The Patent Office does not pick up files on its own. Section 11B makes examination something you have to ask for, and it puts a hard time limit on the asking. If no request is filed within the prescribed period, the application is treated as withdrawn by the applicant. There is no examination, no grant, and no meaningful way back.
The request may be made by the applicant or by any other person interested. That second route is unusual and useful. A competitor who wants a pending application resolved rather than left hanging over the market can force the process forward by filing the request themselves, although this does not make them a party to the prosecution. The request is filed on Form 18 with the fee prescribed in the First Schedule.
The period is set by the Rules, and it changed recently. Following the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024, the request for examination must be filed within thirty-one months from the earliest priority date or the date of filing of the application, whichever is earlier. Before that amendment the period was forty-eight months, and applications filed before the amendment commenced continue to be governed by the earlier period. Because this transition is still working through pending files, always check Rule 24B and the commencement provisions against the specific application in front of you.
There is also a faster route. Rule 24C provides for expedited examination on Form 18A for defined categories of applicants, which have been widened over successive amendments and include startups, small entities, female applicants, government undertakings and educational institutions, applicants who have chosen India as an International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority, and applicants eligible under a Patent Prosecution Highway arrangement. Expedited examination substantially shortens the wait for a first examination report, and applications under it are taken up out of turn.
A further point about sequence. Examination cannot begin before publication. If an application has not yet reached the eighteen-month publication point, an early publication request under Section 11A is often filed together with the request for examination so that the file can be taken up. Applicants who plan to move quickly usually treat publication, examination request and expedited examination as one combined decision rather than three separate ones.
The consequence of missing the deadline deserves emphasis. Deemed withdrawal for want of a request for examination is one of the most common ways good Indian applications die, and it almost always happens through docketing failure rather than deliberate choice. There is no routine extension for it in the way there is for a reply to an examination report.
Why this section matters
Every applicant with a pending Indian application, and any person interested in seeing a pending application resolved.
From filing until the prescribed period expires, and earlier if expedited examination is wanted.
The obligation to request examination, the right of a person interested to request it, and deemed withdrawal if nobody does.
The application is treated as withdrawn, the invention stays published as prior art, and the applicant is left with nothing.
How it works in practice
A docket gap that cost a patent
A Coimbatore auto components maker, Velavan Precision Pvt Ltd, files an Indian application for a lightweight brake bracket. The company relies on an agent for filing but manages renewals and follow-up in a spreadsheet maintained by a manager who leaves the company a year later. The application is published at the eighteen-month point and the invention becomes public. Nobody files a request for examination. When the prescribed period expires, the application is treated as withdrawn. The company now faces the worst possible outcome. Its design is published prior art available to every competitor, it has no patent and cannot get one for that disclosure, and it cannot refile because its own publication defeats novelty. A comparable applicant in the same industrial estate, a startup, files Form 18A for expedited examination on the strength of its recognised startup status and receives a first examination report within months. The difference between the two files was calendar discipline, not invention quality.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- No Indian application is examined unless a request for examination is filed.
- The request may be filed by the applicant or by any other person interested, on Form 18.
- Following the 2024 Rules the period is thirty-one months from the earliest priority date or filing date, whichever is earlier.
- Applications filed before the 2024 amendment may still be governed by the earlier forty-eight month period.
- Missing the period means the application is treated as withdrawn.
- Expedited examination is available on Form 18A under Rule 24C for defined categories including startups and small entities.
- Examination follows publication, so early publication is often requested alongside the examination request.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Assuming the Patent Office will examine the application automatically once it is published.
- Calculating the period from the Indian filing date when an earlier priority date applies. The period runs from the earliest of the two.
- Applying the current thirty-one month period to an older application governed by the earlier rule, or the reverse.
- Treating deemed withdrawal as curable in the ordinary way. It is not the same as a missed reply deadline.
- Overlooking expedited examination eligibility, which many startups, small entities and institutional applicants already have.
Connected provisions
Indian patent law works in two layers. The Act carries the substance and the Rules carry the machinery. Because the layers are amended by different processes and at different times, they are presented in separate blocks instead of being merged into one description.
Forms, deadlines and fees
Any form mentioned here is prescribed by the Second Schedule. Amendments to the Rules often bring new versions of forms with them, so use the version currently published by the Patent Office, not a template from a book or an old file.
- A request for examination on Form 18 must be filed within thirty-one months from the earliest priority date or the date of filing, whichever is earlier, for applications governed by Rule 24B as amended in 2024.
- Applications filed before that amendment commenced may be governed by the earlier forty-eight month period; check Rule 24B and its commencement provisions.
- A request for expedited examination on Form 18A under Rule 24C can be filed once the application has been published or early publication has been requested.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
Where a fee is payable under this provision, the figure comes from the First Schedule. Categories of applicant are charged at different rates, and electronic filing is treated differently from paper filing, so an accurate number can only come from the Schedule in force on the day you file. How Indian patent fees work.
Amendment history
What changed in this provision, newest first. Read the footnotes in the official consolidated text for the full record.
- 2005The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005The opening sub-section was replaced and the linked transitional provisions were tidied up once the earlier mailbox arrangement ended.
- 2002The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002The section was inserted. Examination stopped being automatic and now happens only if a request for examination is filed within the period set by the Rules.
Compiled from official consolidated texts and Gazette notifications. See the site-wide change log.
Related judgments
Case summaries are published only after a qualified reviewer has checked the judgment, the citation and the way the holding is described. Nothing has cleared that review for this provision yet, so nothing is listed here. We would rather show no case note than one that misstates what a court decided. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Section 11B
What is the time limit for filing a request for examination in India?
Under Rule 24B as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024, the request must be filed within thirty-one months from the earliest priority date or the date of filing of the application, whichever is earlier. The earlier period was forty-eight months, and applications filed before the amendment commenced may still be governed by it. Because the transition is still working through pending files, check the specific application's filing date against the current text of Rule 24B before relying on either figure.
What happens if you miss the request for examination deadline?
The application is treated as withdrawn by the applicant. Examination never begins, no patent can be granted, and if the application has already been published the disclosure remains in the public domain as prior art. That combination is particularly damaging, because it means the invention cannot be protected by a fresh filing either. This is why competent docketing of the request for examination date is one of the most important administrative controls an applicant can put in place.
Can someone else request examination of my patent application?
Yes. Section 11B allows the applicant or any other person interested to make the request. A competitor who wants certainty about whether a pending application will become an enforceable patent can file the request and force the file into the examination queue. Making the request does not give that person any right to participate in the prosecution. If they want to challenge the application on the merits, the route is pre-grant opposition under Section 25(1).
Who can apply for expedited examination in India?
Rule 24C sets the eligible categories, and they have been widened over time. They include startups recognised under the applicable government scheme, small entities, applicants where at least one applicant is a female natural person, government departments and undertakings, institutions established by a central, provincial or state Act, applicants eligible under a Patent Prosecution Highway arrangement, and applicants who chose India as the International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority. The request is filed on Form 18A with the prescribed fee.
Does filing a request for examination guarantee a patent?
No. It only puts the application into the examination queue. The examiner will then search for prior art and report on whether the application and specification comply with the Act and the Rules. Most applications receive a first examination report raising objections on novelty, inventive step, Section 3 subject matter, clarity or formalities. Grant follows only if those objections are met within the time allowed and the Controller is satisfied that the application is in order.
Is your request for examination deadline safe?
MYCrave Consultancy tracks your examination deadlines and files Form 18 or Form 18A on time.
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