Section 149 of the Patents Act, 1970
Service of notices, etc., by post
Section 149 allows notices and documents under the Act to be sent by post and treats them as served when ordinary post would deliver them.
Official legal text
The verbatim statutory text of this provision is reproduced from the official source and checked by our legal reviewer before it is published here. Until that check is complete for this page, read the exact wording directly from the official source linked below — it is the only version that governs.
Treat this page as a guide. The provision as officially published, along with the Gazette notifications that apply to it, remains the governing text and overrides any simplification here.
What this section says, in plain language
Section 149 is a service provision. It says that any notice which the Act requires or permits to be given, and any application or other document which the Act allows to be made or left, may be sent by post. It then adds the important part: such a notice, application or document is treated as given, made or left at the time when the letter containing it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. The law therefore fixes a deemed date of service that does not depend on when the recipient actually opened the envelope.
The value of a deeming provision is certainty. Patent procedure is full of periods that run from the date of a communication, such as the period for replying to a First Examination Report, the notice of a hearing, or a notice under Section 146 asking for working information. If service depended on proof of actual receipt, every deadline could be reopened by a party claiming the post never arrived. The section closes that argument, while leaving room for a party to show that the ordinary course of post would in fact have taken longer.
Modern practice has moved largely to electronic communication, and the Rules now do most of the work. Rule 5 requires every applicant, opponent or party to give an address for service in India, and correspondence goes there. Rule 6 governs leaving and serving documents, including transmission by electronic means and the date on which such a document is treated as filed or served. Rule 121A deals with the address for communications, and Rule 94 covers what to do when an address changes. Section 149 remains the statutory backbone under those rules.
The practical burden this creates is administrative rather than legal. Because service is deemed, an out of date address in the office records is dangerous. If a company shifts its registered office, changes its patent agent, or lets an old email address lapse, communications will still be validly served at the recorded address and the periods will still run. Applications are commonly abandoned in India not because the applicant chose to abandon them but because a hearing notice or an examination report went to an address nobody was watching.
The corresponding good practice is simple. Keep one owner responsible for the patent inbox, update the address for service immediately after any change, and record the deemed service date of every office communication in a docket the moment it arrives, rather than the date it was read.
Why this section matters
Every applicant, patentee, opponent and agent on record, and in particular foreign applicants who rely on an Indian address for service.
Throughout prosecution and afterwards, whenever the Patent Office or another party sends a notice that starts a period running.
A deemed date of service for posted notices and documents, so periods can be calculated without proving actual receipt.
Deadlines run from a communication the party never saw, applications are treated as abandoned, hearings proceed in absence, and the remedy afterwards is limited and uncertain.
How it works in practice
The address nobody updated
Trisul Instruments Pvt Ltd of Vadodara filed two patent applications through a patent agent in Ahmedabad. Three years later the company moved its office and, separately, stopped working with that agent, but nobody filed a change of address for service or a fresh authorisation. The Patent Office issued a hearing notice for one of the applications to the address on record. Under Section 149 the notice was treated as served when it would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post. Nobody attended the hearing, and the Controller decided the matter on the material on file. Trisul learnt of the outcome months later from a customer who had run a status search. The company had a real technical answer to the objection, but no one had ever read the notice. Updating the address for service is a ten minute administrative task; skipping it cost the company an application it could have saved.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Notices, applications and documents under the Act may be sent by post.
- Service is deemed to happen when ordinary post would have delivered the item, not when it is actually read.
- Rule 5 requires an address for service in India, and Rule 6 governs how documents are left and served, including electronically.
- A change of address or of agent must be notified promptly, or valid service will continue at the old address.
- Periods for replying to examination reports, hearing notices and other communications run from the deemed date of service.
- Docket every office communication on the day it arrives, using the office date rather than the date it was opened.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Assuming a deadline only begins when the document is actually read. The deemed date controls.
- Leaving an old patent agent's address on the record after ending the relationship, so notices continue to go there.
- Relying on a personal email address of an employee who has left, with nobody monitoring the patent inbox.
- Believing that non-receipt is a complete answer. It may be argued, but the deeming provision starts against you and the outcome is uncertain.
Connected provisions
This page explains a section of the Patents Act, 1970. The working detail that goes with it lives in the Patents Rules, 2003. The connected rules appear in their own block so that the statutory duty and the procedural steps stay clearly distinguishable when you cite either one.
Forms, deadlines and fees
- Any period that runs from a notice under the Act starts on the date the notice is treated as served, which for posted items is when ordinary post would have delivered it, not the date of actual receipt.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
Any official fee connected with this provision is fixed by the First Schedule to the Patents Rules, not by the provision itself. The amount depends on who the applicant is and on whether the filing is made online or on paper, so no figures are reproduced here. How Indian patent fees work.
Related judgments
You will not find case summaries under this heading today. Each one must pass a legal review before it appears, and that work has not been completed for this provision. If you are researching decided cases, use a law report or a court database in the meantime. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Section 149
When is a Patent Office notice treated as served in India?
Where the notice is posted, Section 149 treats it as given at the time the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. That deemed date, and not the date the recipient actually opened it, is what starts a period running. For documents sent and filed by electronic means the Rules, in particular Rule 6, set out how the date is determined. The practical rule for applicants is to treat the date on the office communication as the start of the clock and docket it immediately.
What is an address for service and why does it matter?
Rule 5 requires every applicant, opponent or party in a proceeding to give an address for service in India, and all official correspondence goes to that address. Because service is deemed under Section 149, an address that is out of date does not stop time from running. Foreign applicants normally give the address of their Indian patent agent. If you change agents, move office or close an email account, file the change immediately so that examination reports and hearing notices reach someone who is watching.
My application was abandoned because I never got the examination report. What now?
This is a common and painful situation, and the answer is fact specific, so take proper advice on your own matter. In general, the deemed service rule means the period ran even if the communication was not read, so simply saying it was not received is not enough. Depending on the circumstances there may be scope to seek an extension or condonation of delay under Rule 138, to ask the Controller to review a decision under Rule 130, or to challenge the position before the High Court, but none of these is guaranteed.
Does this section apply to communications between the parties as well?
Yes, it is framed broadly and covers notices and documents required or authorised under the Act, which includes documents served between parties in proceedings such as oppositions, where copies must be delivered to the other side. The Rules add detail on how many copies are filed and how they are served. In an opposition, keeping proof of despatch and of the address used is worth the effort, because a dispute about whether a statement or evidence was served in time can decide the point.
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