Section 21 of the Patents Act, 1970
Time for putting application in order for grant
Fixes the deadline for meeting every outstanding requirement on an application; miss it and the application is treated as abandoned.
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.
This explanation is written for clarity, not for citation. The official statutory text and any Gazette notification in force on your date govern, and they prevail over anything said here.
What this section says, in plain language
Examination in India is a conversation with a hard stop. Once the Patent Office issues its first statement of objections, usually called the first examination report or FER, the applicant has a fixed window to clear every requirement imposed by or under the Act. Section 21 says that if the application is not put in order within that window, it is deemed to have been abandoned. Nobody has to pass an order refusing it; abandonment happens by force of the section.
The Rules fill in the period. The applicant has six months from the date on which the first statement of objections is issued to put the application in order for grant. That six-month period can be extended by up to three further months, but only if the applicant asks for the extension on the prescribed form before the six months expire. There is no mechanism for reviving an application by asking afterwards, so the request has to be planned, not improvised.
Putting the application in order means everything: answering each objection on patentability, filing amended claims and pages, supplying missing documents, correcting formalities, and attending or arranging any hearing the Controller directs. A reply that deals with three objections and ignores the fourth has not put the application in order. Where a hearing is held near the end of the period, the Rules allow written submissions after it within a short time, which should be checked against the current Rules.
The section also recognises that some issues are outside the applicant's control. Where a reference to another specification or another patent is under consideration, or a related proceeding is pending, the running of time can be affected. Those are narrow situations. For the vast majority of applicants the practical message is simple: the FER date starts a clock that cannot be paused by silence, and abandonment under this section is final for that application.
Why this section matters
Every applicant whose application has reached examination, and every agent managing an Indian patent docket.
From the date the first statement of objections is issued until the application is put in order for grant.
A strict outer time limit, backed by automatic abandonment if the requirements are not met inside it.
The application is deemed abandoned, the invention usually stands published, and the subject matter can no longer be patented by a fresh filing.
How it works in practice
A missed month that ended a filing
IIT Kanpur's technology transfer office was handling an application for a soil moisture sensor invented by a doctoral student. The first examination report arrived in August with seven objections, four of them formal. The office replied in October to the four easy ones and told the inventor it would deal with the inventive step objection after his thesis defence. The six-month period ran out in February. Because no request for the three-month extension had been filed before February, there was nothing left to extend. The application was deemed abandoned. The sensor had already been published eighteen months after filing, so refiling was pointless: the office's own publication now stood as prior art against any fresh application. The technology was licensed to nobody. The fix would have cost one form and one afternoon. The office now diarises every FER with three internal reminders and a hard stop six weeks before the deadline.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- The clock starts on the date the first statement of objections is issued, not the date you read it.
- The period to put the application in order is six months from that date.
- A three-month extension is available, but only on a request made before the six months expire.
- Every requirement must be met, not just the ones that are easy to answer.
- Failure means the application is deemed abandoned automatically, without any order.
- An abandoned application usually cannot be rescued by refiling, because the earlier publication becomes prior art against you.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Counting the six months from the day the report was downloaded or noticed. It runs from the date the statement of objections is issued.
- Assuming an extension can be requested after the deadline passes. The request has to be on file before the original period ends.
- Treating a partial reply as compliance. If any requirement is still outstanding when time runs out, the application is deemed abandoned.
- Believing an abandoned application can simply be filed again. Publication of the first application normally destroys the novelty of the second.
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
The Second Schedule to the Patents Rules contains the prescribed forms. A form that has been amended will not match an older saved copy, so take a fresh download from the official site before you fill anything in.
- Six months from the date the first statement of objections is issued to put the application in order for grant.
- A request to extend that period by up to three months must be filed, on the prescribed form and with the fee prescribed in the First Schedule, before the six months expire.
- Any further extension or condonation of delay depends on the current Rules, including the general power to extend time, and must be checked against them.
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.
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 section was replaced. An application must be put in order for grant within the period prescribed by the Rules, running from the first examination report, and the older acceptance-based scheme was dropped.
- 2002The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002The time allowed for putting an application in order was shortened and one sub-section was removed, before the section was replaced altogether in the next round of reform. Attribution pending reviewer confirmation.
Compiled from official consolidated texts and Gazette notifications. See the site-wide change log.
Related judgments
Case law is added slowly and deliberately. A summary is drafted, checked against the reported judgment and then reviewed before publication, because a wrong case note can mislead a reader badly. No summary for this provision has reached publication yet. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Section 21
How long do I have to reply to a first examination report in India?
Six months from the date the first statement of objections is issued. During that time you must meet every requirement, not merely send a holding reply. If you need longer, you can ask for an extension of up to three months, but the request must reach the Office before the original six months run out, on the prescribed form and with the fee prescribed in the First Schedule.
What does deemed abandoned mean?
It means the application ends automatically when the period expires, without the Controller passing any order refusing it. There is no notice, no hearing and no separate decision to appeal against in the ordinary case. This is why abandonment under this section is so damaging: the applicant often learns of it only when the status changes in the Office records, long after anything could have been done.
Can an abandoned patent application be restored?
Restoration under the Act deals with lapsed granted patents, not with applications abandoned for failing to meet the section 21 deadline. Whether any relief is available in a particular situation depends on the current Rules and on the facts, including the general power to extend time or condone delay. Because the position is narrow and fact-specific, an applicant facing this should get advice quickly rather than assume a remedy exists.
Does filing a reply stop the clock?
No. The clock runs to the end of the period regardless of how many replies you file. If the Controller raises further points, or calls a hearing, you still have to have the application completely in order by the deadline. Practically, this means filing your substantive reply early enough to leave room for a second round rather than on the last day.
Facing a six-month deadline on your examination report?
MYCrave Consultancy prepares complete FER responses and extension requests before the section 21 clock runs out.
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