Section 75 of the Patents Act, 1970
Restriction on employees of patent office as to right or interest in patents
Bars Patent Office officers and employees from applying for patents or acquiring interests in patents while employed and for a period afterwards.
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.
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
The people who examine and grant patents see confidential technical information every working day. Section 75 removes the temptation and the appearance of it. An officer or employee of the Patent Office is barred, during the period of employment and for one year after leaving, from applying for a patent and from acquiring, directly or indirectly, any right or interest in a patent. The only exception is where the interest comes by inheritance or under a will.
The bar covers indirect acquisition, so routing an interest through a spouse, a relative or a company does not save it. It is aimed at conflict of interest in every form: an examiner who has seen an unpublished application must not be in a position to profit from a patent, and a former officer must not be able to convert inside knowledge into private advantage immediately on leaving.
The one year tail after leaving service is what makes the section work in practice. Without it, an officer could resign on Friday and file on Monday. With it, there is a cooling period between access to confidential files and participation in the patent system as an owner.
The section sits alongside section 76, which stops officers from disclosing information about applications and specifications, and alongside the rules on who may practise as a patent agent. Together they draw a firm line between administering the system and profiting from it. Breach is treated as serious misconduct and can also cast doubt on the standing of any right acquired in violation of the bar.
Why this section matters
Controllers, examiners and all Patent Office staff, people who have recently left the office, and inventors who deal with them.
For the whole period of employment and for one year after the person ceases to hold the appointment.
A statutory disqualification from applying for or holding rights in patents, with a narrow exception for inheritance and bequest.
Disciplinary consequences for the officer, and a cloud over the validity and enforceability of the right that was acquired.
How it works in practice
A resignation and a hurried filing
An examiner in the mechanical section at a branch office resigns in March to join a Nagpur machinery company as head of research. In June, three months after leaving, the company files a patent application on a bearing preload mechanism and names the former examiner as an inventor and co-applicant. A competitor notices the name during opposition preparation and raises the point. Whatever the technical merits, the former examiner is within the one year period during which the Act bars him from applying for a patent or acquiring an interest in one. The company has to restructure the filing to remove his interest, and faces awkward questions about whether the idea drew on unpublished applications he saw in service. Had the company checked the position before filing, it could simply have waited until the cooling period ended, or ensured the invention was clearly the work of its own team with the records to show it.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Patent Office officers and employees cannot apply for patents while in service.
- They cannot acquire any right or interest in a patent, directly or indirectly.
- The bar continues for one year after they leave the office.
- Interests received by inheritance or under a will are outside the bar.
- Indirect routes through family members or companies are covered by the words directly or indirectly.
- The section works together with section 76 on confidentiality of applications.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Assuming the bar ends on the last working day. It runs for a further year after the appointment ceases.
- Believing that holding the interest in a relative's name solves the problem. The section expressly reaches indirect acquisitions.
- Treating this as an internal service rule. It is a provision of the Act and affects the standing of the right acquired.
Connected provisions
The rules connected to a section are listed on their own because they are subordinate legislation. They cannot go beyond the Act, but they can be changed by notification without a new statute, so seeing them separately makes it easier to check whether the current procedure is still what you remember.
Forms, deadlines and fees
- The disqualification runs throughout employment and continues for one year after the officer or employee ceases to hold the appointment.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
This site does not carry a fee table. The First Schedule to the Patents Rules is the source, the rates vary with the applicant's category and with the mode of filing, and a figure quoted second-hand goes out of date quietly. How Indian patent fees work.
Related judgments
Court decisions shape how this provision is applied, but a summary is useful only if it is right. Every case note on this site is read by a legal reviewer before it goes live, and none has been completed for this provision so far. This section will fill in as those reviews finish. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Section 75
Can a retired examiner become a patent agent?
Registration as a patent agent is governed by a separate set of provisions on qualifications, examination and disqualifications, and by the rules on restrictions on practice. Section 75 is about owning patents and applying for them, not about practising. Anyone leaving the office who plans to practise should check the patent agent provisions and the applicable service and conduct rules, since more than one set of restrictions can apply to the same person.
What if an officer inherits a patent from a parent?
That situation is expressly outside the bar. The Act carves out interests acquired by inheritance or bequest, because the officer has not sought out the interest and cannot be said to be trading on the position. The officer would still be expected to disclose the interest under the applicable service rules and to keep away from any file in which the inherited patent is involved.
Does the bar apply to designs and trade marks too?
This section is in the Patents Act and speaks about patents. Comparable restrictions and general conduct rules apply across the offices administered by the Controller General, and service rules cover conflict of interest more broadly. An officer should therefore not assume that a restriction absent from one statute leaves them free; the general duty to avoid conflict of interest applies in any case.
Who enforces this section?
In the first instance the administration itself, through service and disciplinary rules, since the person concerned is a Government servant. The consequences can also reach the patent, because a right acquired in the face of an express statutory bar is open to challenge by anyone with an interest in disputing it. There is no procedure in the section for a member of the public to apply, so the practical route is to bring the facts to the attention of the office and to raise them in whatever proceeding the patent is involved in.
Questions about conflicts in patent ownership?
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