Rule 105 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Inclusion of the name of any other person in the roll of scientific advisers
Allows a qualified person to be added to the roll of scientific advisers even without a personal application.
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 rule requires, step by step
Most people join the roll of scientific advisers by applying for it. That works only if the right experts happen to know the roll exists. In some fields the leading specialists are working scientists who have never dealt with the Patent Office and would never think of putting their names forward.
Rule 105 closes that gap. It allows the name of a person who has not applied to be included in the roll, provided that person has the qualifications the Rules require. In other words, the roll can be built by invitation as well as by application, so that gaps in a technology area can be filled deliberately rather than waiting for a suitable person to come forward.
The eligibility standard does not drop. A person brought in under this rule must still meet the qualification requirements that apply to everyone else, and must be free of the disqualifications set out in the Rules. What changes is the trigger, not the test.
There is an obvious courtesy point built into how this works in practice. A person is not conscripted into public service without knowing about it. Before or around the time a name is added, the person is informed, so that they know they are listed, can confirm their particulars and field, and can raise any conflict or unwillingness. An adviser who does not wish to serve is of little use to a court.
For litigants, the value of this rule is coverage. Patent disputes arrive in fields that no one anticipated: agricultural biotechnology one year, battery chemistry the next. A roll that can be extended to include recognised experts who never applied is far more likely to have someone useful when a court needs help.
Why this rule matters
Recognised experts in fields where the roll is thin, and parties whose cases turn on those technologies.
Whenever the roll needs strengthening in a particular branch of science, engineering or technology.
A power to include a qualified person in the roll without waiting for that person to apply.
Without this flexibility, the roll would only ever reflect who happened to apply, leaving courts short of independent expertise in emerging fields.
How it works in practice
Filling a gap in battery chemistry
A cluster of patent disputes over lithium iron phosphate cathode formulations reached the Indian courts within a short span. When the roll of scientific advisers was consulted, it showed several polymer scientists and metallurgists but nobody whose recorded field covered electrochemical energy storage. Working through Rule 105, the Patent Office identified Professor Meera Kulkarni, an electrochemist at a national institute with twenty-four years of research on cathode materials and a long publication record, who had never applied for inclusion because she had not known the roll existed. She was approached, confirmed she was willing and had no engagement with any of the litigating companies, and supplied her particulars and certificates. Because she met the qualification requirements and none of the disqualifications applied, her name was added against the field of electrochemical energy storage materials. A court hearing one of the disputes later appointed her to report on a narrow question about how a specified coating process affects particle morphology.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Rule 105 permits inclusion in the roll of a person who has not personally applied.
- The person must still satisfy the same qualification requirements as an ordinary applicant.
- The disqualifications in the Rules apply equally to a person included this way.
- The rule exists mainly to fill gaps in technology areas where no suitable person has come forward.
- In practice the person is informed and their particulars confirmed, since an unwilling adviser is of no use to a court.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Assuming inclusion without application means lower standards. The qualification and integrity conditions are the same.
- Believing a person can be forced to act as an adviser. Listing records availability; a court still has to appoint, and an adviser can disclose a conflict or decline.
- Thinking that because this rule exists, applying under Rule 104 is unnecessary. Applying remains the normal and reliable route.
Connected provisions
The link between a rule and its section matters in practice, because an argument about whether a procedure is valid usually starts with the parent provision. The connected sections are listed here, apart from the explanation, so the chain of authority is easy to follow.
Forms, deadlines and fees
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
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 Rule 105
Can my name be added to the roll without my knowledge?
The rule allows inclusion without a personal application, but in practice a person is informed and asked to confirm their particulars, qualifications and field. There is a good reason for this beyond courtesy. A court appointing an adviser needs someone who is available, willing and free of conflicts, and none of that can be established from a file alone. If you learn that your name has been included and you do not wish to be listed, write to the Patent Office and say so.
Does this rule let unqualified people onto the roll?
No. Rule 105 changes how a name comes to the Patent Office's attention, not the standard that name must meet. The person must hold the qualifications the Rules require for inclusion in the roll and must not be caught by any of the disqualifications, such as undischarged insolvency or a conviction for an offence involving moral turpitude. If a person does not meet those conditions, they cannot be included, however eminent they are in their discipline.
Why would the Patent Office add someone who never applied?
Because courts need coverage across technologies, and applications do not arrive evenly. Some fields, especially fast-moving ones like battery materials, artificial intelligence hardware or gene editing, may have very few listed advisers even though India has excellent researchers in them. Being able to approach recognised experts directly means the roll can be strengthened where the litigation is actually happening, rather than only where scientists happened to hear about the scheme.
Is a person added under this rule treated differently in court?
No. Once a name is on the roll, the entry is the same whatever route brought it there. A court choosing an adviser looks at the recorded field, qualifications and experience, and at whether the person has any connection with the parties. How the person came to be listed is not a mark for or against them. The report an adviser gives is judged on its quality and independence, like any other.
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