Rule 130 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Application for review of decisions or setting aside of orders of the Controller
Sets out how to ask the Controller to review a decision or to set aside an order passed in a party's absence.
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.
Nothing here replaces the statute. The official wording of the provision, together with any Gazette notification that applies to it, governs. This page only explains that material in ordinary language.
What this rule requires, step by step
Section 77 gives the Controller certain powers of a civil court. Two of them matter to a party unhappy with an order: the power to review his own decision on an application made in the prescribed manner, and the power to set aside an order passed in the absence of a party, again on an application made in the prescribed manner. Rule 130 supplies that manner and, importantly, the time.
The application is made on Form 24 with the fee prescribed in the First Schedule, and it must be filed within one month from the date on which the decision or order was communicated to the party. The Controller may allow a further period on a request made for it, so the position is not hopeless if the month is about to run out, but the request has to be made rather than assumed. The application must be accompanied by a statement setting out the grounds relied on, and where it is made by someone other than a party to the proceeding, a copy has to be served on the other party.
The two routes serve different situations. Review is for a decision that was made after hearing you but that contains an error apparent on the face of the record, or where material has come to light that could not have been produced earlier despite due diligence. It is not a chance to reargue the case because you dislike the outcome. Setting aside is for an order made when you were not there, and the focus is on why you were absent and whether that reason is genuine.
Neither route is an appeal. An appeal against the specified decisions of the Controller lies to the High Court under section 117A, following the Tribunals Reforms Act 2021, which abolished the Appellate Board and moved its work to the High Courts. Choosing the wrong route wastes the one month that Rule 130 allows. Where the complaint is that the Controller was wrong on the law or on the merits after a full hearing, an appeal is usually the right answer; where the complaint is a clear slip or an order made in absence, Rule 130 is.
The single most important practical point is the date. The month runs from communication of the decision, so the date stamped on the office communication decides your calendar, not the date the order was signed or the date you got around to reading it.
Why this rule matters
Applicants, patentees and opponents on the wrong end of an order, including those who could not attend a hearing.
Immediately after an adverse decision or an order passed in absence is communicated.
A route back to the Controller to have a decision reviewed or an ex parte order set aside, within a short window.
The order stands, and the only remaining route is an appeal to the High Court where one lies.
How it works in practice
An order passed in absence
Lakshmi Agro Machines Pvt Ltd of Kolhapur was represented at the Patent Office by an agent who fell seriously ill days before a hearing on its threshing drum application. The agent's office did not intimate the Controller, nobody appeared, and an order refusing the application was passed and communicated to the address for service. The company learned of it eleven days later when a director checked the file online. It instructed a new agent, who filed an application on Form 24 within one month of the date of communication, with the fee, a statement of grounds explaining the illness and the failure of the earlier agent's office to act, medical records, and the substantive submissions that would have been made had anyone appeared. The Controller accepted that the absence was not deliberate, set aside the order and fixed a fresh hearing. Had the company waited to negotiate with its former agent first, the month would have expired and only an appeal would have remained.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Rule 130 gives effect to the review and set-aside powers in section 77.
- The application goes on Form 24 with the prescribed fee and a statement of grounds.
- It must be filed within one month from the date the decision or order was communicated.
- The Controller may allow a further period on a request made for it.
- Review addresses an error apparent on the record; setting aside addresses an order passed in absence.
- Neither is a substitute for an appeal to the High Court under section 117A.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Counting the month from the date on the order rather than from the date it was communicated.
- Using a review application to rerun arguments already considered, which is not what review is for.
- Filing a bare form with no statement of grounds and no supporting material explaining the absence or the error.
- Assuming an appeal to the High Court can be filed at leisure while a review is pending. Both have their own time limits.
- Forgetting to serve a copy on the other party where the application is made by a person who was not a party to the proceeding.
Connected provisions
Rules are made under the Act, not alongside it. That is why the connected sections appear in a block of their own. Reading the section tells you why the procedure exists, and reading the rule tells you the steps, forms and periods that put it into effect.
Forms, deadlines and fees
- Form 24 (check the current Second Schedule)
Where a form is required, the Second Schedule to the Patents Rules prescribes it. Superseded versions circulate widely online, so download the current form from the Patent Office and check it against the rule before use.
- An application for review of a decision, or to set aside an order passed in a party's absence, must be filed within one month from the date the decision or order was communicated.
- A further period may be allowed by the Controller on a request made for it, so ask before the month runs out rather than after.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
Fees are prescribed in the First Schedule to the Patents Rules. Because the Schedule is revised from time to time, and charges different amounts to different categories of applicant and for physical as against electronic filing, this page describes the fee without stating a figure. 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 130
What is the difference between review under Rule 130 and appeal under section 117A?
Review goes back to the same authority, the Controller, and is meant for an error apparent on the face of the record or for material that genuinely could not have been produced earlier. Appeal goes to the High Court, which since the Tribunals Reforms Act 2021 hears appeals that previously went to the abolished Appellate Board, and it is the route for saying the decision was wrong in law or on the merits. They have different time limits and different purposes. Picking the wrong one can cost you both.
My hearing went ahead without me. Can the order be set aside?
Section 77 allows the Controller to set aside an order passed in the absence of a party, and Rule 130 is how you ask. File on Form 24 within one month from the date the order was communicated, with the fee and a statement of grounds explaining precisely why you were absent, supported by proof such as medical records or a court cause list. Include the submissions you would have made, so the Controller can see that setting aside would serve a purpose and not merely cause delay.
Can the one-month period be extended?
The Controller may allow a further period where a request for it is made. The safe practice is to file within the month and, if that is genuinely impossible, to make the request for further time promptly and with reasons rather than filing late and hoping. Remember also that the month runs from communication of the decision, so the first thing to do on receiving an adverse order is to note that date and work backwards from it. Do not let the calculation depend on when the file reached your desk.
Can I file a review and an appeal at the same time?
They are separate remedies with separate time limits, and pursuing one does not pause the other. Where a decision is appealable under section 117A, the appeal period runs on its own terms, so a party that spends the appeal window waiting for a review outcome may find both doors shut. Decide early, with advice, which remedy actually fits your complaint, and if there is real doubt, protect the appeal position rather than assuming the review will succeed.
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