Rule 135 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Agency
Rule 135 governs how an agent is authorised to act for an applicant or patentee, and when that authorisation must reach the Patent Office.
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This explanation is written for clarity, not for citation.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 rule requires, step by step
Most patent work in India is done through someone else. An applicant appoints a registered patent agent to draft, file and argue the case, or a company routes everything through its attorney. Rule 135 is the rule that makes that appointment visible to the Patent Office. Until the Office has proof that a person is authorised, it cannot safely act on instructions from that person, because the consequences of acting on an unauthorised instruction fall on the applicant.
Authorisation is given on Form 26, the power of authority. A general power of attorney already executed in favour of the agent may be used instead, in which case a copy is filed and the original is produced for verification if the Controller asks. The document should be signed by the applicant or patentee, and where the applicant is a company, by a person competent to bind it. If several applicants apply jointly, all of them authorise the agent.
Timing is where cases go wrong. The rule requires the authorisation to be filed within a fixed period from the date of filing the application or document it relates to, and the current text sets that period at three months, after which no action is taken on the application or document until it is filed. In practice this means an application filed without Form 26 does not simply drift; it stalls. Always confirm the current period against the Rules as they stand before relying on it, since this timing was inserted by amendment and periods do get revised.
Rule 135 works with the parts of the Act that say who may act at all. Under Section 127 a registered patent agent may practise before the Controller and prepare the documents the Act requires, and Section 132 preserves the position of certain other persons, such as an applicant acting personally or a legal practitioner in matters before a court. A person who is not entitled to act cannot be cured by a Form 26; the form proves authority, it does not confer qualification.
Two practical consequences follow. First, once an agent is on record, the address for service used by the Office is normally the agent's address, so every notice, examination report and hearing intimation goes there; if the relationship ends and no fresh authorisation is filed, correspondence can go to a person who is no longer engaged. Second, changing agents needs a fresh Form 26, and it is wise to say expressly that the earlier authorisation is revoked, so that the file has a clean record of who speaks for the applicant.
Why this rule matters
Every applicant or patentee who works through a patent agent or attorney, and the agents themselves.
At the time of filing an application or any document, and again whenever the agent changes.
A formal record of who is authorised to act, and a duty to place that record on file within the prescribed period.
The Office takes no further action on the application or document, deadlines keep running, and notices may go to the wrong person.
How it works in practice
A missing Form 26 stalls a Kanpur filing
Kestrel Robotics Pvt Ltd, a Kanpur company building warehouse handling arms, files a complete specification through a patent agent in the week before a trade fair. In the rush, the specification, drawings and forms go up, but the signed power of authority is left in the founder's pending tray. Nothing appears wrong for weeks. Then the Office declines to act further on the filing until the authorisation is placed on record, and the agent, who cannot be recognised on the file, has limited standing to sort it out. The founder signs Form 26 and it is filed inside the period the rule allows, so the application is put back on track. The lesson the company draws is a small procedural one with large effects: it now treats Form 26 as part of the filing bundle itself, signed before anything is uploaded, and it files a fresh authorisation expressly revoking the earlier one whenever it changes advisors, so that hearing notices never go to a firm it no longer instructs.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Form 26 is the standard authorisation; an existing general power of attorney may be used with a copy on file.
- The authorisation must be filed within the period the rule prescribes, currently three months from the application or document it relates to.
- Until it is on record, the Office may take no further action on that application or document.
- All joint applicants must authorise the agent.
- Once an agent is on record, official correspondence goes to the agent's address for service.
- Changing agents requires a fresh authorisation, ideally revoking the earlier one in terms.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Treating Form 26 as paperwork that can follow later. It has its own deadline and the file stops without it.
- Assuming an engagement letter or an email instruction is enough. The Office acts on the authorisation prescribed by the rule.
- Filing an authorisation signed by only one of several joint applicants.
- Forgetting to update the record after changing agents, so examination reports and hearing notices go to the previous firm.
- Believing a Form 26 lets an unqualified person practise. It records authority; qualification comes from Section 127 and Section 132.
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 form mentioned here is prescribed by the Second Schedule. Amendments to the Rules often bring new versions of forms with them, so use the version currently published by the Patent Office, not a template from a book or an old file.
- The authorisation of an agent must be filed within the period prescribed by the rule, currently three months from the date of filing the application or document concerned; confirm the period in the current Rules.
- No action is taken on the application or document until the authorisation is on record, so the substantive deadlines running on the case are unaffected by the delay.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
Where a fee is payable under this provision, the figure comes from the First Schedule. Categories of applicant are charged at different rates, and electronic filing is treated differently from paper filing, so an accurate number can only come from the Schedule in force on the day you file. 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.
- 2016The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2016The time within which the authorisation of an agent must be filed with the Office was extended to three months.
Compiled from official consolidated texts and Gazette notifications. See the site-wide change log.
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 135
What is Form 26 in Indian patent practice?
Form 26 is the power of authority by which an applicant, patentee or opponent authorises a patent agent or other permitted person to act on their behalf before the Controller. It identifies the principal, the agent and the matters covered, and it is signed by the principal. Once filed, the Office recognises the agent on that file and sends correspondence to the agent's address for service. If a general power of attorney already covers the agent, a copy of that document can be used instead, with the original produced if the Controller requires it.
What happens if the power of authority is not filed?
The Office does not act further on the application or document to which the missing authorisation relates. That is a serious position to be in, because the delay does not pause anything else: publication, examination and response periods carry on. The application is not dead, and filing the authorisation within the period allowed restores normal handling. The safe habit is to have the signed form ready before filing, especially for foreign applicants where obtaining signatures across time zones can take longer than expected.
Can I file and prosecute my own patent application without an agent?
Yes. An applicant may act personally, and the Act does not force anyone to appoint an agent. In that case no authorisation is needed, because there is no agent to authorise, and the applicant's own address is used for service. Whether it is wise is a different question: drafting claims, answering an examination report and handling an opposition are specialised tasks, and mistakes made early in a specification often cannot be repaired later because of the limits on amendment under Sections 57 and 59.
How do I change my patent agent?
File a fresh authorisation naming the new agent, signed by the applicant or patentee, and make clear that the earlier authorisation stands revoked. The Office then updates the record and directs correspondence to the new agent's address for service. It is good practice to inform the outgoing agent in writing and to obtain the file, including the prosecution history and any pending deadlines, so nothing is dropped in the handover. A change of agent does not by itself change any date running on the case.
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