Rule 75 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Amendment of patent under section 44
Sets out how an application is made to correct a patent that was granted to a person who had already died or ceased to exist.
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This explanation is written for clarity, not for citation.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
Indian patent applications often take years, and applicants do not always outlive them. Section 44 deals with the awkward result: a patent is granted in the name of an individual who had already died, or in the name of a company that had already ceased to exist, before the grant. The Controller can amend the patent by substituting the name of the person to whom it ought to have been granted, and the patent then takes effect as if it had been granted to that person all along. Rule 75 is the procedural route to that correction.
The application is made to the Controller with the fee prescribed in the First Schedule. Check the current list of forms in the Second Schedule to the Rules before filing, because the Patent Office prescribes which form is to be used and keeps the list current. What the application must always do is prove two things: that the named grantee had died or ceased to exist before the grant, and that the person now asking for the correction is the person entitled to the patent.
Proof is the heart of the exercise. For a deceased individual, that usually means the death certificate together with evidence of succession such as a will, a probate, a succession certificate or a legal heirship certificate. For a company, it means the record of dissolution, amalgamation or transfer of undertaking, along with the scheme or order under which the assets moved. The Controller is being asked to change who owns a granted monopoly, so the documentation has to be complete rather than indicative.
The correction is not a transfer and should not be confused with one. An assignment made by a living owner, or a transmission of a patent by inheritance after grant, is recorded under section 69 through the registration of title, and different rules govern that. Section 44 is confined to a specific error at the moment of grant, where the person named could not in law have received the patent at all.
Why this rule matters
Legal heirs and executors of individual applicants, and successor companies where the original applicant was dissolved, merged or restructured before grant.
Immediately after a grant issues in the name of a person or company that no longer existed on the date of grant.
A power in the Controller to substitute the correct name on the patent, with effect as if the patent had been granted to that person.
The patent stands in the name of someone who cannot act, so it cannot be safely licensed, assigned, enforced or even renewed without questions being raised.
How it works in practice
A patent granted to a professor who had died
Professor Vasant Deshmukh, an individual applicant from Nagpur, filed a patent application for a low-cost prosthetic knee joint and prosecuted it himself. He died after the first examination report was answered, and his daughter, Sneha, continued the correspondence through a patent agent. The grant issued in her father's name. When a rehabilitation equipment maker in Aurangabad offered to licence the technology, its lawyers refused to sign with Sneha because the patent stood in the name of a deceased person. Her agent applies under section 44, attaching the death certificate, the will and the probate showing that the patent rights passed to her, and a statement of the dates showing that the death preceded the grant. The Controller substitutes her name on the patent, which then has effect as if it had been granted to her. The licence is signed, and Sneha keeps the renewal fees current from that point on.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Section 44 covers only one situation: the named grantee had died or ceased to exist before the patent was granted.
- Rule 75 fixes the manner of the application and the fee; confirm the current form from the Second Schedule.
- Attach full proof of the death or dissolution and of the applicant's entitlement.
- After substitution the patent has effect as if it had been granted to the substituted person.
- Ordinary assignments and post-grant transmissions go through registration of title under section 69, not section 44.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Using section 44 to record an ordinary sale or assignment of a patent. That is a registration of title matter under section 69.
- Filing with a death certificate alone. The Controller also needs proof that you are the person entitled to the patent.
- Letting renewals slip while the correction is pending. The renewal cycle under section 53 keeps running regardless of whose name is on the patent.
Connected provisions
Because this page covers a rule rather than a section, the related Act provisions are shown in their own list. The section tells you what the law requires. The rule, explained above, tells you how the Patent Office expects that requirement to be met.
Forms, deadlines and fees
- Renewal fees under section 53 and Rule 80 continue to fall due while a section 44 correction is being processed, so keep paying them to avoid the patent ceasing.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
We do not publish fee amounts. The First Schedule sets them, and they differ by category of applicant, such as a natural person, a startup, a small entity or another applicant, and by the mode of filing. Check the Schedule currently in force before you calculate anything. How Indian patent fees work.
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 Rule 75
A patent was granted in the name of my late father. Can it be corrected?
If he died before the patent was granted, yes. Section 44 lets the Controller amend the patent by substituting the name of the person to whom it ought to have been granted, and Rule 75 sets out how to apply, with the fee prescribed in the First Schedule. You will need the death certificate showing that the death came before the grant, and clear proof that you are entitled to the patent, such as a will with probate, a succession certificate or a legal heirship certificate. Once substituted, the patent takes effect as if it had been granted to you.
What if the applicant company was merged before grant?
The same section can help where a body corporate had ceased to exist before the patent was granted. The application should show the dissolution, amalgamation or transfer of undertaking and identify the successor entitled to the patent, supported by the scheme of arrangement, the order sanctioning it, or the relevant filings with the corporate registry. The Controller then substitutes the successor's name. Where the original company still exists and has simply assigned the patent, section 44 is the wrong route; that is a registration of title under section 69.
Is a section 44 correction the same as recording an assignment?
No, and mixing them up causes real delay. Section 44 corrects a defect in the grant itself: the patent was issued to someone who was already dead or dissolved and could not receive it. Registration of title under section 69 records a transaction, such as an assignment, a mortgage, a licence or a transmission on death after the grant, and it is what keeps the register accurate as the patent changes hands. Ask one question to choose between them: did the change happen before the patent was granted, or after it?
Patent granted in the name of a deceased owner?
MYCrave Consultancy prepares section 44 applications, assembles succession proof and gets the patent record corrected.
You will be speaking with MYCrave Consultancy & Services, the firm that operates this platform. General questions are answered free; matter‑specific work is quoted before anything is done.