Rule 87 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Surrender of patents
Sets out how a patentee's offer to surrender a patent is published and how an interested person may oppose the surrender.
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This explanation is written for clarity, not for citation.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
Section 63 lets a patentee give up a patent voluntarily. Owners do this for practical reasons: the technology has been overtaken, renewal costs no longer make sense, a licensing negotiation has produced a settlement, or the owner accepts that a claim cannot survive a validity challenge. Rule 87 governs what happens once that offer to surrender reaches the Controller.
Surrender is not treated as a private matter between the patentee and the office. The offer is published, because other people may be affected. A licensee paying royalties, a party in the middle of an infringement suit, or a competitor who wants a formal finding of invalidity rather than a quiet withdrawal all have reasons to be heard. Publication in the Official Journal gives them notice.
Any person interested may then oppose the surrender by filing a notice of opposition on Form 14 within the period the Rules fix from the date of publication. A common motive for opposing is that surrender would leave a licence agreement or a pending dispute in an unsatisfactory state, or that the opponent wants the patent revoked on the record rather than surrendered. The Controller sends a copy of the notice to the patentee.
The contested proceeding then runs along the lines used for other Patent Office oppositions: statements and evidence are exchanged in the manner the Rules provide, and both sides are heard before the Controller decides whether to accept the surrender. If surrender is accepted, the patent is revoked from that point and the register is updated. Surrender operates for the future; it does not by itself wipe out what happened while the patent was in force.
Why this rule matters
Patentees who no longer want a patent, licensees paying royalties under it, parties to litigation about it, and competitors in the field.
Whenever a patentee decides to give up a patent, which often happens during litigation, a licence renegotiation or an IP portfolio clean-up.
A publication requirement for any offer to surrender, and a right in interested persons to oppose it before the Controller.
A licensee or litigant who misses the published offer can find the patent gone on terms it had no say in, which can affect royalties, counterclaims and costs.
How it works in practice
A licensee objects to a quiet exit
Shergill Tools of Ludhiana holds a patent on a quick-change tool holder and has licensed it to a Guwahati machinery firm for a running royalty. A third party begins a revocation action, and Shergill decides the least costly route is to give up the patent rather than defend it. It offers to surrender the patent to the Controller. The offer is published in the Official Journal. The licensee sees the publication and files Form 14 opposing the surrender, because it has just paid an advance royalty for the year and wants the position on refund and on its own freedom to keep using the design settled before the patent disappears. The revocation applicant also has an interest: it wants a recorded decision on validity, not a withdrawal that leaves the question open. The Controller takes both notices, receives statements and evidence, hears the parties, and then decides whether to accept the surrender and on what terms the record should reflect it.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Surrender under section 63 is voluntary but is not private; the offer is published.
- An interested person may oppose the surrender on Form 14 within the period fixed by the Rules.
- Licensees and litigants are the people most often affected by a surrender.
- The Controller hears both sides before accepting or refusing the offer.
- Accepted surrender revokes the patent going forward and is recorded in the register.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Assuming a patentee can walk away from a patent instantly. The offer must be published and can be opposed before it takes effect.
- Thinking surrender ends every liability. Acts done while the patent was in force, and contractual obligations under a licence, are separate questions.
- Confusing surrender with simply stopping renewal payments. Letting a patent lapse and formally surrendering it are different routes with different consequences.
Connected provisions
Rules and sections are cited differently and amended differently. On a rule page the connected sections are therefore kept in a separate list, so that a reader quoting this material can attribute each requirement to the correct instrument.
Forms, deadlines and fees
Prescribed forms sit in the Second Schedule to the Patents Rules. The Schedule is updated along with the Rules, so the safe practice is to download the form on the day you prepare it and check that it is the current version.
- A notice of opposition to a surrender must be filed within the period fixed by the Rules from the date the offer is published, currently three months. Confirm the exact period against the Rules in force.
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.
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 87
Can a patentee surrender a patent at any time?
A patentee may make the offer at any time while the patent is in force, but the offer does not take effect on its own. It is published so that interested persons can react, and an opposition may be filed within the prescribed period. The Controller decides whether to accept the surrender after hearing any opposition. If a suit or revocation proceeding is running, the court or the Controller will also consider how the surrender affects that case.
Why would anyone oppose a surrender?
Because surrender can leave loose ends. A licensee who has paid royalties may want the refund and continuing-use position resolved first. A party running a revocation case may want a decision on validity recorded rather than the patent quietly vanishing, since a reasoned finding can help against related patents in the same family. A competitor sued for infringement may also want the case decided rather than withdrawn in a way that leaves costs unresolved.
Is surrendering a patent the same as letting it lapse?
No. A patent lapses automatically if renewal fees are not paid, and a lapsed patent can sometimes be restored within eighteen months under section 60. Surrender is a deliberate act that, once accepted, revokes the patent. There is no restoration route back from an accepted surrender. If the aim is simply to stop spending on a patent you may want back later, the difference between the two routes matters a great deal.
Giving up a patent, or affected by someone else doing so?
MYCrave Consultancy advises on surrender under section 63 and files or defends oppositions to it.
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