Rule 88 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Register of patents under section 67
Places the register of patents under the Controller's control and allows it to be kept in electronic form with proper safeguards.
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.
The authority is the enacted text, not this page. Where our wording and the official provision, or an applicable Gazette notification, do not match, the official material prevails.
What this rule requires, step by step
Section 67 requires a register of patents to be kept at the Patent Office. The register is the official record of who owns each patent, what has happened to it, and what interests other people hold in it. Rule 88 says who is responsible for it and in what form it may be kept: it is under the control and management of the Controller, and it may be maintained wholly or partly in electronic form, subject to safeguards.
That short provision does a lot of work. It is the legal basis for the electronic register that the Patent Office now runs, where entries about grant, renewal, assignment, licences, amendments, restoration and revocation are recorded and can be viewed online. Without a rule permitting electronic maintenance, the office would still be tied to physical volumes.
The safeguards element matters just as much as the permission. A register is only useful if people can trust it, so an electronic register needs controlled access, an audit trail of who made each entry, secure backups and protection against unauthorised alteration. When a court is asked to treat a register entry as evidence of ownership, the integrity of the system behind the entry is what gives the entry weight.
For a patent owner the practical lesson is that the register is the public face of the patent. Buyers, investors, licensees and courts look at what the register says, not at what is in the owner's drawer. If an assignment, a change of name or a change of address has not made its way into the register, the register will keep telling the world something that is out of date, and the owner will carry the consequences.
Why this rule matters
Every patentee, assignee, licensee and mortgagee whose interest is recorded, and anyone doing due diligence on Indian patents.
From grant onwards, and every time an interest in the patent changes hands or a fee is paid.
The Controller's responsibility for maintaining the register and the authority to keep it in electronic form with safeguards.
Owners who never check their register entries end up with records that no longer match reality, which slows down deals and weakens their position in disputes.
How it works in practice
Due diligence rests on the register
Cardis Medtech Pvt Ltd of Hyderabad is raising a Series A round, and the investor's counsel runs diligence on its eleven Indian patents. Counsel does not start with the company's internal spreadsheet. It starts with the register, checking for each patent the recorded proprietor, the renewal entries, any recorded assignment or licence, and whether any restoration or amendment has been noted. Two problems emerge. One patent still shows the founders as joint proprietors, because the assignment to the company was signed but never taken to the Patent Office. Another shows an address that belonged to an office the company left three years earlier, which means official communications may have been going to an empty building. Neither problem is fatal, but both must be cleared before closing, and each takes weeks. The lesson the company draws is simple: what the register says is what the outside world will treat as true, so register entries need to be checked as routinely as the accounts.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- The register of patents is kept under the control and management of the Controller.
- It may be maintained wholly or partly in electronic form, with safeguards.
- The register is the official public record of ownership and of interests in each patent.
- Entries cover grant, renewals, assignments, licences, amendments, restorations and revocations.
- Third parties rely on the register, so owners should audit their entries periodically.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Believing a signed assignment or licence in the company's files is enough. Until it reaches the register, the public record shows the old position.
- Treating the register as an internal Patent Office document. It is a public record that investors, buyers and courts consult.
- Assuming the electronic register updates itself. Entries change only when someone applies or a fee or order triggers them.
Connected provisions
A rule is subordinate legislation. It is made by the Central Government under a rule-making power in the Act and is amended by notification rather than by Parliament. The parent sections are listed on their own so that the source and the procedure are never confused.
Forms, deadlines and fees
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 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 88
What information does the register of patents contain?
It records the particulars section 67 requires for each granted patent: the names and addresses of the grantees, notifications of assignments and transmissions, licences and other interests, and particulars of matters affecting the validity or ownership of the patent, such as amendments, restorations and revocations. Renewal payments are also entered. Taken together the entries give a chronological picture of the life of the patent, which is why it is the first document checked in any diligence exercise.
Is the Indian patent register available online?
The Patent Office maintains the register electronically and provides public access to patent status and register information through its online services. This rule is the legal basis for keeping the register in electronic form. Online access is convenient for checking status, but where a formal record is needed, for example to produce in court or before a bank, a certified copy from the Patent Office is the appropriate document rather than a screenshot.
Can an entry in the register be corrected if it is wrong?
Yes. Clerical errors can be corrected by the Controller under section 78, and a person aggrieved by an entry wrongly made or wrongly remaining on the register can apply to the High Court for rectification under section 71. Changes of name, address or address for service are dealt with by a request under the Rules. The route depends on the nature of the problem, so identify whether it is a slip, a change of circumstances or a genuine dispute about title.
Do your register entries match reality?
MYCrave Consultancy audits Indian patent register entries and files what is needed to bring them up to date.
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.