Rule 93 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Entry of renewal fee
Requires the payment of each renewal fee to be entered in the register, so the public can see that a patent is still in force.
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
An Indian patent runs for twenty years from the date of filing, but only if renewal fees are paid to keep it alive under section 53. Rule 93 requires the fact of payment to be recorded in the register of patents. The entry shows that the renewal fee has been paid and the date of payment, so the register tells a reader not just who owns the patent but whether it is still in force.
This is the entry that makes the register usable for practical decisions. Before launching a product, a manufacturer wants to know whether a blocking patent is alive. Before taking a licence, a company wants to know whether the patent it is paying for has been maintained. Before lending against a patent, a bank wants to see an unbroken record of renewals. All of that comes from the renewal entries.
The renewal entries also create a visible history. If a renewal was paid late within the extension the Rules allow, or if the patent lapsed and was later restored, the record shows a gap and a subsequent entry. That history is not fatal, but it invites questions during due diligence and it can matter in litigation, because rights during a lapse period are affected by section 62.
For patent owners the operational point is to reconcile their own records against the register once a year rather than trusting a payment receipt alone. Payments made through an agent, a service provider or a corporate finance team occasionally fail to reach the right patent number, and the register is where such a failure becomes visible. Finding the problem while the extension period is still open is far cheaper than discovering it after the patent has ceased to have effect.
Why this rule matters
Patentees maintaining their portfolios, licensees and buyers checking status, and competitors deciding whether an invention is free to use.
Every year that a renewal fee falls due, and whenever anyone checks whether a patent is still in force.
A public record in the register of each renewal payment and its date, which evidences that the patent remains in force.
A payment that never reaches the correct patent number goes unnoticed, and the owner may only learn of the lapse when the register is checked by someone else.
How it works in practice
A yearly reconciliation catches a misapplied payment
Sarita Deshmukh manages the patent portfolio of a Pune auto-components maker with twenty-three Indian patents. Every February she pulls the register entries for all twenty-three and lines them up against the company's payment records. One year the register shows renewal entries for twenty-two patents but nothing for the twenty-third, even though the company's ledger records a payment. Following it up, she finds that the payment was made against a patent number that differs by one digit, so it was credited to a patent the company had already allowed to lapse. Because the mistake is spotted within the extension period the Rules allow for late payment of renewal fees, the company files the correct payment with the extension request and the renewal is recorded against the right patent. Had she relied only on the internal receipt, the patent would have ceased to have effect, and the company would have faced a restoration application under section 60 with all its uncertainty and expense.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Each renewal fee payment is entered in the register with the date of payment.
- The entries let anyone check whether a patent is currently in force.
- Gaps, late payments and restorations are visible in the record.
- Owners should reconcile their own payment records against register entries each year.
- A misapplied payment is far cheaper to fix inside the extension period than after a lapse.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Treating a payment receipt as proof that the correct patent was renewed. Only the register entry confirms where the money landed.
- Assuming renewals are due from the date of grant. Renewal obligations run by reference to the patent term from the date of filing, and arrears can fall due soon after a late grant.
- Ignoring an unexplained gap in the renewal entries during due diligence, which can indicate a lapse and rights acquired by third parties.
Connected provisions
The Patents Rules supply procedure and the Patents Act supplies power. This page covers the procedure, and the sections that give the Controller or the applicant the underlying right or duty are grouped separately so you can move between the two.
Forms, deadlines and fees
- Renewal fees fall due as provided in section 53 and the Rules; the Rules allow a further period of six months for payment on request, and a patent ceases to have effect if payment is not made within that extended period.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
This site does not carry a fee table. The First Schedule to the Patents Rules is the source, the rates vary with the applicant's category and with the mode of filing, and a figure quoted second-hand goes out of date quietly. 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 rule on entering renewal fees in the register was replaced. Attribution pending reviewer confirmation.
Compiled from official consolidated texts and Gazette notifications. See the site-wide change log.
Related judgments
This part of the page is reserved for summaries of decided cases. They are added one at a time, after review by a person qualified to confirm that the summary matches the judgment. Nothing has been cleared for this provision so far, so there is nothing to show. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Rule 93
How do I check whether an Indian patent is still in force?
Look at the register entries for that patent, which record renewal payments and their dates, along with any entry about lapse or restoration. The Patent Office provides public access to patent status and register information online. If the record is needed for a formal purpose, such as producing in court or before a bank, obtain a certified copy from the Patent Office rather than relying on a screen printout.
Does the register show if a renewal was paid late?
The entries record the fact and date of payment, so a payment made during the extension period the Rules allow will be visible from the dates, and a lapse followed by restoration produces its own entries. Anyone reading the register carefully can therefore see whether the maintenance history was clean. This is one of the first things examined in due diligence, because a lapse period can create third-party rights under section 62 that survive restoration.
Who is responsible for making sure the entry is correct?
The Patent Office makes the entry, but the practical responsibility for checking it sits with the patentee. Payments are often made by agents, service providers or finance teams, and errors such as a wrong patent number are not unheard of. An annual reconciliation between your own payment records and the register takes very little time and is the only reliable way to confirm that each patent you believe is alive is actually recorded as maintained.
Are all your patent renewals actually recorded?
MYCrave Consultancy reconciles renewal payments against register entries and manages annual patent maintenance.
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.