Rule 99 of the Patents Rules, 2003
Manner of publication of the revocation order
Sets out how the Controller's order revoking a patent for non-working under section 85 is made public.
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.
Treat this page as a guide. The provision as officially published, along with the Gazette notifications that apply to it, remains the governing text and overrides any simplification here.
What this rule requires, step by step
A patent is a private right, but it ends in public. Section 85 of the Patents Act, 1970 allows the Central Government, or any person interested, to ask the Controller to revoke a patent once a compulsory licence over it has already been in force for two years. The grounds are the same public-interest grounds that support a compulsory licence in the first place: the invention is still not worked in India on a commercial scale, the reasonable requirements of the public are still not met, or the patented product is still not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price. Rule 99 deals with what happens after the Controller agrees and passes the order.
The rule requires the revocation order to be published by the Patent Office. Publication is done through the Official Journal of the Patent Office, the Patent Office's own periodical public record, which is issued online and is free to read. Publication is not a formality. Until the outside world is told, competitors, importers, distributors and investors have no reliable way of knowing that the monopoly they were respecting has been taken away.
Alongside publication, the fact of revocation is reflected in the Register of Patents maintained under section 67. The Register is the official ledger of who owns what. A person who inspects the Register after publication will see that the patent no longer stands, so a search of the Register and of the Journal together gives a dependable picture.
Once the revocation order is published, the invention falls into the public domain in India, subject to any appeal. Anyone may then make, use or sell it in India without a licence and without paying royalty, unless a separate patent covers some part of what they are doing. The former patentee cannot sue for infringement for acts done after revocation. An order of the Controller under section 85 can be challenged by appeal to the High Court, so a reader who spots a fresh revocation notice should also check whether an appeal has been filed before making large commercial commitments.
For a business, the practical use of this rule is monitoring. Revocation for non-working is rare, but when it happens it opens a market. Firms that track the Official Journal in their technology area learn about it immediately; firms that do not may keep paying licence fees or keep away from a product long after the patent has gone.
Why this rule matters
Patentees who face revocation for non-working, existing compulsory licensees, competitors waiting for a blocked market to open, and anyone doing freedom-to-operate checks in India.
At the very end of a compulsory licence dispute, after the Controller has decided to revoke a patent under section 85.
A duty on the Patent Office to announce the revocation publicly, and a matching public right to rely on that announcement and on the Register.
A business that never checks the Journal or the Register can keep paying royalty on a dead patent, or can stay out of a market that is already free to enter.
How it works in practice
A solar dryer patent finally opens up
Sundara Agri Machines Pvt Ltd, based in Coimbatore, held an Indian patent on a low-cost solar crop dryer but never manufactured it and refused every licence request. In 2021 the Controller granted a compulsory licence to Kalyani Agro Tools Pvt Ltd of Nashik, which began making dryers in small numbers. Demand from farmer producer organisations stayed far ahead of supply, and Sundara itself still made nothing. More than two years after the compulsory licence order, a federation of farmer producer organisations applied under section 85 to revoke the patent. After hearing both sides, the Controller revoked it. Following Rule 99, the Patent Office published the revocation order in the Official Journal, and the entry against the patent in the Register was updated. A workshop in Erode that had been reading the Journal every week saw the notice, checked the Register to confirm it, and began building its own version of the dryer for local cooperatives without needing any licence from Sundara.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- Rule 99 covers the publicity step that follows a revocation order made by the Controller under section 85.
- The order is published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office, which anyone can read free of charge.
- The Register of Patents is also updated, so the two records together show the true status of a patent.
- Revocation under section 85 can only be sought after a compulsory licence has been in force for two years.
- After publication, and subject to appeal, the invention is free for anyone in India to work.
- An appeal against the Controller's order lies to the High Court, so a published order is not always the last word.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Assuming publication is what revokes the patent. The Controller's order revokes it; Rule 99 only governs how the decision is announced.
- Treating a revoked patent as gone worldwide. Revocation under Indian law affects only the Indian patent; family members in other countries survive.
- Believing a compulsory licence automatically becomes a revocation after two years. Someone must actually apply under section 85 and prove the grounds.
- Relying only on a private database that has not been refreshed, instead of checking the Journal and the Register.
Connected provisions
This page explains a rule of the Patents Rules, 2003. A rule does not stand on its own; it works out a duty or a power that the Patents Act, 1970 has already created. The parent sections are listed separately so you can read the source of that authority.
Forms, deadlines and fees
- An application to revoke a patent for non-working under section 85 can be made only after a compulsory licence over that patent has been in force for two years.
- Publication of the revocation order must follow the timing set out in the current Rules; check the latest text of Rule 99 before assuming a date.
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
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 99
Where is a patent revocation order published in India?
It is published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office, which the Indian Patent Office issues online. The Journal is the standard place for patent notices of all kinds, including publication of applications, grants and opposition matters. The revocation is also reflected against the patent number in the Register of Patents. Reading both sources gives a reliable answer on whether a patent is still in force, because the Journal tells you when something changed and the Register tells you the current position.
Does Rule 99 apply to every kind of patent revocation?
No. Rule 99 sits in the chapter on compulsory licences and revocation for non-working, so it is concerned with orders made by the Controller under section 85. Patents can also be revoked by a High Court under section 64, by the Controller in post-grant opposition proceedings, or on a direction under other provisions of the Act. Those routes have their own procedures for recording and publicising the outcome, though the result for the public is similar.
Can I start manufacturing as soon as I see the revocation notice?
The notice means the patent has been revoked, and in principle the invention is then open in India. Two cautions apply. First, the order may be under appeal to the High Court, and the outcome of an appeal can change the position. Second, another patent, held by the same owner or by someone else, may still cover part of your product. A proper freedom-to-operate search covers all live rights, not just the one that was revoked.
Is there any fee to see the Official Journal or the Register?
The Official Journal is published on the Indian Patent Office website and can be read without charge. Inspecting entries in the Register and obtaining certified copies attracts the fee prescribed in the First Schedule to the Patents Rules, 2003. Fee amounts change from time to time and differ for natural persons, startups, small entities and other applicants, so always check the current fee schedule rather than an older figure quoted elsewhere.
Tracking a patent that may have been revoked?
MYCrave Consultancy monitors the Official Journal and the Register so you know the moment a patent in your field is revoked or restored.
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