Government of India
Office of the Controller General
Patents, Designs & Trade Marks
Boudhik Sampada Bhawan
S. M. Road, Antop Hill
Mumbai-400 037 (India)

Date: 3 1 -12-2015

CG/Office Order/2015/287

OFFICE ORDER  NO. 74 OF 2015

The numbering system of Patent Applications and Request for Examination filed in the Indian Patent Office is being streamlined and standardized with a view to attain uniformity in accessibility and processing of patent applications by all Patent Offices in India . Accordingly, a new format of numbering will be implemented with effect from 5 January, 2016.

The new numbering system for patent applications shall have 12 characters fi x ed length numeric standard Patent Application Format , applicable to all the Patent Offices in India and shall include identifiers of Year of filing, Jurisdiction, type of application and application number as per Annexure-1

Similarly, the numbering system of Request for Examination shall also be unified and standardized as per Annexure-2

Application numbers/ Request for examination numbers that have already been allotted shall continue to be maintained and recognized till they are fully converted into the new numbering pattern

(Om  Prakash  Gupta)
Controller General of Patents,  Designs and Trade Marks

ANNEXURE-1

New Numbering Format for Patent Applications in India

Format:  YYYYJTNNNNNN

Where,

• "YYYY" denotes four digit fixed length "Year of filing"
• "J"  denotes  fixed  length  single  digit  "Jurisdiction"  in  numerals  (1 for  Delhi,  2 Mumbai, 3 for Kolkata, 4 for Chennai)
• "T"  denotes fixed length single digit "Type of Application" in numerals:

      ·          1 for Ordinary
·          2 for Ordinary-Divisional
·          3 for Ordinary-Patent of Addition
·          4 for Convention
·          5 for Convention-Divisional
·          6 for Convention-Patent of Addition
·          7 for PCT NP
·          8 for PCT NP-Divisional
·          9 for PCT NP-Patent of Addition

• "NNNNNN" denotes 6 digits fixed length common continuous running serial number applicable for all Patent Offices in India

Thus, the first application (Ordinary) filed in Delhi in the year 2016 would be numbered as 201611000001. If second application is filed from Mumbai as "Convention" application in the year 2016, it would be numbered as 201624000002.

The "NNNNNN" series of applications shall be unique and sequentially incremented for all the four patent offices in the order of their filing. Date of Application shall accompany the Patent application number in the following format: YYYY/MM/DD.

Where,

• "YYYY" denotes year of filing,
• "MM" denotes Month and
• "DO" denotes Day of filing.

ANNEXURE - 2

New Numbe r ing Format for Request for Examination

1. Request for Examination u/r 24B (1) (i) (Normal):

Format: RYYYY J NNNNNN

Where,

     ·        "R denotes Request for examination u/r 24B (1) (i)
·        "YYYY" denotes four digit fixed length "Year of filing"
·        "J" denotes Jurisdiction for Patent Application against which Request of Examination has been filed
·        "NNNNNN" denotes 6 digits fixed length common continuous running serial number applicable for all Patent Offices in India

2. Request for Exami n ation u/r 20 (4) (ii) (Express):

Format:  XYYYYJNNNNNN

            Where,

     ·        "X" denotes Request for examination u/r 20 (4) (ii)
·        "YYYY" denotes four digit fixed length "Year of filing"
·        "J" denotes jurisdiction of Patent Application against which Request has been filed
·        "NNNNNN" denotes 6 digits fixed length common continuous running serial number applicable for all Patent Offices in India

Both the serial numbers u/r 248 (1} (i) and u/r 20 (4) (ii) shall be common and shall be accompanied by the Date of Request for Examination in the following format: YYYY/MM/DD  Where,

     ·        "YYYY" denotes year of filing,
·        "MM" denotes Month and
·        "DD" denotes Day of filing .