Application for registration of a patent in Pakistan

The Patent law of Pakistan requires every application for the patent to be on the prescribed form and to contain a declaration to the effect that the applicant is in possession of an invention of which he, or in the case of joint application, at least one of the applicants, claims to be the true and the first inventor. As per Pakistani law each application to be in respect of one invention only or to be in respect of a group of inventions so linked as to form a single inventive concept. Complete or provisional specifications are required to accompany the application. Every complete specification is required,-

(a) to fully and particularly describe the invention and the method by which it is to be performed;

(b) disclose the invention; and

(c) end with a claim or claims defining the scope of the invention for which protection is claimed.

The claim or claims of a complete specification are required to relate to a single invention, to be clear and succinct and to be fairly based on the matter disclosed in the specification. An abstract is also required to be furnished.

The new law requires each application to be accepted or refused in eighteen months (or twenty-one months, in case an application for extension of time is filed) from the date of the filing. Once accepted, each application will be open for opposition for four months from the date of its publication in the Gazette.

Additional information and documents relating to foreign applications:

Section 20 of the Patent law empowers the Controller to require foreign applicants to furnish date and number of any application for patent filed by the foreign applicant abroad relating to the same or essentially the same invention as that claimed in the application filed in Pakistan. The applicant, when required by the Controller, is required to furnish with the following documents relating to foreign application(s),-

(a) a copy of any communication received by the applicant concerning the result of any search or examination carried out in respect of the foreign application(s);

(b) a copy of the patent granted on the basis of the foreign application(s); and

(c) a copy of any final decision rejecting the foreign application(s).