Register of patents and Patent Office — Intellectual Property Rights I Notes

Register of patents and Patent Office

Every granted patent lives on a public list — the Register of Patents — so anyone can check who owns what, and buyers can verify title before paying for a licence. The Patent Office keeps that list.

The Patent Office and the Register

The Patent Office (headed by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks) administers the Act: it receives applications, examines them, grants patents and keeps the records. It has a head office and branch offices; the branch depends on where the applicant resides or carries on business.

The Register of Patents (s.67) is the official record kept at the Patent Office. It contains:

the names and addresses of grantees (patentees);
notifications of assignments, transmissions, licences, amendments, extensions and revocations; and
particulars affecting the validity or proprietorship of every patent.

The Register is prima facie evidence [accepted as true unless disproved] of the entries in it (s.67(3)), and it is open to public inspection (s.72). Anyone dealing in a patent — a buyer, a licensee — relies on it to confirm ownership.

Patents Act, 1970, s.67(1): “There shall be kept at the patent office a register of patents… wherein shall be entered the names and addresses of grantees of patents, notifications of assignments and of transmissions of patents, of licences under patents, and of amendments, extensions, and revocations of patents…”

In Simple Terms: The Patent Office runs the patent system; the Register of Patents (s.67) is its public logbook of who owns each patent and every dealing with it. Because the Register is public and treated as evidence, it is where you check title before buying or licensing a patent.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — checking title before a licence

Facts. A company wants to take a licence of a patent but is unsure the licensor really owns it.

Rule. s.67 — the Register records proprietorship and dealings and is prima facie evidence of them; s.72 makes it open to inspection.

Apply. The company inspects the Register, confirms the licensor is the entered proprietor with no prior conflicting assignment, and then takes the licence, which it also registers.

Conclusion. The Register lets a third party verify title safely — its core practical function.

flowchart TD
    PO["Patent Office (Controller General)"]:::root
    PO --> REG["Register of Patents (s.67)"]:::leaf
    REG --> A["Grantees' names & addresses"]:::leaf
    REG --> B["Assignments, licences, transmissions"]:::leaf
    REG --> C["Amendments, extensions, revocations"]:::leaf
    REG --> D["Public inspection (s.72); prima facie evidence"]:::leaf
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;

Case Laws

Bishwanath Prasad Radhey Shyam v Hindustan Metal Industries (1979) — recognised the Patent Office’s role in examining and recording patents.
Raj Prakash v Mangat Ram Chowdhry (1978) — proprietorship and the scope of a patent are established from the record kept by the Patent Office.

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