Examination request management
Form 18 (or expedited Form 18A where you qualify) filed inside the statutory window — the deadline most self-managed applications die on.
PATENT FILING SERVICE · MYCRAVE CONSULTANCY & SERVICES
Patent prosecution: examination responses & hearings
Filing is the opening move; prosecution is the game. The First Examination Report is where the Indian Patent Office pushes back — prior art, Section 3 exclusions, formality objections — and the quality of the response decides whether your application narrows to nothing, dies of a missed deadline, or grants with claims worth owning.
WHAT THIS SERVICE IS
Understanding prosecution & examination responses
Examination in India begins only when you request it, and the request itself has a hard statutory deadline — miss it and the application is treated as withdrawn, however good the invention. Once a First Examination Report (FER) issues, the whole application must be put in order for grant within the statutory response period. These are the two deadlines that quietly kill more Indian applications than any examiner ever refuses.
A strong FER response is legal argument, not paperwork. Cited prior art is analysed document by document: what each reference actually discloses, what it does not, and why the claimed invention stands apart — argued feature by feature, with amendment used surgically rather than reflexively. Every amendment narrows what you will one day enforce, so the discipline is to give up exactly as much as the art demands and not a claim-word more. A pre-built dependent-claim structure (see our drafting service) is what makes that discipline possible.
Section 3 objections get their own treatment. A 3(k) software objection is answered with technical effect and architecture; a 3(d) objection with efficacy evidence; a 3(e) combination objection with synergy. These are winnable arguments — Indian case law supports each of them in the right facts — but they are won on evidence and framing, not on indignation.
Where written argument does not fully persuade, the Controller offers a hearing. We treat hearings as the valuable forum they are: prepared submissions, anticipated questions, and where useful an agreed amendment package that gives the Controller a clean path to allowance. Pre-grant oppositions by third parties, when they come, are met within the same discipline — evidence, argument, deadline.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
Everything this engagement covers
FER analysis and strategy
Every cited document read and mapped against your claims before a word of response is written; you receive the strategy in plain language, with options and our recommendation.
Reasoned response drafting
Technical and legal argument distinguishing the prior art, answering Section 3 objections with evidence, and curing formality objections — filed within the statutory period.
Surgical claim amendment
Amendments that concede only what the art compels, drawn from the fallback structure built into the claims, keeping the granted patent worth enforcing.
Controller hearings
Written submissions prepared, the case argued before the Controller, and post-hearing filings completed — attendance included, not billed as a surprise.
Pre-grant opposition defence
If a third party opposes before grant, the representation, evidence and argument are handled within the same team that knows the file.
WHO THIS IS FOR
You'll recognise yourself here
-
Applicants holding a First Examination Report with the response clock running
-
Self-filed applicants who have reached examination and need professional argument
-
Companies with families in prosecution needing consistent claim positions across offices
-
Foreign applicants whose Indian national phase has hit Section 3 objections their home office never raised
-
Applicants facing a pre-grant opposition or called to a Controller hearing
RELATED ON THIS SITE
Prepare before the call — free
HOW IT RUNS
The process, step by step
Request
Examination is requested in time — ordinary or expedited — and publication status checked.
Analyse
The FER and every cited document are analysed; strategy and options come to you in plain language.
Respond
Argument and any amendments are drafted, reviewed with you, and filed within the statutory period.
Argue
Where a hearing is appointed, the case is argued before the Controller with prepared submissions.
Grant
On allowance, the grant is completed and the file moves to renewals and working-statement maintenance without a handover gap.
A note on timelines: How long each stage takes varies with the invention, the route you choose and the Patent Office's workload — your specialist gives you a current, honest estimate at the start, and updates it as the file moves.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG
The mistakes this service exists to prevent
Missing the examination-request window
No FER ever issues for an application whose examination was never requested. The application is deemed withdrawn — a silent, total loss with no examiner involved.
Amending first, arguing never
Reflexively narrowing claims to whatever the examiner seems to want grants quickly and enforces poorly. Argument preserves scope; amendment should be the scalpel, not the reflex.
Answering objections late in the period
The put-in-order clock covers the whole exchange, hearings included. Responses filed at the edge leave no room for a second round — or for the hearing that could have saved the case.
Ignoring a hearing offer
Skipping or under-preparing a Controller hearing forfeits the best forum the process offers. Cases refused on paper are regularly allowed after a well-argued hearing.
SERVICE FAQ
Asked about prosecution & examination responses
A question of your own?
Ask it on WhatsApp — a member of the patent team replies, not a bot.
Ask on WhatsAppHow long do I have to respond to an FER?
The statutory period to put the application in order runs from the FER's issue, and current limits and any available extensions depend on the Rules in force — our sister platform Patent Act India tracks the provisions, and your specialist gives you the exact dates for your file on day one. The practical answer: instruct early, because argument drafted in a week is weaker than argument drafted in a month.
Can I switch to you mid-prosecution?
Yes — a change of agent is a routine filing (Form 26), and inheriting files at the FER stage is normal work for us. Send the FER and the as-filed specification; we will tell you honestly what positions the earlier handling has left available.
What does expedited examination require?
Eligibility is category-based — startups, small entities and certain other applicant classes qualify, and the government fee differs (see the calculator). Where you are eligible it is usually worth taking: the same prosecution, sooner, while the invention still matters commercially.
What are my chances against a prior-art rejection?
It depends entirely on what the reference actually discloses versus what your claims need — which is why we analyse before we predict. What we will never do is quote a success percentage; anyone who does is quoting marketing, not law.
RELATED SERVICES
Where this fits in the journey
Complete specification drafting & filing
The document your patent lives or dies by — drafted by specialists
Read the full service pageGrant, renewals & working statements
Keep the patent alive and compliant for its full 20-year term
Read the full service pageAll six services
The full map — from the first search to the twentieth renewal, and where each service hands over to the next.
Browse all servicesAn FER is an argument you can win
Send us the examination report — a specialist will read the citations and tell you, plainly, what the response should say and what it should concede.