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nternational application filed under the Patent Co-operation treaty designating India shall have effect of filing an application for patent under sec. 7 Indians Brad Hand Jersey , sec 54 and Sec,. 135鈥攁nd shall be taken as complete specification for the purposes of this act. Thus if the Applicant has modified the existing invention in an incremental manner so as to possess novelty over the main invention, then the said applicant can fileseek conversion of further application to Patent of Addition over the main patentapplication claiming the said invention. Article 2 of the PCT defines application as follows: 鈥渁pplication鈥?means an application for the protection of an invention; references to an 鈥渁pplication鈥?shall be construed as references to applications for patents for inventions, inventors鈥?certificates Indians Corey Kluber Jersey , utility certificates, utility models, patents or certificates of addition, inventors鈥?certificates of addition Indians Carlos Gonzalez Jersey , and utility certificates of addition. Since definition provided under Article 2 also covers patent of addition, it is possible to file PCT application from patent of addition application in India. But it needs to be noted that provisions relating to 鈥淧atent Of Addition鈥?are not available in all jurisdictions. So in such countries the Patent of Addition application may be held obviouslacking in inventive step over the parent application. Patent of Addition in other jurisdictions Most of the countries have abolished granting patent of addition for improvements or modifications over the main invention. Some countries which still have the said provisions are US, Australia, New Zealand Indians Jason Kipnis Jersey , Greece, South Africa, Germany, Brazil Indians Hanley Ramirez Jersey , Pakistan, Bangladesh, Spain, Israel. It is to be noted that though the concept of US Continuation in Part application also known as 鈥淣on-statutory obviousness-type double patenting鈥?is similar to the Indianpatent of addition concept in the sense that in both cases Indians Edwin Encarnacion Jersey , the patent shall expire twenty years from the filing date of the earliest application from which benefit is claimed, few differences exists such as: A CIP can be filed only when the main application is pending and not after it is granted whereas Patent of Addition can be filed at any time during the term of the parent patent In case of a CIP application, separate annuity needs to be paid whereas no renewal fees needs to be paid for Patent Of Addition. Only when the parent patent is revoked, the Patent of addition is converted into a separate and independent patent and renewal fees needs to be paid. In CIP Applications Indians Joe Carter Jersey , claims may have varying priority dates based on the priority date of the first application in which the subject matter of the main invention was disclosed. Advantages of Patent of Addition No renewal fees has to be paid for granted patent as long as that patent exists as Patent of Addition to the main invention. Modification or improvement in the invention cannot be invalidated based on the ground that the invention lacks an inventive step. Patent applications from the same applicantpatentee and which relate to a similar subject matter, and for which only inventive step objection is raised wrt the parent application, then such objections can be overcome by amending the second patent to Patent of Addition. Thus patent of addition provides a useful avenue through which such improvementsmodifications may still be protected. Disadvantages of Patent of Addition The term of patent of addition cannot exceed that of the main patent and hence the term for which the patent of the addition will remain in force is reduced. If the application for patent of Addition perse satisfies all the patentability criteria, then converting it into a patent of the addition will lead to early expiry thereby amounting to a reduction in the number of years of protection monopoly available for that patent. If the parent patent relating to the main invention is revoked on the ground of obviousnesslack of inventive step over some prior art Authentic Ricky Vaughn Jersey , then the Patent of Addition can also be revoked on the basis of that prior art; Filingconverting patent of Addition to the main patent invariably provides the opportunity to cite the parent patent for lack of noveltyanticipation purposes. If patent of addition is filed in such jurisdictions where patent of additional provisions is not available, then objections pertaining to obviousnesslack of inventive step over the parent application may arise. Though the patent term for patent of addition is 20 years from the date of filing of the parent application, it may not be able to claim benefit from the earlier filed patent application, and hence any application (other than the parent application) that may have been filed or published before the filing date of the patent of addition may be used to challenge the patentability of the patent of addition. It is to be noted that except for the Annual Report published in 2007-08 Authentic Satchel Paige Jersey , none of the Annual Report provides any reference to the total number of Patent of Additions filed in India. Even the Annual Report published in 2007-08 also states that out of the 35,218 applications filed in that period only 11 applications were filed as Patent of Addition. The absence of any further reference to Patent of Addition applications in the annual reports published in the last few years imply that the Paten of Addition is not popular modes for protection of incremental innovationsimprovements in India. Conclusion A patent of addition is of benefit to the applicant in order to avoid invalidity due to lack of inventive step over a publication or use of the main invention and thus is a useful tool for protecting products or processes and their incremental improvementsvariations in India. It is advisable to file a Patent of addition only in those cases where the improvement over the main application does not qualify for an independent patent. However, the subject matter in the Patent of Addition must disclose over and above the ma