Tracking Patent Office Hearings and Controller Orders in India

How-to · Patent Office Tracking

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

A patent hearing at the Indian Patent Office can be listed with only about ten days of notice. If the notice sits unseen in a portal inbox or goes to an old agent address, you can miss the hearing, and the Controller can decide the matter without you. This guide shows how to track hearings and Controller orders in India using three handles: InPASS, the E-register and the Controller order source. It also says plainly what each one misses. Last verified October 2026.

01Why Patent Office hearings are easy to miss

A pending patent application does not move in a straight line. An examination report is issued, you file a reply, and then the file may be listed for a hearing. A pre-grant or post-grant opposition can also lead to a hearing. In each case, the date reaches you through a notice, and the notice period is short.

The notice window is short

Under the Patents Rules, the Controller ordinarily gives not less than ten days notice of a hearing. That is not much time to prepare arguments, get instructions and file written submissions.

The notice goes to one place

Notices go to the address for service on record. If the agent changed, or the email is not watched, nobody sees the date. This is a common cause of missed hearings.

The order is a separate event

Even after you attend, the Controller order may come days or weeks later. Time limits for appeal run from the order, so you need to know the day it was issued, not the day you happened to read it.

02The rules behind a patent hearing

Three rules explain most of what you will see in a hearing notice. We checked them against the Patents Rules, 2003 as published on WIPO Lex and Indian Kanoon.

• Rule 129 (discretionary power): before the Controller uses a discretionary power that may affect an applicant or party adversely, the party gets a hearing, after ordinarily ten days notice.
• Rule 129A (adjournment): a party can ask for an adjournment for reasonable cause, with the prescribed fee, at least three days before the hearing. No party gets more than two adjournments.
• Section 14 of the Patents Act, 1970: the Controller does not refuse an application without giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard.

Opposition hearings (pre-grant under Section 25(1) and post-grant under Section 25(2)) follow their own rule steps. Always read the actual notice, because the Controller may list matters by video or in person, and the mode is stated in the notice.

Rules change. The Patents Rules were amended in 2024, so confirm the current text on the official IP India website before relying on a number.

03Handle 1: InPASS

InPASS is IP India's online system for patent filings and related correspondence. For a filer or agent, it is the first place a hearing notice and related communications show up.

What it is good for

• Seeing communications and notices tied to your own applications.
• Filing the reply, written submission or adjournment request from the same login.
• Keeping a record of what the Office sent you and when.

What it misses

• It shows only your own matters, so you cannot watch a competitor's hearing.
• It needs a login and someone to check it. No one is watching it unless you set a habit.
• It does not warn you across many files at once, and it is not a calendar.

04Handle 2: The E-register

The E-register is the public record of a patent application or granted patent on the IP India site. You can look up an application number and see its status and key events. It is the right place to check a file that is not yours.

What it is good for

• Open to anyone, with no login, so it works for watching a rival or a third party.
• Shows the stage of the application, such as examination, hearing or grant.
• Helps you confirm whether a patent is still in force or has lapsed.

What it misses

• It is a lookup, not an alert. It does not tell you when a status changes.
• Updates can lag behind what happened in the room.
• You must search file by file, so a portfolio of 50 patents means 50 checks.

05Handle 3: The Controller order source

The Controller's decision is a written order. It is the document that tells you whether the application was granted, refused or sent back, and why. The order source is the place on the IP India site where decided matters are published, along with related hearing details.

What it is good for

• Reading the reasoning, which helps you draft better replies in future matters.
• Seeing how a Controller dealt with the same objection, such as Section 3(k) for computer-related inventions.
• Fixing the date of the order, which starts the appeal clock.

What it misses

• It is not a push system. You must go and look.
• Search is limited. Finding all orders on one objection or by one Controller takes effort.
• It covers the Patent Office stage only. If the matter goes to the High Court, you must follow a different system.

06A weekly tracking routine that works

You do not need software to start. You need a routine that someone owns.

1. List every live matter. Application number, applicant, agent and the stage it is at.
2. Check InPASS twice a week for new notices on your own files.
3. Check the E-register weekly for third-party files you watch, and note any stage change.
4. The moment a hearing date appears, put it on a shared calendar with a reminder at seven days, three days and one day.
5. Decide on adjournment early. A request has to reach the Office at least three days before the hearing, and only two are allowed per party.
6. After the hearing, watch for the order. Note its date the day it appears.
7. Keep a second person who can see the same calendar, in case the first is away.

A hearing missed because the notice went unread is the most avoidable loss in patent prosecution.

07After the order: what next

An order against you has a limited window for appeal. Appeals from Controller orders under the Patents Act go to the High Court, and the time limit runs from the date of the order. Under Section 117A the period is understood to be three months. Count it from the order date, not from the day you read it.

If the dispute also touches a trademark, the same discipline applies on the other side of IP India. See our guide to trademark opposition and brand protection in India. For tools that follow live court matters, read best case tracking software in India.

08Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

After a Controller order, the next step is often an appeal to a High Court, where it helps to see how similar objections, such as those under Section 3(k), have been decided. Claw lets you search and track cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with 30 crore+ judgments and results in under 5 seconds, so you can research those judgments and follow a live matter by party or advocate name, with Supreme Court judgments from 1950 and High Court judgments from 1990.

Claw does not use customer documents to train AI models. Create a FREE Claw account to research patent decisions and track live matters by party or advocate name. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

09Sources and further reading

• IP India (official portal): ipindia.gov.in
• Patents Rules, 2003 (WIPO Lex): wipo.int
• Patents Rules, 2003 (Indian Kanoon): indiankanoon.org
• Claw: clawlaw.in

Last verified October 2026. Rules, fees and portal pages change, so confirm each against the official source before you act.

10Frequently asked questions