The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is a collaborative project involving five Indian government organisations, including the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). This online database makes traditional Indian medical texts available in languages understandable to patent examiners (English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish). For the first time, these texts - many of them old manuscripts written in Hindi, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and other languages – can now be accessed in a digital, searchable format. EPO patent examiners can thus compare patent applications with the existing traditional knowledge documented in the TKDL. They can then, if necessary, limit the scope of a patent or refuse the application altogether before the patent is granted, thus avoiding subsequent opposition proceedings.

Further details on this source can be found on the TKDL website at: http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/home.asp?GL=Eng and on the CSIR website at: http://www.csir.res.in/.

For more information, refer also to a press release on the EPO website at: http://www.epo.org/topics/news/2009/20090211.html

Information about patents from India has become a hot topic for industry in the past few years. Therefore, we have now started to also include information about India in our forum. To find out more about the special features of patents from India, please go to our new FAQ India section at: http://eastmeetswest.european-patent-office.org/faq/countries/india.

The new "e-Filing of Patent Applications" and "e-Filing of Trade Marks Applications" portals allow any applicant (domestic or foreign) to submit an application for a patent or trade mark electronically, to monitor the status of an application and to pay fees to the patent or trade mark office (TRM) in India. The portals also offer useful instructions on how to use the systems. For more information go to www.patentoffice.nic.in/