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Inpass is the search engine provided by IP India for Indian patents. It accepts the numbers of the patent applications in a specific format. Indian patent applications, as retrieved by search engines, often have a different format than that required from Inpass.
How do I format a patent application number for use in Inpass?
Indian Patent office assignee patent application as IN YYYYAAAAA BC. YYYY means Year, AAAAA means Number and BC is the kind code. B can be of 2 type I and P. I respresent that patent file in indian patent office(Not claiming priority from PCT) and P represent that patent claims the priority from PCT. Further, C can be 1,2,3 and 4 which represent the city. 1 represent delhi, 2 represent mumbai, 3 represent kolkata and 4 represent chennai. if the patent application kind code is I then we have to open I1,I2,I3,I4 by DEL, MUM,KOL and CHE respectively. if the patent application kind code is P then we have to open P1,P2,P3,P4 by DELNP, MUMNP,KOLNP and CHENP respectively
you can open patent application In the application number tab of the link, for ex: IN200701142P2 . This number can be open as 1142/MUMNP/2007.
It is not clear from your answer that the number format you need to enter at the search form is the latter (1142/MUMNP/2007).
In India there are two numbers which are useful for identifying a patent (or application): the application number and the patent number. Until 31.12.2015 the numbering system for applications was NNNN/OFF/YYYY or NNNN/OFFNP/YYYY (NP stands for national phase and this means its a PCT entry). The office (OFF) of jurisdiction can be KOL, MUM, CHE, DEL, or KOLNP, MUMNP, CHENP, DELNP. This is the format required when using the INPASS. Databases may provide the application number in other formats, but one must convert it as shown above. Unfortunately, it is not rare to retrieve an application number which uses the NNNN and the YYYY but does not show the office. In this unfortunate case, there is no straightforward way of finding (and opening) the patent application at the INPASS. You must find it by searching with inventor name/applicant name and time span. From my experience those are the best fields to be used at the INPASS. The title may be substantially different than the one e.g. of a PCT application and key words may be an obstacle.
This numbering system is not in force anymore. With effect from 01.01.2016 the new numbering system is yyyyJTnnnnnn, Y and N have the normal meaning as above, J=jurisdiction (can be any of 1-4) and T= application type (can be 1-9). There is no difficulty with the format used, just type the numbers as provided, without spaces. More details here: http://forums.epo.org/asian-patent-information-services/topic4662.html
The numbering system for patents is IN-NNNNNN-B and can be used either to check the fees (patent E-register) or at the patent search tab. The latter will provide you with the application number which is always required to open the file of the patent and check the documents of examination and formalities.
INPASS has changed its interface the past weeks. From my own experience, the new one does not function well yet, at least with Chrome, as I have not been able to find (and open) a specific patent application I have been monitoring for more than two years. What is more frustrating is that I can find and open it from another computer. Unfortunately, I have no explanation for this (yet).
As a general comment, the most reliable source (in a comparative level) for an FTO search is the Indian Patent Office itself. Few databases intergrate data from them. What's more, is that the Patent Office itself shows serious defects, some divisionals are not shown in searches (while they clearly met the conditions of the search), or the status displayed at the registry is not correct because there is a delay in updating it with respect to the actual status of the file. For what it's worth, a national entry in India from a PCT application is shown at the tab "national phase" of WIPO Patentscope with the correct format!
Hope it helps.
Inpass has now become obsolete, the current search could be performed at IPO
