Located at the Sun Mill compound in Lower Parel, a suburb in Mumbai, the patents office resembles a discarded storehouse, lined with mountains of dusty reference files, iron pipes, loose tiles. Add to this the totally unhygienic surroundings (chemical fumes, garbage and a stairway dotted with paan-stains) and filing for patents will possibly be the last thing on your mind.

The absence of basic infrastructure, poor space management, lack of data for an effective pre-grant search and inadequate manpower at the country's four patent offices has also, obviously, affected the levels of efficiency. Indications are that the patents office in Delhi has accumulated a backlog of applications of around five years, while at the Mumbai office this could touch threeyears.

Logically, applications should be examined simultaneously at the four points of filing but it is not unusual to see one patent office gazetting an application filed in 1994, while another office publishing, in the gazette, an application of 1996, they add. Besides, while patent offices in the US and other developed nations have specialist examiners look into claims in their area of expertise, in India an examiner with expertise in the electricals field would, very often, be forced to look into patent claims from the chemicals sector.

The Mumbai office, it is believed, has just four examiners who, on an average, look into 10 patent applications per month. This, experts say, is an extremely dangerous situation given that the US patent office is estimated to have at least 200 examiners in the biotech group alone. Even this is considered insufficient given that flow of gene-patent applications, in recent times.

Under normal circumstances, a patent application in India goes through two key stepsbefore the claim is published in the official gazette. Step one comprises the examination stage where an examiner goes through the claim and finally records his observation. This is then forwarded to the Controller of Patents. If accepted, it is published in the gazette and objections are invited.

Ironically, the poor state of affairs at the patent office comes at a time when India is in the midst of gearing up to accept applications for product patents in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. In the interim, the applications will be received in a mail-box/black box and will be eligible for exclusive marketing rights , subject to certain conditions. The Centre, industry experts say, has approved an investment of Rs 75 crore towards modernisation of the patent offices, though it is unclear when the funds will actually find their way into the right places.