Section 21 – THE PATENTS ACT, 1970

—(1) An application for a patent shall be
deemed to have been abandoned unless, Within such period as may be prescribed, the
applicant has complied with all the requirements imposed on him by or under this Act,
whether in connection with the complete specification or otherwise in relation to the
application from the date on which the first statement of objections to the application or
complete specification or other documents related thereto is forwarded to the applicant by
the Controller.
Explanation.—Where the application for a patent or any specification or, in the case of a
convention application or an application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty
designating India any document filed as part of the application has been returned to the
applicant by the Controller in the course of the proceedings, the applicant shall not be
deemed to have complied with such requirements unless and until he has re-filed it or the
applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Controller that for the reasons beyond his
control such document could not be re-filed.
(2) If at the expiration of the period as prescribed under sub section (1),—
(a) an appeal to the High Court is pending in respect of the application for the patent
for the main invention; or
(b) in the case of an application for a patent of addition, an appeal to the High Court is
pending in respect of either that application or the application for the main
invention, the time within which the requirements of the Controller shall be
complied with shall, on an application made by the applicant before the expiration
of the period as prescribed under sub-section (1), be extended until such date as the
High Court may determine.
(3) If the time within which the appeal mentioned in sub-section (2) may be
instituted has not expired, the Controller may extend the period as prescribed under subsection (1), to such further period as he may determine:
Provided that if an appeal has been filed during the said further period, and the High
Court has granted any extension of time for complying with the requirements of the
Controller, then the requirements may be complied with within the time granted by the
Court.