A patent is a type of intellectual property that provides its owner or the inventor the legal right to exclude others from inventing, using, or selling the invention for 16 years on payment of the prescribed fees and such period of protection may be renewed.

As per Section 3 of the Patent & Design Act, 1911, an application for a patent can be made by any citizen of Bangladesh or foreign national, by himself or jointly and such application shall be made in prescribed forms to the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT). The application made by the inventor shall consist of a declaration that the applicant is in possession of the said invention. In case of a joint application, one of the applicants, who claims to be the bona fide and first inventor, or its legal representative or assign of such inventor must annex complete specification to the application.

A patent application (Form-1) is required to be accompanied with either a provisional (Form- 3) or complete specification (Form- 3A). If any applicant has made an application for patent with a provisional specification, a complete specification must be submitted within 9 months from the date of submission of Form-1 and 3. In case of failure to submit Form- 3A, the main application for patent will be considered to be expired. A complete specification shall include the name of the inventor, its address, title of the invention, an abstract or summary of the invention, a description of the invention, drawing describing the nature and manner to be performed in and claims defining the scope of the invention for which the inventor is desirous for protection.

After the aforesaid applications are submitted, it is then sent to an examiner referred by the patent registrar for examination. If the examiner raises no objection regarding the application, it is then published in the Gazette. In case of no opposition is received, the Registrar is obliged to issue letters of patent. Also, if the patentee desires a patent to be sealed, he or she shall file Form 8 with the prescribed fee in accordance with the patent rules.