Under Section 13(1)(b) of the Patents Act, 1970, the examiner shall investigate whether the invention:

Section 13(1)(b) of the Patents Act, 1970 directs a search for whether the invention is claimed in any other complete specification published on or after the applicant's filing date, where that specification was filed in India and is dated before, or claims a priority date "earlier than", that date. This is the prior-claiming test; foreign patents and commercial use are not covered by it.