IPR related cases now will be dealt with separately by the Intellectual Property Division as finalized by the Delhi High Court’s Patent Suits and Intellectual Property Rights Division rules of 2021, a long-awaited and anticipated development. The court has asked for recommendations/ suggestions for both IPD and Patent Suits Rules, 2021.
Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules, 2021
Intellectual Property is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect as per Wikipedia.(1) IP includes trademarks, patents, copyrights, and geographical indications. For example, ‘Banglar Rosogolla’ is a GI tag of West Bengal.
Original proceedings, writ petitions (Civil), capability maturity model (CMM), regular first appeal (RFA), and first appeal from order (FAO) on intellectual property rights disputes will be handled by the IPD, except those that must be handled by the division bench.
Before the IP division, Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) was used to deal with IP-related cases. After the government dissolved the IPAB pending suites have now been filed with the appropriate High Courts or commercial courts, depending on the jurisdiction.
In exercising its powers under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966, the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and various intellectual property statutes, the Delhi HIGH COURT has finalized IPD. A committee was established to simplify and thoroughly evaluate how a wide range of IPR issues should be handled under the Tribunals Reforms Act of 2021 and recommendations made by CJ of Delhi High Court DN Patel.
The committee along with the CJ of Delhi High Court T DN Patel, Justice Pratibha Singh, and Justice Sanjeev Narula came up with 41 rules including definitions, appeals procedure, writ petitions, suits, recording of evidence, third-party intervention, guidelines for written submissions, timelines for oral submissions, costs, and appeals from IPD orders.
Following that, the Delhi High Court announced the new Intellectual Property Division's Nomenclatures and Court Fees. Nomenclature includes ‘IPD’ in the suffix.
The Delhi High Court has included a provision that specifically deals with accessibility and reasonable accommodations, in addition to laying down rules for procedure and practice in rule number 36 for differently-abled.
"Reasonable accommodations" are defined in Section 2(y) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016 as "necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments, without imposing a disproportionate or undue burden in a particular case, to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy or exercise rights equally with others."
Now that IPAB is extant, depending on the jurisdiction, the cases will be transferred to various High Courts in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras.
High Court of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits, 2021
Besides IPD, Delhi High Court has come up with the rules pertaining to Patent Suits. A lawsuit involving the validity of a patent or an alleged patent violation is referred to as a patent suit. The committee has proposed 17 rules including definitions, the content of pleadings, first hearing of the suit, filing of affidavits of admission/denial and other briefs, second and third case management hearings, mediation, Panel of Scientific Advisors, final hearing, and summary adjudication.
Over the years, there has been a gradual increase in patent litigation in the pharmaceutical industry. The increase in pharma patent litigation in the country can be attributed to a change made to the Patents Act to bring it in line with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). As part of its TRIPS commitment, India implemented product patents for pharmaceuticals in 2005.
Delhi High Court has been the busiest court in dealing with patent suits, followed by Bombay High Court and the Madras High Court.
In 2009, the Indian Patent Office began issuing product patents. As a result, the innovator foreign drug companies began filing infringement suits against domestic drug makers, resulting in an increase in patent litigation in the pharmaceutical industry.
The 'High Court of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits, 2021' states that, “Procedures and definitions not specifically provided for in these Rules shall, in general, be governed by The Civil Procedure Code, 1908 as amended by The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018 as also the Delhi High Court Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules, 2021, to the extent they are not inconsistent with the present Rules.”
CONCLUSION
An entire exclusive division for IPR related cases will aid in a seamless administration of the IP cases and is also an acknowledgment for our economy.
REFERENCES
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property