After much wait and speculation, the Indian Patent Office recently released the Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure.
After much wait and speculation, the Indian Patent Office recently released the Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure. There were expectations that the procedures in the manual would mirror contemporary developments, particularly those stemming from judicial pronouncements on patent procedural law.
While all hopes have not been met, the far-reaching decision of the High Court of Delhi in UCB Farchim SA v Cipla Ltd and Ors has been adopted. This decision concerns the maintainability of appeals before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) from orders passed by the controller of patents in pre-grant opposition proceedings.
One peculiar feature of Indian patent law is the provision for pre-grant oppositions. A pre-grant opposition can be filed by ‘any person’ as opposed to a post-grant opposition, which can only be filed by ‘any person interested (which includes a person engaged in, or promoting, research in the same field as that to which the invention relates)’.
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Pre-grant opposition, India, appeals, Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure
