IP Appellate Board: Trouble at the IPAB
The purpose of establishing the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in 2003 was to provide an appellate forum to expeditiously adjudicate upon appeals from the orders or decisions of the registrar of trademarks and geographical indications as well as the controller of patents.
Unfortunately, from its inception, the board had to struggle to create the necessary infrastructure and appoint a technical member and chairman in its 15-plus years of existence. As a result, cases continue to pile up.
A writ petition before the Delhi High Court on July 8, 2019 (Mylan Laboratories v Union of India & Ors, WP(C) 5571/2019 & CM Appln 24540/2019 & 26833/2019) brought to the court’s attention the gridlock at the IPAB. No cases are being heard due to the positions of technical members for patents, trademarks and copyrights lying vacant for a considerable period.
The rules provide that every case before IPAB must be heard by a technical member and chairman. With no technical member (for patents, trademarks and copyright) being appointed, the quorum was not complete to hear the cases, leading to a pendency of around 4,000 cases.
Background
The petitioner in this writ sought High Court’s intervention to hear an appeal against the order of the deputy controller of patents and designs, dismissing the pre-grant opposition filed by the petitioner and granting the patent in respect of ‘Methods of Evaluating Peptide Mixtures’.
The petitioner approached the High Court for an urgent hearing seeking stay of patent application, pleading that the IPAB’s not functioning led to the patent being granted and denying his right to file an appeal.
