shutterstock_494756902_frannyanne-1
9 July 2019PatentsRory O'Neill

Indian appeals board ‘crippled’ by vacancies

India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) is yet to hear a single case related to copyright, as a key post has remained vacant since it was established in 2003.

This is among several critical findings revealed in a judgment by the Delhi High Court yesterday, July 8.

According to the judgment, there are currently approximately 3,935 cases pending adjudication at the IPAB.

“However, cases relating to trademarks, copyrights and patents are not being taken up as there is no technical member relating to those specialties,” the judgment said

The court has now cleared the IPAB to “take up urgent matters” despite the vacancies.

Under Indian law, the IPAB has jurisdiction to hear appeals against decisions of the IP registrar.

The IPAB bench hearing a case comprises one judicial member, as well as one technical member for either patents, trademarks, copyright, or plant varieties.

At present, a technical member has only been appointed to hear cases relating to plant varieties, with the other three key posts remaining vacant.

Out of all the pending cases, 2,626 relate to trademarks, for which there has not been a technical member in post since December 2018.

The High Court said that many of the patents at issue in disputes due to be heard by the IPAB had expired.

As a result, the “rights of parties have been severely prejudiced”, the court found.

The patents role has been vacant since May 2016.

The court was, in particular, “pained to note” that the copyright post has yet to be filled since the IPAB was established 16 years ago.

In this case, Mylan Laboratories had appealed at the IPAB against a March 2019 decision of the deputy controller of patents and designs to grant registration of a patent related to peptide mixtures.

Mylan had requested that the IPAB stay registration of the patent while the appeal was continuing.

As the IPAB has no technical member for patents, however, Mylan appealed to the High Court for an “urgent hearing” of the stay application.

The court ordered the IPAB to take up the stay application and issue a decision within six weeks of yesterday’s judgment.

The court also ruled that the IPAB and the technical member for plant varieties were free to hear any urgent matters relating to patents, trademarks, and copyright.

JP Sengh, a self-employed senior advocate based in New Delhi, made a submission to the court as amicus curiae in the case.

In his submission, Sengh said that the vacancies had “crippled the functioning of the IPAB”.

WIPR has contacted Mylan Laboratories and JP Sengh for comment.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Today's top stories:

IP ‘missing’ from disruptive tech plans: report

EU General Court rejects hotel group’s TM appeal

Las Vegas hotel takes aim at Disney development TM

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Patents
30 October 2019   A senior Indian judge has demanded answers from the Indian government on the resources afforded to the country’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board, which she says has come to a “complete standstill”.
Patents
12 August 2020   India’s controller general’s office has approved a petition that calls for the Intellectual Property Appellate Board to be abolished, it was revealed on Monday, August 10.