Recent Delhi High Court notifications of Rules applicable to disputes pertaining to Intellectual Property Rights is in furtherance of 2015 legal reform in India which aimed at fast time bound adjudication of commercial disputes, Commercial Courts Act came into force in 2015 and was further ammended in 2018. As per this law the definition of “commercial dispute” also included Patents and other Intellectual Property Right disputes.
2021 saw abolition of Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and simultaneous establishment of commercial division of High Courts having Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions under the Commercial Courts Act 2015. With special focus on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) cases, Delhi High Court created a separate Intellectual Property Division (IPD) and also framed the following Rules to deal with such matters:
i. The Delhi High Court Intellectual Property-Rights Division Rules, 2022
ii. The High Court of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits 2022.
IPR cases before IPD include all Original Suits/Proceedings, Appellate and other Proceedings such as Revocation, Petitions etc with strict guidelines of written submissions and timelines for oral submissions. Such cases are heard by a single judge of IPD, except those that are to be decided by a division bench as per Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act 2015.
Patent Suit” means and includes all suits which seek following reliefs:
i. Permanent injunction restraining infringement of Patent ii. Damages/accounts of profit iii. Declaration as to non infringement iv. Relief against groundless threat of infringement
Appeals” filed before Delhi High Court IPD includes among others the following : i. Section 117 A Patents Act 1970 , Appeal from any decision, order or direction of the Controller or Central Government . ii. Section 91 Trademarks Act 1999, Appeals against the order or decision of Registrar of Trademarks . iii. Section 72 Copyright Act 1957, Appeal against final decision or order of the Registrar of Cpyrights. iv. Section 36 of the Designs Act 2010 , Appeal against decision of Controller.
In addition, cases pertaining to Information Technology Act 2000 dealing with rights and liabilities of intermediaries, online market places, ecommerce platforms involving issues relating to any of the aforementioned rights, are also deemed to be within the purview of IPR. Appeal against the order by IPD lies before Division bench in the form of Letter Patent Appeal Or Appeal to the Commercial Appellate Division under Section 13 of Commercial Courts Act 2015.
Only five High Courts in India exercise Original Jurisdiction, before which IPR suits in the first instance can be filed. Of the many pros and cons of abolishing IPAB, one main concern had been the increase in over all cost for a party to a case before the High Court as compared to IPAB but the High Courts have the advantage of broader legal framework. In addition, to fill in any lacunae with regards to specialised technical knowledge in IPR matter, the High Court as per the Rules formulated may seek assistance of expert(s) relating to the subject matter of the dispute for a smoother way forward in adjudicating such matters.
Vidhik-Vishleshan (Decoding The Law & More) 