India may set up dedicated IP divisions in High Courts

Protecting intellectual properties such as patents, copyright, industrial designs and trademarks are essential to foster scientific advancement, creativity, business process innovation, industrial productivity and economic growth. A sound legal system to protect intellectual property rights is essential to promote private and foreign investment in research & development projects. The need for a robust legal system cannot be under-estimated given the surge in the number of patent filings by MSMEs, start-ups and corporate houses in recent years as innovation becomes a key driver of economic growth.

?

The Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has recently published an International Guide to Patent Case Management for Judges, which provides a detailed overview of patent case management from 10 countries, including India, Australia, UK, USA, Japan, China and Germany. The Guide highlights the evolving legal system and jurisprudence for patents, patent proceedings, key patent institutions and conformity of local patent laws with international treatise or agreements.?

?Challenges in Indian System

?According to the Guide, Indian patent system suffers from three key challenges, viz. lack of uniformity in decisions, lack of specialised knowledge and delays in settling judicial cases. The judges, especially in district courts, are not equipped to understand the technical issues involved in hearing patent cases. Therefore, the Guide recommends introduction of rules of procedures for leading and examination of evidence while hearing patent infringement cases. The Guide points to a recent Supreme Court direction which emphasised on daily proceedings as per the Code of Civil Procedure to ensure timely disposal of cases related to patents, trademarks and copyrights.

?India’s first IP Division

?In a progressive step to deal with the surge in pending intellectual property cases, the Delhi High Court constituted India’s first Intellectual Property Division in July 2021. The division was constituted to deal with the sudden increase in the pending cases following the abolition of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in April 2021. IPAB was established in 2003 to hear appeals against decisions of the registrar of trademarks and Geographical Indications. In April 2021, Government of India decided to abolish this board along with other tribunals under the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalization and Conditions of Service) Bill, 2021.

?This IP Division of the Delhi High Court has three Single Judge Benches to resolve IPR disputes and there has been substantial improvement in the disposal of patent cases since the establishment of this division. Even the US Trade Representative, in its latest report, hailed the establishment of this division to expedite resolution of IP disputes.

?In fact, a Parliamentary Committee on Intellectual Property, in its April 2022 report, recommended setting up similar IP divisions in other High Courts for timely resolution of patent, trademark, copyright and other IP related cases.